In response to a GOP senator’s concern that the repeal of DADT might lead to horrible other things:
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said that if they began to loosen one restriction, others might unravel, leading to a louche atmosphere brimming with “alcohol use, adultery, fraternization and body art.” Don’t ask, don’t tat.
This speech by Premier Zapatero in the Spanish Cortes is one of the most remarkable speeches I have ever heard by a straight politician in a legal setting. This was the day same-sex marriage was legalized in Spain. I remember years later having dinner with many of the leaders of the LGBT movement in Spain and one of them said to me:
He said he would do it, and he did it. That’s why we love him
Always pretty remarkable when that happens.
Just was crazy for her performance the other night at the Grammies. That video has quickly become difficult to find a way to display legally, but I really have liked her for a long time and this song is really the attitude that I like. She’s just fierce:
It was good to see the President point out the idiocy of Blanche Lincoln’s logic on where the Democratic agenda should be. This is the more feisty president I wanted, but probably shouldn’t have expected.
But there is a broader story there about how politics has been redefined by the Conservative movement and its media and religious allies. Even good solid progressives in a city like San Francisco by into the idea of needing to play on the field that the Republicans have built. This despite (still) huge advantages in majority positions in both houses of Congress. The Democrats seem to not realize that part of the political process needs to be rebuilding that field.
This is something that is fascinating me more and more lately. I’ve been having quick back forth conversations about it with Dave Caploe about this and have been reading his lectures and articles in the New York Times recently. I’m going to continue down this road where it leads me intellectually, and politically share that experience here on this blog. Hint: the radical left is for all intent a myth created by the right. As I asked the other day, name me that last major progressive legislation passed through into law in this country. Anything since Johnson?
So along with exploring my middle aged need to ascribe understanding to my own life experiences, I will also write more about why we have a nation have ended up where we are and why. I’m just a simple fundraiser and executive, but we can all learn. Heck, I didn’t learn to speak Spanish until I was nearly 50 years old.
And Mr. President, more of this please.
I have been beyond frustrated with the President’s slow progress on the DADT and other LGBT issues. Frankly, a lot of what he has done is far too “center-right” in its policy tone for me. But that’s a different blog entry. For now, all credit is due the President. I believe he has handled a complicated management and policy problem (not to mention political problem) in a way I actually find I work myself. He has lined up as many ducks in a row as he can and has put the Republicans in a very tight place. Republican after republican have stated in the past that they would defer to the military’s opinion on DADT.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in October 2009 that for a reversal of DADT to be successful, there would have to be a “buy-in by the military.”
“They should be included in this,” said Graham. “I am open-minded to what the military may suggest, but I can tell you, I’m not going to make policy based on a campaign rally.”
Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a November 2007 debate was asked if he looked forward to “a day when gays can serve openly in the military?”
“I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our troops and I listen to what they have to say,” he replied.
In another Republican presidential debate a month later, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee joined Romney in insisting that the country needed to hear first from military command.
“I probably would let the military make that decision,” he said, when pressed. “One thing I don’t think you need is a president who’s trying to tell the military how to run the military, other than set broad policy agenda. The Uniform Code of Military Conduct is the best way to handle that and I would leave it to — to those who run the military.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okl.) has insisted, as recently as 2009, that he would “defer in large part to our military leaders on matters of military readiness and code of conduct. This includes the impact changing the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy would have, especially since military leaders note that this issue is fundamentally about military readiness.”
In a 2008 interview, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) defended DADT as a sound military policy by arguing that he had not “sensed that the military is calling for a change.”
Any change to these sorts of comments will again show the blunt bigotry that truly lies behind these men.
I truly don’t believe that this can be done overnight. I think a year is reasonable. My fear was always that the President would not do anything on this at all. It now appears he may have been doing quite a lot. Recently joining in with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is now the former man that held that position; a man who helped to draft this policy: Collin Powell.
So Mr. President, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. So far on this, I am feeling a lot better. Now about that other stuff…oh, just let well enough alone, Lynch.
I just thought this was pretty funny. This Charles Brooks guy has a bunch of videos on Youtube, well worth checking out.
And this is another take on general American television. The host wonders how it is that we Americans seem so friendly and laid back when we are surrounded by fear-based shows.
You really get the best feel for this when you travel a lot or live overseas for anytime at all. But check out his other videos on how to be a newsreporter and other subjects. Very funny.
Who knew? From a Rolling Stone Magazine Anniversary party. Enjoy.
I have been an enthusiastic supporter of the President while he was campaigning. My problem with him since then is that he doesn’t appear to be the same person. We as progressives deal in a media environment in which the assumption is that we are a conservative country. This despite much evidence to the contrary. And there is some evidence that the GOP is misreading the public in this way again. Mike Lillis via Andrew Sullivan:
But while Republicans are hoping Brown’s victory foreshadows a GOP landslide, a number of political experts are warning that the country’s restless anxiety — as evidenced not only in Massachusetts, but in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Florida as well — is less a backlash against Democrats in particular than a rebuke of the business-as-usual politics of Capitol Hill in general. Even as unemployment soared and housing markets tanked, voters have watched lawmakers bicker endlessly over a stimulus bill that proved too small and a health reform proposal that remains unfinished. Meanwhile, the banks have bounced back on the wings of a taxpayer bailout, paying out billions of dollars in employee bonuses this month while the jobs crisis outside Wall Street only worsens. In such an environment, some experts caution, incumbents on both sides of the aisle could find themselves surprisingly vulnerable in November.
I have no doubt that he will give a stemwinder of a speech. I’m just not sure what he really stands for anymore. I want to see him fight. He will bring up again a call to end DADT, but we’ve heard this before. He will announce some spending freezes. He is beginning to play more and more on the conservative side of the field. I hope we see a change in this. Not just from the speech, but from his actions.
I’m still bewildered by the Democratic Party’s inability to pass anything progressive or within a fairly centrist Democratic Party agenda. We shouldn’t go Bill Clinton’s way. No small ball. The country needs more.
As an aside, can anyone tell me the last major piece of progressive/liberal legislation that has been passed in the country.
Quiet weekend. Rough news from some quarters. Tough week. So right now, here’s a golden oldie and a favorite of the thom blog:
The Song is from “Jerry Springer: the Opera”
the Lion Rampant is the only tattoo I have
I’ve been thinking of my Mom a lot over the last few days. I’m not sure why, she passed away almost 15 years ago now. She always wanted to return home to Scotland for one last time, but never could. We were quite poor and that dream never came to pass. So this year I do plan on going to Greenoch, her hometown near Glascow and visit for her. As you grow older, you think more about the dreams that may not have come true for you, and what you can accomplish in your life. I’m the longest living male in my direct family’s history, so perhaps I think of this to often. but you must still have dreams, and leave something behind. And sometimes, you have the chance to finish the dreams of those who never had the chance. So, Mom, this is for you and Scotland the Brave:
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