'Palin' in Comparison?

I love the McCain picked Sarah Palin for his VP pick. It's remarkably dumb... I mean Maverick-y! The reaction to all of this has been splendid. At first I was totally worried she would help McCain-- and she might-- with the idiot wing of his party. But it's clear that she will only help him there. Obama's already seeing a crazy bounce in the polls. Sure some of it is due to the Democratic convention but the polls are also showing the news of Palin being absurd.

McCain is angry of course. The Daily Intelligencer sums this up well:

Let's walk through this: Palin's family is an integral part of her "story" — the Iraq-bound son, the decision to keep the baby with Down Syndrome — but when the media reported that 17-year-old Bristol Palin was pregnant, it was accused of violating a private family matter. Palin's tenure as the head of Alaska's National Guard was propped up as part of her national security experience, but when Campbell Brown pestered McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds to come up with one decision Palin made in that role (he couldn't), the McCain campaign canceled an appearance with Larry King and told CNN the Brown interview was "over the line." When the Obama campaign criticized Palin's lack of experience, Carly Fiorina warned them that "sexist treatment" wouldn't be tolerated by "American women." And when reports trickled from liberal blogs into the mainstream media that Palin and her husband had connections to a secession-minded Alaskan political party, the McCain campaign accused "supporters of Barack Obama" of "an unfortunate and nasty smear campaign." In other words, the McCain campaign springs a complete unknown onto the national stage and then asks the media not to vet her any more thoroughly than the campaign did itself.

I couldn't agree more with the idea that attacking her family is fine because of the first part of this quote. McCain loved shoving her family in the spotlight, but once it's revealed that her 17 year old daughter is having an "illegitimate" child, that's totally off limits. Fuck you, seriously. Gays can't marry because we'll warp kids? How about Christians be banned from marrying because they have rule-bending, slutty, anal-sex loving children?

Anyway, I think there is a good chance Palin will get the boot. McCain wanted Lieberman or Tom Ridge in the first place. And if her speech tonight is a disappointment, she's out. However, I do not see it as at all likely that Palin will volunteer to drop the campaign. She knew her daughter was pregnant before being picked. Did she really think this wouldn't be an issue? And if she knew she was pregnant, why did she insist on emphasizing her family values? It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see how that would undercut her appeal. As everything has indicated so far, this woman is interested in more power and keeping a stranglehold on it. Even at the expense of her own family.

Those are family values I want in the White House!

Same Sex Immigration and Obama

I've been reading a lot of Citizen Crain, which is a wonderful blog about LGBT issues and politics. But it also has a large slant towards same-sex immigration. This was a post by the contributor Andoni:

I attended the Obama VIP reception which entailed a photo with Barack and maybe the possibility of 10 seconds chat time while the photo was being taken. I consulted Rachel Tiven of Immigration Equality for her suggestion as to what the best 10 second bite would be. She suggested to be as emotional as possible and gave me, “I have to choose between the love of my life and my country because I am gay. Please support immigration rights for gay and lesbian families.”

I practiced this line over and over. However, when my moment came, I flubbed my lines. I don’t know exactly what I said, but I did manage to get out gay and immigration --- and then I choked up. It was a real emotional choke up, not an act, and not the script. However, I said enough for Obama to know what I was talking about. He put his arm around me and in a very comforting way said, “I know, I know.”

Reading this made me tear up a little. I can't imagine I would do any better and probably would turn into a sweating, weeping mess. This was slightly heartening though:

It was apparent that he [Obama] knew this issue well. He took some time to explain that same sex immigration is going to be a very difficult one because it combines two of the most controversial issues Congress faces, gay rights and immigration. (I heard this from Barney Frank two years ago as well.) Obama also said that to tackle it we were going to have to establish a vehicle to recognize gay couples. I think we both said “civil unions” simultaneously -- me as a question, he as a statement.

I hope Obama keeps up his support as November barrels forward for the LGBT community and then doesn't throw us under the bus the same way Clinton did once in office. Even despite what everyone sees as his move to [duh-duh-duuuuh!] the CENTER, he's been good about still supporting us.

It's a shame how hard this fight is going to be and how much time it will take. Some of us don't have a lot of it.

Marriage Equality in California!

In thirty days from today, same-sex couples can legally wed in California after their Supreme Court's ruling today. Best quote from the ruling:

"In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."

Big, California Sized Battle

California's Supreme Court is going to release some of it's rulings starting tomorrow and the big one (for me and many others) is going to be their decision on marriage equality . It's expected to be a positive decision for us gays. Finally!

In case you don't know, domestic partnerships are the law of the land in Cali for committed gays. The legislature has repeatedly submitted laws to legalize same-sex marriage and each time the governors of the state have vetoed it (thanks Arnold). If the court instates marriage equality, anti-gay organizations will push through their ballot initiative to add a ban to same-sex marriage to the constitution. The governor has said he will veto it, though (thanks Arnold).

Looks to be a big big decisions tomorrow with an even bigger battle to follow. California is a huge state and it represents a big, symbolic battle for both sides.

In case you were wondering, the federal government does NOT recognize ANY same-sex unions, so no change on federal recognition (which includes immigration rights). This looks like it will become another big issue in the election and a potential problem for Obama. He has been more progressive on LGBT rights than any one else and favors a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (the federal law that Bill Clinton signed that forbids the government from recognizing same sex marriages).

If Obama does repeal the federal DOMA, then there is a good chance that any states that haven't passed state level DOMA's will have to start recognizing California and Massachusetts' same sex marriages. This is all sort of off in the distance, but it's a real possibility. Finally.

Clintons: Giving Us An Unenthusiastic Reach Around

BILL CLINTON HATES CHILDREN!!! Look at how Bill Clinton attacks that sweet, stern looking lesbian about his actions against the gay community.

This video brings up a good question and is one of the fundamental reasons why I support Barack Obama. Bill Clinton (and Hillary) argue that the Defense of Marriage Act was the necessary thing to do at the time to protect gay people. Bill here argues that the other option was a constitutional amendment.

Now, no lie, I was really young when he signed that bill. But the whole idea of a federal constitutional amendment didn't really gain traction and credibility until Bush. This seems to me that Bill and Hill are trying to meld two different points in time together and claim some sort of time warp in LGBT history.

Unfortunately, to protect themselves politically and appeal to us 'mos, they have to say that one of the most anti-gay bills in history was to protect us from our selves. The Defense of Marriage act did more than prevent states from having recognize other state's gay marriages, it prevented the federal government from having to recognize them either. This locked us out of all federal benefits (social security!) and other rights conferred by the federal government (immigration!).

Hillary states she wants to repeal parts of DOMA and Obama says repeal the whole damn thing. It's like being fucked unwillingly in the ass while getting a sort of limp reach around. The Clintons are going to get off in us (get our vote) while limply making us get off as well ("We do what's best for you, now stay quiet you nasty bottom!"). As someone in a relationship with a foreigner who will be forced to leave the country soon because I can't sponsor his Visa, I can't side with the someone who says basically it was the best option and now the best option is pick a few things out of it but to leave it largely intact.