the iron horse
Rock n' Roll Doggie
The best family for a child is a father and mother.
And add love.
That works
And add love.
That works
The best family for a child is a father and mother.
And add love.
That works
Obama sees opening in social-issue split
By Sam Youngman - 03/09/11 06:20 AM ET
President Obama loves Iowa.
In 2008, the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus propelled Obama to front-runner status and satisfied lingering questions about his electability.
In 2012, Iowa could help the president divide and conquer his Republican opponents, staining them — fringe and mainstream candidates alike — with the mark of social conservatism at a time when voters care far more about the economy than gay marriage.
The trap was set last month when Obama ordered the Justice Department to stand down in its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Hot-button social issues are important to Republican Iowa caucus-goers, whom the GOP 2012 crowd is now trying to attract. At a forum on faith Monday night sponsored by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a number of likely GOP presidential candidates were ready to pounce when the issue came up.
“We have people in Washington, D.C., who say marriage will be defined however we feel like defining it,” former Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty said at the forum. “No, it won’t. It should be defined as between a man and a woman.”
The 2012 election, however, is more likely to turn on the economy than on gay marriage.
When then-President George W. Bush and Karl Rove pushed for gay-marriage referendums to show up on state ballots in 2004, the national unemployment rate was 5.5 percent.
The issue was a welcome distraction to talk of the Iraq war, the Patriot Act or the president’s failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
But in 2012, social issues could be a distraction for Republicans at a time when voters are worried about more pressing issues like gas prices, home foreclosures and jobs.
Obama would love for voters to focus on social issues instead of the economy, according to Lara Brown, a political science professor at Villanova University.
“In some ways, this parallels, but is the reverse of, the Bush 2004 reelection strategy, which focused on security issues and social conservatism,” Brown said. “As long as Bush stayed on his issues, his campaign stayed ahead. When the Democrats were able to steer the conversation toward the economic issues … the GOP found it difficult to defend their track record.”
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) might win the Iowa caucuses. He is spending plenty of time there, and GOP caucus-goers are of the same mind as the anti-abortion-rights, anti-gay-marriage conservative firebrand.
But if 2008 is any guide, winning Iowa would only guarantee Santorum a television show, as it did for that year’s winner, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Democrats know this, and they are delighted to watch Santorum and other likely Republican candidates fall all over themselves to lay claim to the role of the social conscience of the GOP.
Because while Republicans are running to the right on social issues in an effort to win support in Iowa, they could be alienating the independent and centrist voters who will decide the general election. Democrats argue it’s a safe bet that exit polls in November 2012 will not show gay marriage or abortion as the defining issue for the electorate.
“You don’t have to be a political scientist to know people are concerned about the economy,” said one top Democratic official.
Democrats don’t necessarily want to see Santorum win the nomination, and they know such a result is unlikely.
What is likely and welcome in the White House is the effect social-issues candidates will have on the candidates who are in a position to seriously challenge Obama.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney might poll well with voters on economic issues, but what will he say about abortion and marriage issues? How much will he talk about them, and how far right will he have to go to prove his conservative bona fides to a small but powerful group of voters who, in the White House view, are totally misrepresentative of the larger electorate?
“The challenge for the more formidable Republican candidates is to resist the temptation to shake the ideological rattles that get big applause,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. “If they all jump into the social-issue playpen together, then Obama will have an easier time next fall convincing moderate voters that he is the only adult on the ballot.”
Obama and his team have long sensed opportunity in the identity crisis Republicans are facing as their party tries to balance its new Tea Party zeal for fiscal issues and libertarianism with the socially conservative party of six years ago.
A debate over abortion and gay marriage is just what Democrats want to see happening in Iowa for the next nine months.
“Once you stick your head out on moral issues, you’re labeled,” Santorum said Monday.
He’s right. And the White House will gleefully watch Republicans cover themselves in that label while the rest of the voting public wonders why the GOP is talking about abortion instead of the economy.
Obama sees opening in social-issue split - The Hill's Ballot Box
The best family for a child is a father and mother.
And add love.
That works
Last night I heard someone comment on the TV show Modern Family, saying that he didn't like it because it "glorified gay marriage"
It seemed strange to me because he's not even a Christian.
I could understand it coming from a Christian, but how can you derive a fear of homosexuality outside of religious morals? (he was raised Christian, however, so perhaps this sort of thing is like the vestigial organ found in evolutionary studies.)
I've worked and gone to school with guys who could care less[...].
Same here. And they're usually the coarsest type of homophobe, in my experience--I think partly because they see it as a simple matter of what's self-evident, "natural" vs. "unnatural," rather than as part of some system requiring theory or doctrine to justify it. Nonreligious people aren't necessarily nonreligious because they're free thinkers who rigorously challenge all received ideas; they can be morally and intellectually inert sheep just like anyone else.I've worked and gone to school with guys who could care less about God or religion, yet vehemently oppose homosexuality. I think its a macho, frat-boy issue.
His logic? Fine, then make that argument. As far it goes I agree. But this is just an internet message board; no one can actually reach through the screen and oppress anyone else, no matter how oppressively familiar their views might feel.
Are you actually going to engage in this discussion or are you just going to repeat the same thing over and over without acknowledging anybody else's comments or questions? If it's the latter, that borders on trolling.
I guess I'm a troll, but I will stand by my belief.
Marriage is important.
Children need a mom and dad.
Stop being a fag.I guess I'm a troll, but I will stand by my belief.
Marriage is important.
Children need a mom and dad.
I guess I'm a troll, but I will stand by my belief.
Stop being a fag.
Support for Gay Marriage Reaches a Milestone: Half of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriages - ABC News
More than half of Americans say it should be legal for gays and lesbians to marry, a first in nearly a decade of polls by ABC News and The Washington Post.
This milestone result caps a dramatic, long-term shift in public attitudes. From a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, support for gay marriage has grown to 53 percent today. Forty-four percent are opposed, down 18 points from that 2004 survey.
Support for Gay Marriage Reaches a Milestone: Half of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriages - ABC News
More than half of Americans say it should be legal for gays and lesbians to marry, a first in nearly a decade of polls by ABC News and The Washington Post.
This milestone result caps a dramatic, long-term shift in public attitudes. From a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, support for gay marriage has grown to 53 percent today. Forty-four percent are opposed, down 18 points from that 2004 survey.
now fighting for equality gets the Left aroused.
It's sad that this was ever a question mark.
It's sad that this was ever a question mark.
I can't wait to see the polling of those under 30 in the next year and a half. The Republican base is dying, literally.