Late yesterday, the NAACP announced that the organization was endorsing same-sex marriage via their Twitter. Historically, most African-Americans have been conservative regarding gay marriage, but with strong support from the likes of President Obama, data shows that support has increased over the last year.
[gawker]
Normally, something akin to what Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in South Carolina would cause an uproar -- and it still has time to -- but his comments were typical Republican blame game stuff; all that people can do at this point is chuckle. What exactly did Rubio say?
For all the policy disagreements that we have with our president, it is hard to understate how much he inspired people across this country four years ago.
Rubio added:
We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history as we have over the last three and a half years.
Far be it to point out all the Republican policy blocks over President Obama's tenure (and there are way too many to simply link). This is a notion that Brad Woodhouse of the Democratic National Committee acknowledged with the ol' side-eyed rebuttal:
No one has tried harder to reach across the aisle on everything from jobs and trade to a plan to get our fiscal house in order than has President Obama and every step of the way Republican leaders have either buckled to the far right wing of their party or decided to put politics ahead of moving our country forward.
Can the cat claws come out any further?
In the rumor/controversy that just won't die, President Obama's campaign team has asserted that the president will, indeed, be on Arizona's general election ballot, despite Secretary of State, Ken Bennet, stating that he would disqualify Obama if he could not prove he was, in fact, born in Hawaii. Though given some of the other injustices happening in Arizona, this seems totally unsurprising.
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services, gave the commencement speech at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute on Friday, only to be heckled as she was addressing the graduates, then met with anti-contraceptive protesters outside the building. In terms of the public disagreement over birth control, Sebelius offered the following:
These debates can be contentious. But this is a strength of our country, not a weakness. In some countries around the world, it is much easier to make policy. The leader delivers an edict and it goes into effect. There's no debate, no press, no criticism, no second-guessing.
She was probably called a "commie" for trying to say that it's easier for other countries to write and pass policies. Still, bravo for politely calling people out on ruining a graduation ceremony because they have a problem with common sense.
A few days ago, the GOP-led House passed a military budget with a hefty $642 billion price tag -- $8 billion more than what President Obama and the Pentagon had agreed on with Congress. With the defense budget skyrocketing, cuts are coming from other programs, most notably government-subsidized food stamps.
Chat Allen, a mother of three who works only part-time, offered this insight:
They have so much money that maybe they can tighten their belts and not live as luxuriously as they live. They've earned it, but there are people who are hungry and who dig in the trash every day just to get something to eat.
This certainly isn't polishing the GOP's image. The budget has been met with less-than-enthusiastic responses in the Democrat-led Senate, which likely will try to reallocate those funds back to public works.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken), scion of presidential hopeful and idealistic college student darling, Ron Paul, was quoted as saying that he didn't think President Obama's views on same-sex marriage "could get any gayer."
Paul said this during an event sponsored by Iowa's Faith and Freedom Collation to laughs, because nothing says "freedom" in America than to smack talk someone's opinion about gay marriage.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney spoke at the Christian college, Liberty University, where he tried breaking through his Mormon image to become the Evangelical Christian candidate to beat. Pandering to the crowd, he made a couple interesting statements about gay marriage and the state of Christian values in America. To wit:
Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.
But in the same speech, Romney also said:
Whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.
Of course the "persecuted" in question, sadly, does not include same-sex couples who were denied legal unions in North Carolina, but rather the downtrodden wealthy white males who bully and assault gay teens.
[buzzfeed]
