Pressure Busts Pipes

The only journalist I have really seen hitting hard over the Ugandan "Kill The Gays" legislation has been Rachel Maddow. But evidently she struck a chord because now she has leading anti gay figures in this country running for the hills and running away from their own influence on that legislation. Funny, because at first none of them thought they needed to say a word about it. I am beginning to put Rick Warren in the same category as Sarah Palin.

Seriously.

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Glass Houses And Rachel Maddow

I normally enjoy the "Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC and evidently I am not alone. Rachel Maddow's show has already surpassed CNN's offering of "Larry King Live" and has held her own against FoxNews' "Hannity and Colmes" in terms of ratings of the key 25-54 demographic. But since the announcement that Rick Warren would be giving the invocation for President Elect Barack Obama's inauguration, she has taken time out of every show to attack Obama for inviting him. Now I understand that this is actually a personal issue for Ms Maddow because she herself is gay, but she is also a television host and it seems she is personalizing a news story quite a bit too much for my liking. Evidently she sees Obama inviting Rick Warren to do the invocation as an unforgivable sin because in her world that honor is furthering Rick Warren's agenda. But I have a question for Rachel Maddow, using your own purity test, what does that say about you having Patrick J. Buchanan on your show repeatedly? Is not he as bad or worse than Rick Warren on the subject of homosexuality and gay marriage? And doesn't your willingness to allow him to come on your highly rated show legitimize his feelings? To refresh your memory lets take a look back on some of the things Pat Buchanan has said about gay marriage and homosexuality.

First direct quotes from when Pat Buchanan was running for President 8 short years ago:

Buchanan has said that AIDS is nature’s “retribution against homosexuals.”

“If someone is an out-of-the-closet homosexual and if someone advocates the homosexual rights agenda publicly they’re not going to be in my Cabinet. I believe that homosexuality is a disorder. It’s a wrong orientation.”

“Rampant homosexuality, a sign of cultural decadence and moral decline from Rome to Weimar, is celebrated, as our first lady parades up Fifth Avenue to share her ‘pride’ in a lifestyle ruinous to body and soul alike.” He condemned the Democratic Party for ignoring the “moral crisis” and the GOP for seeking “peace” with gay groups.

I think civil unions are absurd. They passed these up in Vermont where homosexual couples have been put on the same level as traditional marriage. And I’m delighted to say that five Republicans that voted for that were defeated and thrown out in the primary. If this country accepts the idea that homosexual liaisons are the same as traditional marriage, which is a God-ordained building block of society, this country is on the road to hell in a handbasket.

Q: Mr. Buchanan mentioned before that he has not embraced the gay rights agenda in its entirety.

A: I don’t apologize for my views with regards to gay rights. I oppose the gay rights agenda in its entirety. I was saying that tongue-in-cheek. Third, I did say that AIDS is in effect what happens to people as a consequence of unnatural and immoral sex. And, as you know, homosexual conduct is the primary--or was the primary way by which AIDS was spread. It was a truthful statement.

And this is all from the person whom you affectionately refer to as "Uncle Pat" and allow to be seen as a serious person on your show.








I know what you are thinking, that was so long ago and Uncle Pat has changed. Well lets look at some more recent insight from Mr. Buchanan.

What about when he vehemently argued against the decision by justices to overturn a ban on gay marriage in California?

What about when he blogged on town hall and compared the fight against gay marriage to "Shays Rebellion"?

And yet another quote about how he sees homosexuality.

"To some of us, homosexuality is an affliction, like alcoholism, and hellishly difficult to control."

Hell lets watch him advocate forcefully against gay marriage yesterday on another MSNBC show.

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So Ms. Maddow are you going to ban "Uncle Pat" from coming back on your show? Or are you going to show the hypocrisy of your attacks on President Elect Obama and welcome him back with open arms while still throwing Obama under the bus? Of course there is a third option. You could cut Obama the same kind of slack that you would want afforded you in this situation. The ball is squarely in your court. It will be interesting to see which way she goes on this.


(h/t Coates)

Et Tu Rev. Lowery? Oh Noes

So I was just watching 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on MSNBC and as I said earlier I am fast becoming a fan. Well tonight David Shuster had on Reverend Joseph Lowery who will be giving the benediction for the inauguration to answer questions about Rev. Rick Warren being on the same program giving the invocation. But a strange thing happened on the way to the Ball. You see Rev. Lowery, who has in fact been a long time crusader for civil rights of all peoples, corrected David Shuster when he said that Rev. Lowery supports gay marriage. Rev. Lowery in his own words says that he has never said that he endorses gay marriage but he does endorse civil unions. Now I DARE John Cloud or any of his homeboys to call Rev. Lowery a bigot as they did President Elect Barack Obama. Nay I DOUBLE DARE you. I would say this puts the issue of whether people who support civil unions are bigots or not to bed forever. Period. End of discussion.

Que the video.

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Obama Is The Anderson Silva Of Political Jui Jitsu UPDATED

So we are in day 5 of the meltdown over the Rick Warren pick to do the invocation at the inauguration. Now to be clear once again I will reaffirm my disdain for Rick Warren. Not only is he a homophobe, but he is also a bald faced liar when it comes to Prop 8. I think there is something in the Ten Commandments about bearing false witness but I digress. There has been outrage directed at President Elect Barack Obama however that I believe is way over the top. Besides that there has been, in my opinion a wrong headed analysis but some on the left who have concluded that the choice of Warren does nothing for Obama politically. Well I have to call bullshit on that. I don't personally feel that the choice of Rick Warren is purely politically as Obama has given him praise during the campaign and they have some common interests including climate change and AIDS relief issues. But on the political level I don't think anybody can honestly argue that this is a bad move. Its actually a great move politically if you ask me and allow me to explain.

The plain and simple truth is that Obama has a much better chance of picking up evangelical votes with this pick than he does losing LGBT votes. If you want to look at this through a purely political lens its actually brilliant no two ways about it. Exit polls showed that he garnered 70% of the LGBT vote. How much higher a percentage could he possibly get from that constituency? But with evangelicals he only garnered about 30% of their votes and he has a whole lot of room to grow. The truth is whether we like it or not LGBT folk won't be voting Republican any time soon. Now maybe they stay at home but I am not buying it. Most of them aren't single issue voters and if Obama gets the economy back on track, gets us out of Iraq, and repeals DADT I can't see them risking letting Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee both of which are TRUE gay haters come to power in 2012.

But with evangelicals you have to remember that there was a substantial bunch in the group that believed and perhaps still do believe that Obama is a muslim marxist socialist who kills babies and eats them for breakfast. We laugh but I have had to have heated arguments over people who were so caught up on the faux born alive scandal that they literally acted as if Obama was in a hospital some where with a hammer. And yet he still got almost 30 percent of that vote. And giving Rick Warren a platform at the inauguration is another thing that is going to make their head swirl about Obama. They are already amazed that he didn't name Bill Ayers as his Secretary of Defense. They are already amazed that Rev Wright isn't his Secretary of State. So now that he actually reached out to an evangelical who he clearly doesn't agree with on many issues he is going to at least make them question all of the beliefs they had about him pre election. And if he comes through on most if not all of his campaign pledges then many of those evangelicals are going to vote their best interests in 2012 rather than voting their fears.

Evangelicals are not some hive mind that are totally inflexible. The fact that many religious leaders are now coming out and saying that voting for a candidate that is pro choice is not a mortal sin shows that there is room for compromise IMHO. And whether people understand or get it or not, Rick Warren's followers are not just evangelicals. There are plenty of people who would never classify themselves as evangelical and might not even go to church who think his "Purpose Driven Life" books are the best books they have ever read. Hell I have a two different copies of the book here at my house that were both gifted to me for Christmas two years ago. Do you think that made me vote for McCain?

The real question in a political lens is this, do you try to reach out to a group of over 20 million who has bought books from this man and respect him and his opinions or do you try to reach out to a group that you already have over 70 percent support from and whom your opposition consistently and repeatedly villifies? I think the answer to that question is a no brainer.

Besides that think about what one of his potential rivals in 2012 has said about the Warren pick. Lets take MIke Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, it’s ridiculous for people to be upset with Rick Warren. He’s one of the most influential spiritual leaders of this generation. I’ve known Rick for over 30 years. We were actually in seminary together in Ft. Worth, Texas, back in the mid-1970s. He is today what he always has been, and that’s a humble, gracious, thoughtful, very intellectual capable person. I think it’s a wonderful thing that Barack Obama reached out to him. I thought it was a tremendous expression on Barack Obama’s part. I’m proud that Rick Warren is going to do it and I think that people ought to recognize…look, that’s part of what being religious is all about. You have strong convictions and nobody is going to have a religious leader who is in agreement with everybody.

Now as the rival who is most likely to bring culturally conservative issues into the race for President in 2012 don't you think its going to be pretty hard for Huckabee to paint Obama as a radical after that kind of praise? Better yet between now and then you will have people like Sean Hannity who will HAVE to defend the choice of Warren to do the inauguration because he has aligned himself with Warren's views. So once again the hypocrisy will be on record for use four years from now.

As a more immediate political motive has anybody else noticed how the whole faux Blago Gate scandal wrt President Elect Obama has pretty much fizzled since the Warren choice came to light? Ask yourself a question, why was that information made available before the new year when they knew it would spark some controversy? Hmmmmm.

Now I will reiterate that yes Rick Warren is a bigot and yes I understand why people are upset about him giving the invocation. But you can't possibly convince me that this is a bad move politically. The invitation of Rick Warren to do the invocation is setting Obama up to do give a rear naked choke to his Republican opponents in 2012.

Update: Don't faint but even Pat Robertson has weighed in with support for President Elect Obama. From thinkprogress

Despite having “grave misgivings about him” earlier, Robertson said he now lauds Obama for picking a “middle-of-the road Cabinet.” “I’m very pleased so far,” he concluded

Finally The Truth Comes Out

Thank you again Media Matters for illustrating the hypocrisy of Rick Warren's rhetoric on Prop 8 in California. LGBT activists would do well to bang this drum instead of trying to demean President Elect Barack Obama for inviting Warren to do the invocation at the inauguration IMHO. The more people learn that he was lying through his teeth the more he will lose his prestige and the trust of the people that follow him. From Media Matters:

During her December 19 Dateline NBC report on Rev. Rick Warren, after noting Warren's support for California's Proposition 8 -- which amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage -- co-host Ann Curry reported that "Warren says he joined the fray out of a concern that if Proposition 8 wasn't passed, pastors would lose their right to preach about the biblical definition of marriage." Curry then added, "But many constitutional experts say that fear was totally unfounded, and gay rights leaders saw Warren's stance as an infringement on their civil rights." As Media Matters for America documented, while previewing her interview with Warren the day before, Curry uncritically reported that Warren "was worried that this Proposition 8 would prevent him from getting up on the pulpit and speaking out against same-sex marriage," echoing the falsehood that had Proposition 8 not passed, members of the clergy could have been restricted in what they could say in the pulpit and could have been forced to perform same-sex marriages.

In fact, Proposition 8 and the California Supreme Court decision it sought to overturn had nothing to do with members of the clergy, and did not address their actions or speech in any way. As Media Matters has documented, the California Supreme Court itself noted the irrelevance of its decision to clergy, saying in the majority opinion that "no religion will be required to change its policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs."

Why Im Meh About Rick Warren

John Cole over at Balloon Juice hits the ball out of the park about why Rick Warren giving the invocation at the inauguration doesn't give me the willies. Its about President Elect Barack Obama, not about Rick Warren.

I just heard Harry Knox from the Human Rights Campaign on CNN state that Barack Obama has just told gays and lesbians that they are not welcome. This is not only obnoxious and silly, but factually it is not the case:

Barack Obama and Gay Rights in Illinois:
Barack Obama supported gay rights during his Illinois Senate tenure. He sponsored legislation in Illinois that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Barack Obama in the United States Senate:
Every two years the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay and lesbian organization, issues a scorecard for members of the Senate based on their sponsorship and voting on key issues of importance to gay and lesbian citizens. Barack Obama scored 89 out of 100% in the 2006 scorecard. Here’s how HRC rated Barack Obama:

Barack Obama on Hate Crimes:
Barack Obama co-sponsored legislation to expand federal hate crimes laws to include crimes perpetrated because of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Employment Non-Discrimination:
Barack Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes it should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The list goes on over at Cole's site and I think this is needed for folks to keep their perspective in all this. I am concerned about policy not symbols and Obama has already shown himself to be a friend to the LGBT movement. For people to say otherwise is actually a slap to HIS face in my opinion.

Is Rick Warren Welcome In The Log Cabin?

I will be honest, the selection by President Elect Barack Obama of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration doesn't really move me the way it has some liberals. I understand the outrage because of his recent comments about >homosexuality and gay marriage(although he did endorse civil unions) but the truth IMHO is that there are a helluva lot more preachers in this country who agree with his views on those issues than those who disagree (also I am at least AS troubled by his comments endorsing the assassination of world leaders). And I also understand that there are a lot of rank and file citizens in this country who believe in granting gay couples at least civil unions who have at least one of Warren's books in their home and or office. The truth to me is that ANYBODY who was chosen would be a controversial pick due to all of the "Obama is a Moooslem" smears and the whole Reverend Wright fiasco. The most important thing about the selection to me is that it will resonate with the largest swath of America. You can agree with a religious leader on many issues without agreeing him on others and there are a lot of people who feel like "Purpose Driven Life" has really helped them in their day to day.

But what thing I am wondering about is where are the Log Cabin Republicans these days? These are people who support a Republican party that wants to act as if they don't even exist. If you listen to 99% of Republican officials you would think that all gay people are lefty librul Democrats intent on ruining America. Newt Gingrich, supposedly a leading Republican "thinker", has said there is gay people who want gay marriage are fascists who want to "impose their will on America". Talk about voting against your personal interests. To me it would be like a section of black folks supporting the Dixiecrats back in the day because they wanted to pay lower taxes for their segregated schools. I. Just. Don't. Get. It.

So Log Cabiners, on this Rick Warren issue, what say you?

Update: Ta Nehisi Coates over at the Atlantic points out that Pastor Joe Lowery, who is an outspoken supporter of gay rights, will also be on the inauguration program giving the benediction. I am waiting to see if the liberals who are throwing Obama under the bus will at least give him his props for that.