Tammy Baldwin was on Rachel Maddow last night to discuss LGBT progress. What she says makes sense: don't forget that most change will have to go through Congress anyway.
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13 Comments
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Tammy Baldwin voted for the gutted exclusionary version of ENDA.
She's a Democrat and that means she has no principles except getting reelected and hustling for money and power.
Bill Perdue | June 18, 2009 6:26 PM
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And Bill Perdue proves he's nothing but a GOP attack troll every time he posts a comment.
Monica Roberts | June 18, 2009 7:33 PM
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Of course I'm not. And the other people who call Democrats and their craven apologist’s sell-outs aren't Republicans and they aren't racists. In fact it’s the Republicans who support the Democrats. Not so strange bed-fellows and all that.
People say those kinds of things because they know they're not informed enough or bright enough to convince people. So in desperation, they wrap themselves in the flag of genocide and engage in personal attacks.
Pathetic is as pathetic does.
Bill Perdue | June 18, 2009 8:09 PM
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Bill is a radical, Monica. Differnt political viewpoint.
And you cannot say that her sad performance lauding the landmark "Rental Truck Equality Memorandum of 09" last night was inspiring.
MauraHennessey | June 18, 2009 8:05 PM
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I have been hitting lots of blogs this week. Things have been pretty damn exciting.
Then I get home and check out Bilerico and see how...tame...and orderly...and neat and tidy you all are. Kinda just like Tammy Baldwin and her pearls.
I don't get it. There seems to be a real surge of energy and excitement all over the country from LGBTs - yes all of us - eager to push the change that we were promised...yet here I barely detect a pulse.
Tammy Baldwin can do much better, unless she is interested in living in a Douglas Sirk film for the rest of her life...and that is what her appearance and her rhetoric indicate.
patrick | June 18, 2009 10:42 PM
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Well, we have 60-some contributors, Patrick, and I guarantee you we've posted everything anyone wrote this week. And surprisingly few of them were up-in-arms posts, and each contributor can post pretty much 100% of what he/she/ze wants to.
I can only speak for myself, and I guess my position is that there hasn't been really any surprises this past week. We knew the memo was coming about two weeks ago and had a rough idea the provisions it would have since Berry leaked it to the Advocate. The DOJ brief sucked, but I wouldn't really expect much more from Obama's DOJ.
The contributors on this site are generally more educated and/or active than other LGBT blogs, and it could be that we're a smidgen more to the left when you add us all up and divide by 60. Or maybe it's something completely different.
But it's not, to disagree respectfully with Maura, about being more radical. Most of the actual queer radicals I know are pretty chill right now because they don't see what changed. I think it's more the crowd who was invested in Obama who's getting angry, and more extreme in emotion instead of in political ideology.
Instead, I'm focusing on the ENDA instead of the "Full equality now" stuff. That's being introduced next week and I'm looking to see how I can help that out because losing my head isn't going to help anyone.
Alex Blaze | June 19, 2009 12:42 AM
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In Bilerico land all is good, all is calm.
For the rest of the LGBT movement, at least as it’s expressed in blogs, mass demonstrations for SSM and support for the March on Washington there is a decided leftward leap in understanding. More and more people have figured out how badly they've been used and abused by Obama, the Democrats and their apologists. And connecting it to past abuses by the Clintons etc. They’re pissed.
But much of that seems not to have made it through the filters that keep Bilerico pristinely Obamaite. Obama has a large non-political personal following here and criticism of his policies is often equated with racism or worse. A long time contributor was driven off in a repulsive display of McCarthyism and virulent misogyny for daring to oppose voting for Obama.
Then there’s the factor of an absolute refusal to acknowledge that they misled people into voting for Obama, lying about the Democrats record on the war and deregulation. They made McCain into "Son of Hitler", repeating over and over during the campaign that if he got in he’d cut LGBT social services, maintain Clintons DADT, defend Clintons DOMA, delay passage of hate crimes and stop passage of the non-gutted ENDA… It all happened just as they predicted. Their problem is that McCain lost but his politics live on in the actions of Obama, Biden, Clinton, Pelosi, Reid, Gates and etc.
Bilerico is the center for opposition to same sex marriage rights and capitulation to the christer right on this question. It’s the center for uncritical support of Obama and the Democrats. There seems to be no level of betrayal of our movement, of escalation of the war or of his tail-wagging lapdog approach to welfare for bankers and austerity for workers that's too much.
Bill Perdue | June 19, 2009 12:11 AM
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Bill, for all this time you've been posting comments on Bilerico, I've never seen you just completely insult the work we're doing here so unfairly. I can take real criticism and observations. But what you just posted there is completely divorced from reality.
"center for opposition to same-sex marriage rights"? Um, no, that's NOM and Yes on 8 and FOTF. A handful of contributors here disagree with marriage, and a larger group agrees with it but doesn't think it's the #1 battle. Can you deal with opposing viewpoints? Does the existence of 2 to 3 contributors out of 60-some who oppose marriage for all really bother you so much that you can't fairly read the other posts?
"uncritical support of Obama and the Democrats"? We're criticizing them daily. Actually, I think that's part of the issue here: few people reading or writing this site are all that surprised by the past week's events because very few people here really bought into the whole Obama hype. If you wanted to see uncritical support of Obama, you should have been reading Americablog circa any time before a month ago. I've criticized him on here for Donnie McClurkin, prosecutions, health care mandates, torture, state secrets, marriage, Rick Warren, and DADT. And that's just me, there were plenty of Hillary supporters here during the primary.
"there seems to be no level of betrayal of our movement" - probably because we never really saw him as a part of our movement. Sorry, I just didn't buy the hype that he was our fierce advocate, so I guess the "betrayal" doesn't really have a punch. It can only be a betrayal if you bought into it, and Rick Warren was enough for me to see that the jig was up.
"capitulation to the christer right"? I don't even know what you're referring to there. Please explain further, because I just really don't get it. Other than Pam, I think I was the only one out there in the blogosphere who flat out rejected both of the so-called "compromises" on marriage presented in the mainstream media back in February.
The banking stuff... don't really get it either. We don't post about that much, but it's more because this is an LGBT blog. But when people have posted about it, it's been critical.
As for the "decided leftward leap," I haven't seen it yet. I've seen most people respond by becoming more single-issue focused, which I wouldn't say is a movement to the left.
Seriously, Bill, I read your comments on here usually, or at least when they're on my posts. But this one makes no sense at all and really just seems to be the same old "you're not expressing your anger in the way I want you to" junk.
Alex Blaze | June 19, 2009 12:32 AM
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I suppose I should have said Bilerico is the center for opposition to SSM among GLBT blogs and even there I admit that I haven’t checked the Log Closet blog or GayGOP.
I read all the posts too and what I see is the formation of a hardened Obamaite opposition to same sex marriage equality. That is a sectarian capitulation to the christer right. We have to fight when attacked on this question.
It's true that you and others criticize him, and that some do so because they’re supporters of other right wingers like the Clintons. And that’s your right, but you also helped elect him and you own his war, his attacks on civil liberties, his disgusting defense of DOMA, Rick Warren, his Minister of Pandering and Bribery Joshua Dubois and his habit of running us under the bus and tossing crumbs out the window on his second pass.
During the camping you and others denied the role of Clinton and the Democrats in deregulating banking and financing. You blamed it all on the Republicans. That’s simply not true. The bottom line is that Clinton championed deregulation, Democrats voted for it overwhelmingly (after slapping a fig leaf on it), Bush continued and expanded deregulation and Obama is giving the looter rich trillions to cover their losses while cutting social services and demanding austerity from unions and workers. You own that mess too.
Read the comments at the Blend and other blogs. The leftward movement and rejection of collaboration with the Democrats is very pronounced and growing, although you’re right, much of it comes from enraged Obama supporters. Or at least they’re a whole lot more upset than you are.
If you waited for Rick Warrens Inaugural reward you waited way too long, Alex. Where were you when Obama’s worst attack on us began with 'gawd's in the mix'? It was never repudiated by Obama but was used very effectively by Warren’s southern baptists, the catholic cult and the mormons to defeat us. The Democrats who ran No on 8 and EQCA didn’t want to put him on the spot and refused to attack him for being a bigot. Obama went on to repeat his openly hostile bigoted remark on MTV and in other venues. You had a chance before the election to dump him but as I recall you didn’t.
Was ‘gawd’s in the mix” a stab in the back, a betrayal or just his bigotry shining though the façade created by GLBT shills? I had this same discussion once before at Bilerico and on the question of betrayal I may have to agree with you. Obama isn't betraying us; he really is just another sick bigot who you gave all out support to before the election and substantial support since then. It's the people who helped sucker LGBT voters into electing him who did the betraying.
I’m certainly not trying to be unfair, Alex. You Democrats have a perfect right to support the lesser bigot, the lesser mass murderer and the lesser lap dog of the rich if you want. Just don't get upset when people point that out.
Bill Perdue | June 19, 2009 3:09 AM
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If you check your facts, she tried to help during the last ENDA vote. I've met her and I've talked to her and based on her actions I'll vote for her again. She tries very hard to fight for us, but she's out numbered.
It's good to point out the people who give us lip service, but Congresswoman Baldwin isn't one of them. Myself and few of my friends have called her office for help with DMV and SSA document issues and her office was very helpful. Hell, I have a picture with her at a local LGBT event here in Madison. And as far non-LGBT's she's done much good as far as health care concerns in our district.
In otherwords, she's not only our communities friend, she's a friend to everyone in our district. The Republicans they put up against her always loose and loose big. It's always fun to see what wingbag they put up against her, cause you know they are going to fail.
You can't convince me she is against T people and she certainly isn't against LGB's either. She's one of us. I'm more suspect of Congressman Frank and his shenanagan's. Especially his squeaking about penises in the shower. Then he hires a very respected transman as an aide, confusing.
Renee | June 19, 2009 9:28 AM
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It's true. Baldwin did oppose the gutting of ENDA. Then she voted for it and it's exclusion of transpeople from a GLBT civil rights bill.
Those are the facts.
She's a typical Democratic (sic) member of Congress.
Being outnumbered is no excuse for being unprincipled and turning on one of our constituent communities. It's no excuse for voting for what basically became a worthless bill. So worthless that the looter community and the Republicans had no problems with it.
Bill Perdue | June 19, 2009 11:18 AM
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Wow, what a convincing arguement!
I'll vote republican next time.
NOT!
Renee | June 22, 2009 7:47 AM
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Voting for Obama and the Democrats was/is voting Republican, or hadn't you noticed? Nearly everyone else has.
As the Republicans march rightward towards oblivion, the Democrats have moved right to fill the gap and became one huge, bigot controlled right centrist party with a few tame GLBT folks like Baldwin and Frank in tow.
They vote against us. They have, your personal loyalty aside, about as much value to our struggle as the DNC, HRC, LCR, Stoned Democrats, GOPGay and the trustworthiness of our 'fierce' defender and maximum leader, the Obama, who knows, deep in his heart of hearts that gawd thinks we're second class citizens.
Bill Perdue | June 22, 2009 1:17 PM
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