And The Hits Just Keep On Coming…
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on June 14, 2009 at 11:50 PM in Bamboozling, Campaign promises, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Dept. of Justice (Obama), Don't Ask Don't Tell, GLBT, Gay Rights, Hoodwinking, Pandering, President Barack Obama, WORMs
(bumped up from earlier yesterday)
Oh, boy. Well, Obama recently showed his true colors on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” (see this, this, and this) and he has REALLY shown them on “DOMA” (Defense of Marriage Act). I’m sorry to keep harping on this, but hey - it IS Pride month, after all, and what better time to stab a community in the back than the month you proclaim for them? At least that seems to be Obama’s Opposite World logic.
Before I go any further, let me just say, for the gazillionith time: I TOLD YOU THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. All of us who didn’t just blow off his anti-gay associates, those of us who saw his saying one thing and doing another, without making excuses (”well, yes, I am disappointed, but…” Those of us who paid attention to his close associates KNEW this was coming. Once again, for all of you groups who supported Obama, who just KNEW he was going to bring Hope! and Change! on his little Rainbow Unicorn Pony, thus throwing the rest of us to the curb, I freakin’ told you so.
John Aravosis, lays it all out in this article, “Obama Defends DOMA In Federal Court.” Here’s a little taste of it:
We just got the brief from reader Lavi Soloway. It’s pretty despicable, and gratuitously homophobic. It reads as if it were written by one of George Bush’s top political appointees. I cannot state strongly enough how damaging this brief is to us. Obama didn’t just argue a technicality about the case, he argued that DOMA is reasonable. That DOMA is constitutional. That DOMA wasn’t motivated by any anti-gay animus. He argued why our Supreme Court victories in Roemer and Lawrence shouldn’t be interpreted to give us rights in any other area (which hurts us in countless other cases and battles). He argued that DOMA doesn’t discriminate against us because it also discriminates about straight unmarried couples (ignoring the fact that they can get married and we can’t).He actually argued that the courts shouldn’t consider Loving v. Virginia, the miscegenation case in which the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to ban interracial marriages, when looking at gay civil rights cases. He told the court, in essence, that blacks deserve more civil rights than gays, that our civil rights are not on the same level.
Yep. Pretty much. But we already knew that, didn’t we? When the military will gladly take people, check that - heterosexual people - with criminal records over keeping West Point grads, I think the message is clear.
I am disgusted beyond belief. Not surprised, mind you, just disgusted. And angry.
There’s more, as this article highlights, “Gay Rights Groups Irate After Obama Administration Lauds Defense Of Marriage Act.” Make sure you check out the powerful photo in this one:
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama claimed “we need to fully repeal the Defense of Marriage Act,” which says states are not required to recognize other states’ same-sex marriages.That was then. This week, the Obama administration is facing the ire of gay rights groups after it filed a brief in California federal court defending the Defense of Marriage Act and calling it a “valid exercise of Congress’ power” that is saving taxpayers money.
The Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. It doesn’t prohibit same-sex marriages; instead, it says that no state “shall be required” to honor same-sex marriages taking place elsewhere or any “right or claim arising from such relationship.”
“Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire” would be appropriate here, IF we weren’t talking about people’s LIVES. And that’s what makes this so egregious. Still disgusted beyond belief, but this time, not only with Obama, but these groups who jumped on his little American Idol bandwagon, lapping up his Teleprompter “Words, just words.” And that’s JUST what they were - words. The actions are telling the tale, and it ain’t good.
And in a related case, the DOJ weighs in on a related case, “DOJ Moves To Dismiss First Fed Gay Marriage Case“:
The government said Smelt and Hammer seek a ruling on “whether by virtue of their marital status they are constitutionally entitled to acknowledgment of their union by states that do not recognize same-sex marriage, and whether they are similarly entitled to certain federal benefits.“Under the law binding on this Court, the answer to these questions must be no,” the motion states.
Oh, yes - he is SUCH a friend to the LGBT community - in Opposite World, that is. And this kind of backtracking, bamboozling, bullshit from Obama is precisely why I told the HRC guy who called me the other day to get me to reinstate my membership that there was no way in hell I would do that after the HRC supported Obama, and not HRC (you know, as in Hillary). He kept telling me that Obama SAID he was going to this, and Obama SAID he was going to do that. I told him Obama could say whatever he WANTED, but the fact remained he had done NOTHING yet, and his history led me to believe he wouldn’t. I just didn’t realize that in one week - within a couple of days of each other - that Obama would prove me right. And not just that he wasn’t going to do anything, but he did WORSE than that, screwing us six ways to Sunday. What I told this man at HRC as I got off the phone was, “Obama is no friend to the GLBT community.” Talk about an understatement.
Once again, I say that anyone who thought for one skinny second that Obama was going to do anything at all positive for the GLBT community was deluding themselves so they could vote for the one everyone said was the cool kid, the popular guy, the one whose razor thin resume would have been laughed at except for his marketing team who billed no experience, and no qualifications, as the Change We NEED!! Well, this is change alright, but I sure as hell don’t need it, and frankly, I resent all of those people who mindlessly voted for this man, who attacked all of us who didn’t buy his hooey from the get-go, all those people who called (and still call) us racists, and on and on and on because we didn’t swallow the Kool Aide.
So, during this Pride Month, let me just say, thanks shitloads for giving us this guy who is taking us back, no, legislating us back into the closet (a little poetic license - you know what I mean). Yep - thanks a whole lot for a whole lot of grief.
Now - what are you gonna DO about it???
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By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
Damn……..now we will get a Gay Czar.
Ironically, the gay and lesbian community now find themselves underneath the bus with those of us labelled as extreme right wingers by Obama’s minions for having the audacity to question the Messiah and for supporting HRC.
might as well.got one for everything else..
This is a country that elected Richard Nixon - twice, Ronald Reagan - twice and George W. Bush - twice.
Let’s just make sure we don’t elect Barack Obama - twice…
AMEN TO THAT!!!! LOL
I’m a gay man and my gay friends thought my partner and I were nuts to vote for McCain… We were diehard Clinton supporters… we saw through Obama’s emptiness and saw him for a fraud… we were chastised by friends because we refused to support him in November. I rub it in their faces now and remind them how their Obama is doing for them now! LOL Many refuse to talk about him now! This is a reminder that all voters should vote their conscience and stop voting just because a person is their party chosen…. The DNC has become a hack party! I see it pissing itself down the toilet with each passing minute!
“This is a reminder that all voters should vote their conscience”
Just like John McCain voted his conscience when he voted against Bush’s ghastly Federal Amendment to ban gay marriage?
You can’t overstate the importance of McCain’s vote. The Gay Marriage Ban died when it didn’t even get 50 votes in a Republican-controlled Senate, let alone the 66 needed to pass. Voting ‘No’ as a Republican, McCain killed the Marriage Amendment. If that horror had passed in the Senate, it would have sailed through the states and become the 28th Amendment.
Bush threw his whole Presidency behind the Marriage Amendment. McCain killed the fucking thing–and paid for it politically with the Republican base.
But according to Obama, McCain = Bush. Do the math. If McCain = Bush, then Gay Rights = zero.
ScottVA—-It’s wonderful to read your comment about y’all voting for McCain….My hubby and I, staunch Hillary-ites, were exactly the same way, and like y’all, ALL of our friends thought we were NUTS!
Comments like yours are a positive and rewarding by-product of reading NoQuarter! Best to you and yours.
Amen brother. P.S. like your site. How is the weather in Portland?
Piss on all of the bigots who just don’t get it. I told all my friends, they thought I was crazy. Oh, yeah. sure. Excuse me- but I can tell who my friends are & AREN’T. Barky and his minions are not my friends. There is nothing so vicious as the vitriol directed at those who are out from those who will never come out. Hey- everybody has to have someone to be better than- and we’re just the ones at the bottom. However- as long as I have no actual civil rights, nobody else has any, either. Just sayin’.
I hear ya, Brodie. Right there with ya, too.
HARP - I love the Gay Czar! He’ll probably give it to Barney Frank as payback for all Barney has done for him.
And Elder Jane, you said it!!
Oh, so when it comes to, say, the automobile czar, it was okay for BO to pick someone with no prior experience in the auto industry, but when it comes to choosing the gay czar, you’re saying he has to pick someone who is gay?
Did someone think it made sense to appoint someone with no experience as the car czar?
My guess is he would appoint Rev. Wright or Phyllis Schlaffley as the gay czar - that would make more Obama-sense.
I was making a joke.
Great post, Amy…my favorite words that sums up all the campaign promises:
Thanks for this.
And I am sorrier that I can say that we have even more thrown under the bus. The list is getting very long.
Thanks for your comments, Ani - and yes, there are WAY too many of us who have been thrown under the bus, off a cliff, wherever he’s got room, sad to say. And this is just month FIVE!!!!! Sheesh..
Obama’s a fucker.
If this were ever to become a big issue, I wonder what kind of bullshit “major speech” he’d try to pull on us?
I think he will next make an historic speech for civil rights for all.
I too cannot believe that Obama supporters were so idiotic to disregard his actions - ie. Rick Warren and his other idiotic preacher, his record…what record?, and swallowed his empty rhetoric. I was an ardent Hillary supporter all the way through and still am…these idiotic so-called left folks who went for the Kool-aid really amaze me. So now we have escalated war in Afghanistan, bank bailouts, and going backwards quickly on gay rights. Hillary would have done much better for the gay community, and would have fought for it. The Left wanted Edwards or Obama, or anyone but Hillary. What fools. So we have Mr. Popularity, no experience, all talk.
For anyone paying attention during the primary, this one should not have been hard to predict. The LGBT community is now “firmly” under the bus, along with Jews, women, others.
RRRA, what excuses are the bots making for this - or do they care?
That’s just it - they are making “excuses.” And, they’re disappointed, of course, especially the gay rights groups. Here’s a good article on it (and by good, I mean answers your question): http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/obama_admin_hearts_doma_do_gays_still_heart_obama.php
I left this on the Atlantic site.
“Perhaps if the gay community was able to get more public figures to come out of the closet and get folks out of the clubs and onto the streets, the president would be able to stick his neck out.” A little homophobic, are we? The point is, as the Presidential wannabe, BO ’stuck his neck out’ by declaring, if elected, he would move to rescind prejudicial legislation such as DOMA. Now, safely ensconced in the job, why would you assume his reversal - actually, he is not only not moving to rescind DOMA but is arguing to sustain it - is based on fear and not a shared homophobia? (Personally, I marvel at the twisted logic of this lecturer in Constitutional law that argues to the courts, only a law that applies to homosexuals should be denied the Constitutional protection of Article IV’s “Full Faith and Credit.” Could be that advocating in this way raises an equal protection question.)
I’ve seen bot posts saying that Obama is setting up the chessboard, first denying rights, and then will pull a checkmate out that no one sees coming. Pffftt. Gee, maybe that was what Hitler was doing, too, but he just got prevented from getting to the end of his “Jewish-friendly chess game”.
“He told the court, in essence, that blacks deserve more civil rights than gays, that our civil rights are not on the same level”.
It’s no different than what Brazille was saying during the primaries, that gay rights are not civil rights - civil rights are just for blacks. Eric Holder is continuing Brazille’s argument.
“The brief even resorts to the argument that DOMA doesn’t deny gays anything because they’re still entitled to all the benefits that heterosexuals get — if they act heterosexually”
So I guess they’d see no problem with a white president taking away blacks’ rights, and then denying it, because if they’d do a Michael Jackson and become white, they have the same rights as anyone else.
But not to worry. They’re also saying BO is SO busy, he wants to do the right thing, he’s just too busy right now. (giving speeches and having expensive dates with his wife)
Since Newsweek as already called him God, the bots can just excuse his actions by reassuring the faithful that Obama works in mysterious ways.
You really are kidding me — one truly has to drink a great deal of koolaid to go this far out on a limb to defend his actions, although if one looks at his campaign, what has transpired was obvious 18 months ago.
Oh yeah, the old eleventh dimension chess routine. What a bunch of moose poop. The guy couldn’t win at checkers without a teleprompter giving him his next move.
I think THEY think he’s still playing his chess game!
You do realize it’s Gay Pride weekend in Washington, DC?
If the parade goes anywhere near the White House, I hope there’s a protest.
Yes an you can bet Hillary will march with them, as she does every year. The gays really blew this one. Big time. So did the women who don’t get it yet, but will soon enough.
Tell it, RRRA, tell the truth.
You don`t get it. The progressives think if this issue is never settled then gays will ALWAYS remain democrats. It`s the same thing with Roe v Wade. They have to keep it out there that it will be over turned to keep women voting democrat. Have the republicans ever threatened to over turn Roe v Wade, no. Couldn`t the issues the gays have been settled by now, yes. Hell, even Cheney agrees with us. The republicans don`t give a shit if gays get married or are in the military. Quit voting democrat. You will get what you want sooner than you think if you threaten the democrats. Then the democrats will have to think of another carrot they can dangle in front of people`s noses. I`m over the democrat BS. They need us. We don`t need them.
That’s a good point, comparing it to how they use RvW - I hadn’t thought of that.
Interesting point — all the while they get to keep demonizing Republicans and holding women, GLBT and the AA community hostage. Hmmm.
Wonder if any Republicans are listening and finally willing to truly make theirs a big tent, without words, just words.
This man is a panderer.
Yes, but remember, gay blacks are still a repressed minority. Proposition 8 would not have passed if all the blacks who showed up to vote for BO had voted against Prop 8.
Yeah, well, John Aravosis can kiss my ass. He was vitriolic in defending Barack Obama against Hillary Clinton during the primary, and for him to now complain about Obama as if he didn’t know before November is precious, reeking, stinking hypocrisy.
I agree with you, RRRA, on this. It is sickening. It is disgusting that we are STILL hearing these pointless excuses for denying equality.
But John Aravosis has NO reason to karp–HE WORKED VERY HARD TO ELECT OBAMA. So screw Aravosis and the mule he rode in on. I really despise Aravosis. He’s a mean, spiteful, arrogant person.
Mountainaires, I totally hear you, and you are absolutely right. But that is EXACTLY why someone like him being so upset by Obama is so telling. But it is a bi ol’ karma thing, isn’t it? He shilled for Obama, and this is his payback. Just desserts, I’d say…
And it is sickening, no doubt abt it.
Mountainers. Do you recall the gay guys in CA who hung Hillary in effigy? Wonder what their Obots #sses are thinking now. I truly despise these type of people who can’t think their way out of a paper bag yet think they are so smart. They continue to lambast us, the truly smart people.
But…
But….
But….
Don’t you see..
This is Obamas 16 level tri-dimensional chess game..
When he does the exact opposite of what we want..he is actually giving us what we want..
Don’t you see that..
or are you racist?
I guess I must be, cause I don’t see it.
So why don’t we start to bombard the media,as if they care BUT maybe fox news would like to get on it?
As far as celebrity ,I really liked Melissa etheridge but I watched her as they talked in the primaries,Melissa and other gays, Hillary,Obama and the way she responded to Hillary really pissed me off. She and so many others,RO, Ellen still make the excuses that we are hearing from other obats.
Has anyone read any of there veiws lately?
This is a wonderful post,RRRA. I am a straight old lady with no personal horse in this race, but I had many long, heated “conversations” with some gay friends during the primary. They couldn’t point to one positive thing Obama had done regarding any gay issue, as opposed to Hillary who has always been a friend of the gay community, yet they bought the BS instead of the substance and the history of support from Hillary. It’s hard to feel sorry for them now, but my heart is with you and the good people like you who deserve better.
Thanks, Babs, for the kind words of support. I am sure many here appreciate them!
And thanks everyone else, too, for the great comments! This is such a personally painful issue for so many of us, but the humor really helps, and the impact of the solidarity cannot be overstated…
Thanks!
JRD, I don’t know whether you’ll read this, as your port was many hours ago, but I agree with you completely. I have friends who still won’t believe me that it was the Republicans who helped LBJ get the Civil Rights Act through Congress, not the Democrats. I know many Republicans who are pro-life in their personal lives, but have the common sense and wisdom to support pro-choice views for the country at large. When I hear the Sarah Palin haters talk about her religion or her pro-life views, I ask them to point to one instance where she let her personal views on social issues interfere with her decisions as governor, and they shut up really fast.
Just keep documenting all this stuff, people. No rest for the
waryweary. I tell you, in 3 years the Obots will be swigging the kool-aid all over again. Bet on it. (Believe it or not, I am normally an optimist.)RRRA,
lmao and I’ll throw in a [pllthhh](raspberry)
But the next paragraph does just crystalize how tragic it is, doesn’t it?
I have a new neighbor behind me. We’ve spoken a few times. He is a retired Prof, but his partner still works and is also a Prof at the college up the road. He wanted to tell me how excited he was to see my lic plate. He said he voted for Gore in 2000, but sadly….,. Then he said, “well, at least we have a Democrat now”. I said “well, sort of, but we don’t want to get in to that”. He replied “oh really?” and seem so surprised. I wonder if any of these folks pay attention or did they really vote based on sterotyping. Assuming because he was black and a democrat they didn’t have to pay attention and just THOUGHT he would do right. I have found that seems to be the case more often than not. They just assumed he would be there on all rights issues, anti war, etc.
Like Bill Maher, when are they going to pay attention to the reality?
We sceamed to John Aravosis and I finally gave up and never went back to his blog. Many, many of my friends refused to hear me as I told them about Obama beginning his campaign with preachers and Donnie McClurkin parading throughout the South demonizing gays and talking about Jesus saving McClurkin from the evil of homosexuality. It was all there. He had The Faith Tour and The Gospel Tour. We watched as The Democratic Platform tried to leave us out this year since Donna Brazille stated that gay rights had no place alongside of civil rights for blacks. These people just plain refused to look at it. They denied it. They can all go to hell. I’ve kept yelling since the man took office. Now I’ll say this. It would be typical for a man on the DL to do something like this. Maybe, we should finally let Larry Sinclair speak.
You’re right, it was all there. I tried to talk to my smart, educated lesbian friends, some of whom were for B0 from the start, and some who converted after supporting Hillary.
I talked about McClurkin; I talked about B0 refusing to have pics with Gavin Newsome; I talked about his comments about how “God is in the mix” for male/female marriages only; I talked about how he never marches in Pride parades, and didn’t give any gay media interviews until the end of the primary. I talked about everything Hillary has done for our community.
I talked about it all, to no avail, and saw my friendships withered almost to nothing.
They all voted for B0, IMHO because he is part black, and they thought that meant something specific about who he is and what he would do, contrary to all evidence.
They were fooled, and now we will all pay.
Thanks again for another great, heartfelt post, R3 Amy. I’m a newly AARP straight lady/woman/female whose life in the arts/teaching/childcare in a major USA metropolitan area has educated me beyond what I ever wanted to know about the “simple hell human beings give other human beings,” to paraphrase a line from my all time favorite novel To Kill A Mockingbird. From that novel and my life so far I’ve also learned of the simple, daily kindnesses one human being bestows on another–at home, church, school, in neighbhorhood, city and beyond.
Kindness of mind and kindness of thought works well for everybody, especially in the hard times. I say it again, Amy: you, your many friends on these blogs and millions of Americans have the compassion, smarts and work ethic of our HRC to do the right thing for We the People (not We the Voting Bloc) We just gotta keep going, folks. We are civilian politicians. Keep, keep going.
Thanks for this piece! We’ll be saying “I told you so” over and over again. All the names we were called, and now folks who voted for this abomination can eat crow, and more crow, and more crow…
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