Joe Biden during his speech to a Hispanic group today:
“Imagine what the Supreme Court will look like after four years of Governor Romney. Imagine what it will act like. Imagine what it will mean for civil rights, voting rights, and so much we have fought so hard for. Imagine a Justice Department that supports, rather than challenges, continued efforts to suppress the right to vote. Because that’s what will happen if they win.”
We need to donate more or we will lose to the 1 percent.
President Obama tells ABC News that his position on same-sex marriage has evolved:
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
The president has indeed affirmed that he believes that same-sex couples ought to be able to marry.
Adding......I'm really, really torn on this. On the one hand, it is unquestionably the right thing to do. On the other hand, it came at the wrong damn time, and the Republicans may make us eat it.
“Even when we parted company over the Vietnam War, I never hated L.B.J. the way many young people of my generation came to. I couldn't. What he did to advance civil rights and equal opportunity was too important. I remain grateful to him. L.B.J. got to me, and after all these years, he still does. ”
The quote is from Pres. Clinton’s review of a new book, ‘The Passage of Power’, by Robert Caro, the fourth in a series of books on L.B.J. by Caro.
“At the top of our list of priorities is protecting the right to vote. We have fought for that for decades in this country and we must continue. There is a concerted, coordinated effort in states as close as Indiana and Wisconsin to deny millions of Americans the right to vote. It is spearheaded by the Koch brothers, and their big money interest.
Who do they want to keep out of the voting booth? Young people, old people, poor people, people with disabilities, people who live in rural areas — millions of Americans. Judson Phillips, leader of the tea party, thinks voting should be limited to, quote, those who own property, close quote. Isn’t that where we started? And to suggest that in a time of record foreclosures.
If we don’t fight to defend the ballot, all of our rights are in jeopardy.”
For the first time ever, a Gallup Poll indicates that a majority of Americans supports same-sex marriage.
In the poll, conducted earlier this month, Gallup found 53 percent of Americans saying that marriages between same-sex couples should be considered valid and come with the same rights as heterosexual marriages, while 45 percent said same-sex marriages should not.
Just a year ago, those numbers were reversed in a Gallup Poll on the same topic. According to that poll, 44% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, and 53% opposed it. This is really good news, in part because it is an indication that people are actually thinking about this issue, and changing their minds.
Two other recent polls have indicated strong support for gay marriage.
The Gallup poll is just the latest to find that the legalization of gay marriage is supported by a majority of Americans. In a shift from its previous polls, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released in April found 51 percent of Americans in support of gay marriage and 47 percent opposed to it. And, in March, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found 52 percent of Americans supporting gay marriage, also a majority opinion for the first time.
MATTHEWS: You would have voted against that law. You wouldn’t have voted for the ’64 civil rights bill.
PAUL:Yes, but not in — I wouldn’t vote against getting rid of the Jim Crow laws.
MATTHEWS: But you would have voted for the — you know you — oh, come on. Honestly, Congressman, you were not for the ’64 civil rights bill.
PAUL:Because — because of the property rights element, not because it got rid of the Jim Crow law.
MATTHEWS: Right. The guy who owns a bar says, no blacks allowed, you say that’s fine. … This was a local shop saying no blacks allowed. You say that should be legal?
PAUL:That’s — that’s ancient history. That’s ancient history. That’s over and done with. [...]
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you this. We have had a long history of government involvement with Medicare, Social Security, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. And I think you are saying we would have been better off without all that?
PAUL: I think we would be better off if we had freedom, and not government control of our lives, our personal lives, and our — and policing the world.
Watch:
Can we just say that this has to qualify as one of the dumbest quotes ever from a contender for a presidential nomination?
The bonafide lunacy of Randian disciples and their leader Ron Paul isn't exactly news, but given the embarrassing nature of the current Republican presidential field and the Libertarian under-current running through the veins of the Tea Party right now, Ron Paul could become a significant 3rd Party candidate if not the actual nominee.
Of course, I would love, love, love to see a third party Conservative candidate, or… let me be honest, I would also love to see Ron Paul as the GOP nominee!
Yesterday, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation which makes civil unions legal in Delaware, becoming the eighth state to legalize civil unions.
Yesterday morning there were 43 states that did not have a legal classification for same-sex relationships -- marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, etc. By yesterday afternoon, that number dropped to 42 when Delaware's Democratic Governor Jack Markell signed into law the country's latest civil union legislation.
Diane Nash, an amazing African American civil rights activist (I count Nash as one of those women I most admire), and one of the leaders of the 1961 Freedom Riders movement against segregation, to the judge when sentenced to two years in prison for civil disobedience.
This will be a black baby born in Mississippi, and thus where ever he is born he will be in prison ... If I go to jail now it may help hasten that day when my child and all children will be free.1
Mrs. Nash2 was pregnant at the time but refused to use her pregnancy to ask for leniency, an appeal, or to post bond.
1 Source of quote: “American Women in the 1960s” by Blanche Linden-Ward and Carol Hurd Green (1993).
2 Mrs. Nash was married to activist James Bevel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference [SCLC].
In 1961 Marther Luther King Jr. spoke of the right-wing attempts to destroy labor unions:
In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right to work'…Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights.
At the signing ceremony for the DADT Repeal Act this morning, President Obama:
We are not a nation that says ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ We are a nation that says ‘out of many, we are one.’ We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals we uphold today.
Would this have happened under a Republican president? Not in a million years.
UPDATE: It appears that the military is prepared to quickly move forward on the certifications. From Huffington Post:
Although several military service chiefs expressed opposition to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, President Obama has spoken to them since the measure passed, and they are all ready to move forward expeditiously on implementing and certifying the changes.
"The President called every single service chief separately, talked to them, and they are all about moving this forward very quickly," said a White House official who helped lead the president's DADT repeal effort. "They're soldiers; they understand this is the law of the land, and they're going to get this done. They went through a process that was beyond repute to show we can do this, and I think you'll see a very, very fast process."
In a press conference on Wednesday, Obama reiterated that point, saying they "all said that we are going to implement this smartly and swiftly, and they are confident that it will not have an effect on our military effectiveness."
Remarks by the President and Vice President at Signing of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
Department of Interior
Washington, D.C.
9:10 A.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, folks, how are you? (Applause.) It’s a good day. (Applause.) It’s a real good day. As some of my colleagues can tell you, this is a long time in coming. But I am happy it’s here.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Please be seated.
It was a great five-star general and President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who once said, “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness and consideration, and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
By repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" today, we take a big step toward fostering justice, fairness and consideration, and that real cooperation President Eisenhower spoke of.
Rachel Maddow’s comments to MSNBC News after the Senates vote on DADT repeal:
This is the president’s victory. This is something about which the President took a lot of criticism, a lot of abuse. Um, a lot of skepticism from his otherwise most loyal supporters on this. But this is an issue on which the President did not waver. He continually insisted that this was possible, that it would get done. It in fact was not possible for the President to do this through executive action. This is something that had to happen legislatively if it was really going to happen in a definitive way. The President did not waver. He did work on the Senate to make this happen. He insisted that it was possible against a lot of people, including me, saying it was not possible. This is a difficult promise kept. It's not just a promise kept. It was one that was hard to keep, that cost a lot of political capital, and a lot of work, and this is the President's victory today, and his base will reward him for it. [emphasis mine]
Despite the passage of the DADT Repeal Act in both Houses of Congress, the DADT repeal won’t be implemented immediately, due to further requirements yet to be met, the most obvious being the President’s signing of the bill.
Not so well known or obvious, is the certification process by President Obama, and his top military advisors, who must certify that lifting the ban won't negatively affect the fighting ability of the troops.
Once the certification takes place, there is a 60-day waiting period prior to implementation by the military.
Thus, it will be a few months before we see the actual implementation of the repeal. Considering the struggle that it took to get to this point, not so long at all.
Andrew Sullivan, from his post entitled "Obama's Long Game: 65-31"
Like 2009's removal of the HIV ban, which was as painstakingly slow but thereby much more entrenched, this process took time. Without the Pentagon study, it wouldn't have passed. Without Obama keeping Lieberman inside the tent, it wouldn't have passed. Without the critical relationship between Bob Gates and Obama, it wouldn't have passed. It worked our last nerve; we faced at one point a true nightmare of nothing ... for years. And then we pulled behind this president, making it his victory and the country's victory, as well as ours.
We also know now what a McCain administration would have done: nothing. The disgraceful bitterness and rancor and irrationality that the Senator has shown these past few months reveal just how important it was to defeat him and his deranged, delusional side-kick in 2008.
Many of us appreciated his "long game" from the beginning. We understood that to use an executive order to enact civil rights for gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces would have been a stopgap measure, one easily overturned immediately upon the next Republican administration taking office.
Not to gloat, but I hope that those of you who have been burning the president at the proverbial stake because you doubted his "long game", are chastened. You should be.
President Obama, in his statement after the Senate voted to repeal DADT:
It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.
Finally.And due to President Obama’s refusal to take the easy way which would have likely resulted in the reinstatement of DADT during the next Republican administration. From Think Progress:
Moments ago, in a vote of 63-33 the Senate invoked cloture on a bill to repeal the 17-year-old Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, paving the way for final passage in the coming days hours. The House passed the measure on Wednesday.
Democrats delivered eloquent speeches in support of open service. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) said, “I’m here because men and women wearing the uniform of the United States who are gay and lesbian have died for this country, because gay and lesbian men and women wearing the uniform of this country have their lives on the line right now in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places for this country.” Immediately before the vote, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), who has been the strongest advocate of repeal in the Senate, urged his colleagues to repeal the ban, saying “We’ve come to a point in our history, I hope, where neither race nor religion, ethnicity, or gender, or sexual orientation should deprive Americans of serving the country as the patriots they are.”
As I mentioned earlier today, the repeal of DADT by the end of 2010 appears to be looking quite good. More positive thinking based on empirical reasoning from Timothy Kincaid [emphasis mine]:
So although it is still tentative and a lot could still go wrong, for the first time in a long while, I think that there is a better than decent chance that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed before the end of the year.
Gates will release the military’s DADT report Nov. 30, one day earlier than planned, the Pentagon said Sunday. With the Senate slated to vote again on the repeal after the Thanksgiving recess, Gates ordered his staff to be ready a day sooner to allow for Senate hearings and “to support Congress’s wish to consider repeal before they adjourn” in December.
Lame Duck Congress? Perhaps not. Some high points via Chris Weigant:
Harry Reid has refused to be cowed by the recent near loss of his Senate seat, and has promised votes on some very tough issues during the so-called "lame duck" session.
President Obama appears to have undertaken a change in strategy to more involvement in the legislative process. This can only be a good thing for whatever reason he has done so.
The White House, along with Obama, has jumped deep in to the fray over the repeal of DADT, along with, believe it or not, Joe Lieberman. And, it's starting to look like we may see some serious action on DADT repeal in spite of the so-called "lame duck" Congress.
It's the maverick way -- spend a year studying whether soldiers deserve full civil rights, and a half an hour deciding who will be your presidential running mate.
Great vid featuring O'Donnell and Ron Paul talking about medicare, civil rights, and term limits. But there's a catch. Watch O'Donnell turn Ron Paul in to what we know he is......a babbling, bumbling goofball.
McCain being at the top of that list of panderers. These are truly awful people who have zero interest in "country," and would rather obstruct and block and sabotage the economic well-being of the people who have been suckered into supporting them.
This will be a black baby born in Mississippi, and thus where ever he is born he will be in prison ... If I go to jail now it may help hasten that day when my child and all children will be free.
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