« Ask the Dems: Barack Obama | Main | MIA for the HRC/Logo forum »
August 08, 2007
Ask the Dems: John Edwards
Posted by: Chris
Regular readers of this blog (or my take on things while editing gay newspapers) already know that I'm not a huge fan of John Edwards. He strikes me as a Bill Clinton "who hasn't read the books," as former aide Bob Shrum put it. That means all the former president's "feel your pain," but without his gravity as a policymaker.
Nonetheless, he has hit some strong notes on gay-related issues, so much so that I marked him the "front-runner" on gay issues at one point, at least before the Human Rights Campaign questionnaire came out, making clear that all the leading Dems back a full range of federal legal recognition of gay couples in civil unions and other long-term relationships.
It was a long way from Edwards' weak record on gay rights in his first term as a senator from conservative North Carolina, offering fertile territory for his tough debate question:
Senator Edwards, you’ve talked about your “personal journey” on gay marriage, but the description also applies to your overall gay rights record. A former top aide of yours wrote in his memoir that you once said you weren’t “comfortable around those people,” meaning gays, and you received a 66 out of 100 from HRC during your first term in the Senate. Is your support today for gay rights today real, or are you Mitt Romney, the pro-gay Republican from Massachusetts who's now anti-gay, in reverse?
Previous questions:
Dennis Kucinich
Joe Biden (not attending)
Chris Dodd (cancelled)
Bill Richardson
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama
For a complete summary of gay issues in the presidential race, go to: http://www.gaynewswatch.com/whitehouse08
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834527dd469e200e3933836cc8834
The comments to this entry are closed.
Comments