‘Complaining amongst ourselves about the horrendous [DOMA] brief … does no good’
SOUNDBITES — “Complaining amongst ourselves about the horrendous brief that was filed by the Obama DOJ last Thursday afternoon defending DOMA does no good. We need to do something constructive, like TODAY — when the government offices are open again in Washington after the weekend. I don’t know how many people are reading this, but I bet if we all make a focused attempt to do the following, we will be heard.” —Blogger Chris Crain, whose list of five must-dos follows [Citizen Crain]
@Yet another John: i totally agree with you on that. money and votes talk and that would definitely get there attention. now if we could only get a million people to commit to doing it…
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Agreed, if a politician doesn’t adhere to the Dallas Principles, then they should not receive any money or support from the gay organizations or their members.
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Guys,
Let’s not be ridiculous here. Plenty of people thought that, voted for Nader, and we ended up with GWB in the White House–for 8 years. We need to push Obama but not push the Dems away.
This was a really stupid political gaffe on the part of the DOJ. Legally, it was the right thing to do…they cited the only cases on point…but they underestimated the response. It was dumb with a big D.
I’m in full agreement that POB (I like that…Prez Obama) hasn’t lived up to his end of the bargain with LGB Americans, but we need to be prudent not reactionary.
I can’t for the life of me see what he’s doing. Is he really that focused on getting re-elected already that he’s not willing to do anything at all right now that could anger moderates. Can someone explain?
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I’m signing up to go to law school. It’s a long-term plan, but at least I’m doing something.
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@Serious:
“Legally, it was the right thing to do…they cited the only cases on point…but they underestimated the response. It was dumb with a big D.” ?? It was NOT the right thing to do. Legally, the DOJ did not have to enter a 41 page brief that raised incest, pederasty, etc., and spoke to the constitutionality of DOMA. The DOJ could have taken a different route. i.e., an extremely limited brief that didn’t expound as it did.
W. Scott Simpson is listed as Senior Trial Counsel on the motion and he signed the brief. I suspect he wrote it and I am trying to confirm. He’s a hold-over from Dubya and is a Mormon. This is ugly no matter who penned the brief, but it’s a double-slap-in-the-face to have a Mormon do it.
So…. be clear about this: The DOJ did NOT have to submit a brief in support with such specificity. It did NOT simply “underestimate” the response.
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@Alex:
Good luck with law school. I won’t dissuade you, but I will say that once you become an attorney, viewing the political process and the injustices becomes even more grating. If you want to fight for LGBT justice within the legal system, make sure you 1) go to a law school that has a great reputation for public interest law, and 2) intern for a public-interest organization while in law school. That’ll give you some “boots on the ground” experience and help you get hired once you’ve finished school. Again, best of luck.
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The easy answer is “Move a Million”–that is, move one million registered Democrats from the role of the DNC to another party in retaliation of the DOMA brief. It is the only thing Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and Obama will understand. We call our Congressmen and Senators and tell them we won’t be voting for them at the mid-term elections. We close our wallets. We organize it online on Facebook, and MySpace and Twitter. “LET THE REVOLUTION BE TWITTERED!” We don’t have to wait until mid-term elections. We can do this now. They cannot take our votes for granted any longer!