May 21, 2008

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Once again, it takes a comedian to point out the absurdity of the Republican stance against gay marriage, something no journalist appears willing to take on. In presumably an attempt to appeal to the young vote, Republican presidential nominee John McCain appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Ellen wasted no time talking about the "elephant in the room."

McCain didn't dance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but he did field some tough questions on Ellen's upcoming marriage to actress Portia de Rossi in a newly legalized California civil ceremony. [..] She told the senator and the audience that she will be soon marrying her longtime girlfriend. She said she was planning on marrying her before the state made it legal and asked McCain what his thoughts are on the same-sex marriage issue.

McCain said, "I think that people should be able to enter into legal agreements and it's something that we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas and decisions that have to be made. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between a man and a woman and I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue."

Ellen responded, "I think that it is looked at and some people are saying the same that blacks and women did not have the right to vote. Women just got the right to vote in 1920. Blacks didn't have the right to vote until 1870 and it just feels like there's this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. We are all the same people. All of us. You are no different than I am. Our love is the same. To me, what it feels like, I will just speak for myself, it feels like when someone says, 'You can still have a contract and you'll still have insurance and you'll get all that' -- it sounds like you can sit there, but you can't sit there. That's what is sounds like to me."

Cliff Schecter:

What McCain had to say was interesting in many ways--including his lack of honesty on his position regarding domestic partnerships. He told Ellen he opposed gay marriage--or her "position" on that issue, a strange way to put it when it is not a "position" to her, but an issue that affects her everyday life as she intends to marry her partner now that the California Supreme Court has asserted the legality of the practice.

But then he went on to once again redefine his position on the issue:

McCain, who also opposes an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex unions, said people should be encouraged to enter into legal agreements, particularly for insurance and other areas where decisions need to be made.

The problem is that McCain himself not only supported an amendment to the Arizona Constitution in 2006 that would have banned any "legal agreements" including "insurance" for domestic partners, but he cut advertisements for the measure (which failed). He also told prominent campaign supporter the late Jerry Falwell--who blamed 9/11 on gays and lesbians, among others--that if state constitutional measures such as this one were struck down by the courts, he would then support a federal gay-marriage ban.

*Gasp* Say it ain't so! Could this be another McCain flip-flop LIE????

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