Dean Falsely Claims Democratic Party Platform Opposes Same-Sex Marriage
| May 11th, 2006Here’s what Howard Dean said, while speaking to a religious-right audience on the 700 Club:
The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect, and that equal rights under the law are important.
Here’s what the 2004 Democratic Party Platform actually says:
We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush’s divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a “Federal Marriage Amendment.” Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.
Under pressure from lesbian and gay groups, Dean admitted his error earlier today - but as far as I can tell, reading the few news stories I found on this, he didn’t apologize.
Wow - supporting the 700 Club’s position on same-sex marriage. Just what I want from the leader of the Democratic Party. And by the way, Howard: Either you support full marriage equality for those who want it, or you don’t support equality under the law. You can’t have it both ways.
PLEASE NOTE: Comments on my threads on “Alas” are heavily moderated. If you want lighter moderation, try the identical post at Creative Destruction instead.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Domocrat, Republican… I can barely tell the difference sometimes. When people stop seeing themselves represented within a system, they start seeing themselves in opposition to the system. I don’t know if that’s going to be such a great thing.
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May 11th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
So a left-wing politician lied to a bunch of godbags and told them what they wanted to hear. How slow a news day does it have to be for that to be worthy of comment?
This comment was written by Rex Little.Report this comment to the moderators
May 11th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
I read it as typical politician weasel words (and I’m sure they did too), but it doesn’t make it any less annoying. why in fuck is he going on the 700 Club in the first place? i get the desire to reach across classic red-blue dividers–by all means, speak to religious organizations–but *that* one? shit, why not just sign yourself up a gig at Bob Jones U and have done with it?
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May 12th, 2006 at 2:07 am
this two-step, I suspect a portion of the blogosphere would wail that he was pandering to homophobes. I can scarcely wait to see their rationalizations for Dean (although my real guess is that this gets ignored.) In looking for reacton, I findAmptoons noting that Dean admitted his mistake but did not apologize for it. Matt Stoller at MyDD tackles Dean’s performance head-on, and I will reprint his entire commentary: “I’m glad he clarified. Good for him
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May 12th, 2006 at 4:15 am
700 Club: The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to […]Continue reading at Alas, a blog … posted 7:56 pm at Alas, a blog
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May 12th, 2006 at 4:18 am
05/11Dean Falsely Claims Democratic Party Platform Opposes Same-Sex Marriage
This comment was written by FeministBlogosphere.Report this comment to the moderators
May 12th, 2006 at 8:45 am
If Dean qualifies as Left-Wing, I qualify for a Fullbright. :p
This comment was written by alsis39.9.Report this comment to the moderators
May 12th, 2006 at 9:22 am
That’s really disappointing.
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May 12th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Hardly surprising.
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May 12th, 2006 at 9:56 am
If Dean is a left-wing politician I shudder at the thought of how far to the right Rex Little must be.
This comment was written by Jake Squid.Report this comment to the moderators
May 12th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
O.K. Dean rah-rah’s up the troops one day during the campaign and it’s front page news for a week for some reason I have even now yet to figure out. But when he tells a blatant lie like this, you hardly hear about it. I can’t make sense of this.
This comment was written by RonF.Report this comment to the moderators
May 12th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
OK, I should clarify. When I refer to Dean as “left wing” I’m comparing him to others who hold or have recently held high office (senators, governors, maybe Congresscritters) in the U.S. Is there anyone in that category who folks here would describe as being significantly further left than Dean? That’s not a rhetorical question; I’m genuinely curious.
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May 12th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
9: Being quite unfamiliar with politics, I would volunteer Russ Feingold as a possibility.
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May 13th, 2006 at 10:25 am
Rex,
Can you define “recently” so that we don’t go ’round & ’round? How about Kucinich, Cuomo, Kennedy as the overly obvious ones? Wellstone, Feingold, Blumenauer, DeFazio? That doesn’t even include prominent non-office holders, who you are excluding from the definition of the left/right spectrum of politics.
But I don’t believe that you can describe the range of political positions based only on those who hold “high office.” Because we don’t have anything even hinting at proportional representation, those who hold “high office” don’t represent the range of political views in the US. Why not define left & right only by Presidents, then? Or why not by School Board positions? “High office” is arbitrary.
This comment was written by Jake Squid.Report this comment to the moderators
May 14th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
[...] Tom at Just One Minute takes note of the supposed lack of reaction to Howard Dean’s flirtation with homophobia: I have every intention of keeping this incident in mind when, as the months and years unfold, folks on the right are asked to endure diatribes about our homophobia and pandering on this issue. The silence greeting Dean tells me all I need to know about the left blogosphere’s real commitment to this issue. [...]
This comment was written by Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Homo-Hating On The Left And On The Right.Report this comment to the moderators
May 14th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Tom at Just One Minute takes note of the supposed lack of reaction to Howard Dean’sflirtationwith homophobia: I have every intention of keeping this incident in mind when, as the months and years unfold, folks on the right are asked to endure diatribes about our homophobia and pandering on this issue. The silence greeting Dean tells me all I
This comment was written by Creative Destruction.Report this comment to the moderators