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January 20, 2008
With friends like these…
Posted by: Chris
The pressure has been mounting in Iowa over something other than this month's presidential primary caucuses. The Iowa Supreme Court is also due to hand down soon its ruling in a lawsuit challenging the exclusion of same-sex couples from the institution of marriage.
Local press reports dissect public appearances by the state's chief justice for clues on how her court will rule, and conservatives are already rallying in favor of an amendment to the state's constitution that would decide the question once and for all.
The governor of Iowa, Democrat Chet Culver, has a moderate gay rights record, having signed an anti-discrimination measure into law. But he's no moderate on marriage; not only is he in favor of "traditional marriage of one man and one woman," he has vowed to defy any adverse court ruling by agreeing to a constitutional amendment.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to protect marriage between a man and a woman,” he has said, including a special legislative session if necessary.
And yet you would search in vain for any evidence that the legions of staffers sent to Iowa by the Human Rights Campaign were at work lobbying the governor or legislators on the issue -- even though we all know it may be upon us in a matter of weeks. No, they were too busy having fun with the presidential primary, even though HRC hasn't endorsed anyone and the Democratic candidates are roughly equivalent -- at least in terms of where they stand on gay rights.
Ironically, HRC has gone out of its way to brag about its influence on the Iowa Democratic Party and politics in that state, without ever once acknowledging (that I could find) the looming battle on gay marriage or one iota of effort to prepare for it.
Nothing like declaring victory and going home to Washington.
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Comments
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you totally just missed the point of the article Andoni, It doesn't matter which party you choose your still going to get screwed over. I live in a similar state and our "strong open minded democratic governor" said and did exactly the same thing. ...Suckers!
Andoni on Jan 21, 2008 8:00:32 AM:
I watched the online Nevada caucus results on the Nevada Democratic Party web page as they came in. Obama beat Clinton in 11 out of Nevada's 17 counties. Where he lost big was Clark County (Las Vegas) which is the typical Democratic stronghold. Obama basically won the rest of the state.
So, come November, who do you want representing the party.... the person who can only win in the Democratic strongholds....or the one who has broad support in areas that are not traditionally Democratic?
Wake up Democrats! In November, both Obama and Clinton would do well in the usual Democratic strongholds -- the ones Hillary is getting now. If you want more than 50% of the vote--- in order TO WIN, you need other areas, new areas, such as the ones Obama has demonstrated he can get in Iowa, New Hampshire and now Nevada. The Democratic Party is a minority party and needs broader support to win.
Will the Democrats wake up in time from their suicide march.... or is their loyalty to Hillary more powerful than their loyalty to their party and their country?