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The Vice President: ”I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights.” The President, however, is “still evolving.”
I guess you could see this as yet another attempt to placate the LGBT community (i.e. open the gAyTM), or a hint that the President is about to tip-toe out of the closet, perhaps after the election. I don’t hold my breath for such things, since it’s not even clear that Team Obama can even do a last-minute GOTV effort in North Carolina that tells voters to vote against Amendment One.
Here is the video and transcript, via Think Progress:
GREGORY: Have your views evolved?
BIDEN: The good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out what all marriages at their root are about. Whether they are marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals. [...]
GREGORY: You’re comfortable with same-sex marriage now?
BIDEN: Look, I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that. [...] I think Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has done so far. People fear that is different and now they’re beginning to understand.
Biden’s comments are interesting in that they represent the President’s exact view – that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same civil rights, save the whole bit about the word “marriage.” Talk about threading the political needle.
By the way, marriage equality and the whole debate about when/if the President should declare he’s evolved on the matter is of less importance to me than an effort to eliminate employment discrimination against LGBTs — and he can do that for thousands by signing an executive order banning it for contractors dealing with the federal government, something this administration refuses to do. Ultimately a permanent solution would be for Congress to pass ENDA (and that won’t happen in the current political configuration), but it doesn’t prevent POTUS for addressing the current discriminatory wrongs in the interim. It would certainly mean many North Carolinians now relegated to the closet for fear of being fired will be able to live and work without that hanging over them.
Here’s a pathetic update, via Huff Po:
A spokesperson for the vice president emailed over further clarification on the “Meet the Press” remarks, stating in part that Biden had not fully endorsed same-sex marriage.
The vice president was saying what the president has said previously – that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to rollback those rights. That’s why we stopped defending the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges and support legislation to repeal it. Beyond that, the Vice President was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue, after meeting so many committed couples and families in this country.
This is preposterous, you cannot be fully comfortable with gays and lesbians marrying but still evolving. This is David Axelrod’s ludicrous damage control; he should have left it alone. Biden freelances on the air and the Obama administration should know the results can be, well, unpredictable, lol.
Meanwhile, the LGBT community jumped on the VP’s initial statement:
“We are proud of Vice President Joe Biden for his strong statement in support of giving our relationships the dignity and respect they deserve. On the heels of Mitt Romney’s reprehensible treatment of his only gay staffer in the midst of an onslaught of attacks from the bigoted wing of the GOP, the Vice President’s statement underlines the contrast between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to LGBT equality.
Catholics for Equality:
Catholics for Equality is proud of our Catholic brother, Vice President Joe Biden, for coming out in support for civil marriage equality on Meet The Press this morning. Again, we see pro-equality Catholics leading the fight for full legal equality for our LGBT people in America.
Vice President Biden joins Catholic leaders Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, Governor John Baldacci of Maine, Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois and Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire in advancing civil marriage equality in America
HRC President Joe Solmonese:
“We are encouraged by Vice President Biden’s comments, who rightly articulated that loving and committed gay and lesbian couples should be treated equally. Now is the time for President Obama to speak out for full marriage equality for same-sex couples.”
“I’ve known Vice President Biden since interning for him in the Senate in 1976. The personal and thoughtful way he has spoken about his coming to support the freedom to marry reflects the same journey that a majority of Americans have now made as they’ve gotten to know gay families, opened their hearts and changed their minds. President Obama should join the Vice President, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, former Vice Presidents Gore and Cheney, Laura Bush, and so many others in forthright support for the freedom to marry.”
Winnie Stachelberg, the Executive Vice President for External Affairs at the Center for American Progress:
“We commend Vice President Biden for supporting marriage equality and call on President Obama to do the same. The campaign shouldn’t force Biden’s comments back into the closet, but should instead embrace the growing popular support for the freedom to marry.”
19 Comments
Someone please save David Axelrod from himself. On second thought, don’t.
IOW, Obama and the Democrats are every bit as corporatist and in favor of rising inequality of wealth as Romney and the Republicans, but hey! At least they are pro-choice and pro-gay rights, during election season anyway, so vote for the Lesser Evil!
Bah, humbug!
My rights are my rights and I did not elect to have them either accepted or rejected by any other person or persons. In the US, no person may enjoy rights that others do not, felons excepted. This is a matter of law.
Frankly, the best way to put the whole thing to bed is to simply not recognize straight marriages and declare them all null and void rendering each of us bastards. Equal bastards. Fair is fair. Equal is equal. That works. ‘Evolving’. Bunk. Nope.
This is a little bit like war (which the American people are routinely against) and 100 other issues–a majority want the same rights for gay people as straight people, and that majority is only going to get stronger. But Obama is fishing for votes from the 3-5% of center-right voters who might be squinchy on the issue: f em. That is not what democracy looks like. Why, when the tail wags the dog does it always have to be such an ugly and reactionary tail? Thereby HANGS a tale of American democracy undermined by retail politics, hundreds of millions down the whole each election cycle for a handful of votes.
Watched the opening scenes of Milk the other night and wept for my father. To think that he had to go through that. I have no patience or respect for haters. And I have to say that I worry that there is something fairly visceral in Obama’s resistance on the subject, that goes quite nicely with a certain patriarchal thing, lecturing black men about moral responsibility, the whole nine yards. . . he’s okay with gay people, he just doesn’t want his daughter to marry one.
Translation: Obama campaign sticks Joe’s toe in the water, to see if he catches cold. He’s expendable.
Could this be Biden trying to force the rest of Team Obama to pull their heads out of their asses WRT marriage equality? Or is this just Joe being Joe?
Axelrod’s trying to pretend that Biden’s statement matches exactly Obama’s own position when we all know it’s actually farther along than where Obama currently is publicly on it.
I’m wondering if Biden finally got sick of Obama’s dithering and decided “Okay, time for another ‘gaffe’, folks” and deliberately said something that will force Obama’s spinners to build a bridge between his position and POTUS’, thus having the effect of pulling the POTUS forward.
Obviously the Republicans will try for GOTUV (Get Out The Ugly Vote) ballot measures in every state because it gets out their voters. And let’s face it, both parties have serious voter issues because it’s pretty obvious to both the left and the right that their parties DO NOT REPRESENT THEM. Especially where it matters.
How the Republicans continue to be the party concerned about individual rights and state’s rights and then want to legislate family issues like marriage, women’s reproductive rights, smash state’s workers rights, etc, is beyond me, but frankly, I don’t vote for them.
But having Obama so far to the right that he has to “evolve” his views on this is also beyond belief. Nobody’s asking him to LIKE what other people do or DO what other people do, just accept that it’s none of his damned business to butt into other people’s rights.
Why the fuck does Obama have such a hard time supporting the vast majority of the American people? How the hell did this guy end up in the Democratic party? His views and actions are the right of Ronald Reagan.
I actually like Joe Biden and his big mouth which seems to be matched to a equally big set of balls. Maybe Obama can get some shots or something so that he can grow a pair too. Our country needs a strong President right now.
Nah, that would demonstrate more planning capacity than I’ve seen out of these mokes. I figure it’s simply Biden seeing that Team Obama’s sending Bill Clinton out as a crypto-surrogate against Amendment One in North Carolina and thinking “Screw this arm’s-length crap, let’s go all in” and forcing Obama and his spin team to stop dithering.
Methinks the Obama campaign will roll out one new topic every week, to get R-Money to respond and show America just how elitist the ReThugs are.
PW !
Sending the impotent and powerless Joe Biden out to the Sunday shows to placate the LGBT community is not just infuriating, it’s insulting.
Mods: I can’t read this entire post because there is an ad overlaying the text at the top. This particular ad is anti marriage equality ad and petition. Now I know you don’t pick the ads and I know that usually I find it amusing the kinds of things that pop up but in this case the ad can’t be removed. Can’t something be done about placement, accepting that nothing can be done about content? This is insane!
As I recall from my English classes in school if you read Biden’s statement here:
“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”
What Biden is saying he is comfortable with is the entitlement to the same rights for gays and lesbians who happen to be married. He has not said that he believes same-sex marriage should be legal throughout the entire country.
You can’t cut off the “are entitled to the same exact rights” part of the sentence and change the word marrying to marry and then just pretend that it reads as “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marry men and women marry women”.
That’s just projection of what you want it to mean.
It’s actually just as Axelrod says. Obama believes the same as Biden stated. That if same sex couples are legally married, they are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties.
This why Obama has stopped defending DOMA in Federal courts. It is one of the DOMA sections that is stopping married same sex couples from receiving all the same exact rights.
yawn. How much mileage can the Dems get out of same sex marriage stuff.
I’m not saying it’s not important but can we move on now.
Those who oppose gays and “gay rights” don’t seem to recognize that through their procreation they are creating more gay people. Outlaw procreation!
Didn’t Obama campaign in 2008 with a pray the gay away “convert”? Obama’s rights are already secured. He doesn’t care about anyone else, unless he can find a way to take them away, i.e. habeas corpus.
The Obama administration brings us war, more erosion of civil liberties, more government secrecy, the perpetuation of the drug war, more environmental destruction, more debt, and on and on.
If you’re LGBT and closed-minded about voting for an alternative party you’re as stubborn as a heterosexual who refuses to be open-minded about equality.
People afraid to vote for alternative parties for fear-based reasons are foolish. The 2party system roatets in cycles anyway as it is.
We went from woman and racial minorities not being able ot vote to being able to. We went from people not thinking we’d never have a black President to electing one. We went from people not thinking we’d never elect openly-gay politicians and we do now. We went from people not thinking we’d never have marriage equality and now we have a handful of states and countries with full marriage equality.
As disappointed as LGBTs, civil liberty groups, immigrants rights groups, environmental groups, pro-legalization groups and other groups are at Obama + the Occupy momentum we should be able to channel this into electing truly progressive alternative parties that are not corporate puppets like Obama and are also 100% pro-equality.
To ignore all Obama has done to kill innocent people in needless war, his lack of supporting full equality, the NDAA, the crackdown on protestors rights, allowing the EPA to rearrange radiation standards after the Japan nuclear meltdown, appointing Monsanto heads to the FDA, and now a pending attack on the internet you have to really be a shallow single-issue voter to support Obama.
YouTube search: 2012 Alternative Party Presidential Debate
What browser are you using, Margaret?
Biden IS better than Obama (not that he’s good).
The latest version of firefox.
Write in Biden in the Primary?