The Democrats sure are good at lackluster apologies!
Homo-journo Bil Browning raised a justifiable stink this week after Indiana's Democratic party funded state Represenative Andy Schemenaur's anti-gay flier, which touted the politico's commitment to "traditional" family values.
Though the Democratic National Committee wagged a finger at the Hoosier State, their contrition may not be entirely pure:
While this flier is disappointing, it's a reminder that while we have made great progress to ensure equal rights and protections under the law for every American, clearly there is still more education that is needed even within our party. But we cannot let this deter us from electing a democratic president.A vote for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party is a vote for equal rights and protections under the law. Just last year, Indiana Democrats kept a discriminatory marriage amendment off the ballot. History shows that when we elect Democrats there is great progress toward equality and fairness, which is why we need to focus on electing Barack Obama our next President.
So, basically they're saying, "Yeah, some of our peers are bastards, but not Barack." We can understand that, although it would be much better if the DNC really laid down the law on this type of behavior. Could it be they're just pandering to Indiana's anti-gay voters? Looks that way…
Indiana's party, however, doesn't seem to be budging. Browning tried to get an initial statement from spokesperson Lauren Smith, but to no avail. Blogger Michael Rogers then decided to give it a whirl and still received no apology – or even an explanation:
When asked why the state party would print a document that could be construed as divisive, and if it stood by the mailers or would apologize for them, Indiana Democratic Party spokesperson Lauren Smith declined to comment.
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Unfortunately, just goes to show that a Republican in Connecticut is more liberal than a Democrat in Indiana. If the Dems get control of U.S. House and Senate, it should be interesting to see how votes really line up.
Bil Browning is one of the few Democrats with the guts to challenge the pervasive bigotry in his party. Most of them ignore it or defend it. Bil denounced one of the bigots running for his party.
And he called around and got the Stonewall Democrats, aka the Barney Frank Democrats, to go out on a limb and admit that they were “displeasedâ€. And so did the DNC. Gosh.
But ‘gosh’ won’t cut it. Not anymore. For Democrats to have any credibility they’d have to summarily expel everyone who has a bigoted position on same sex marriage and is undercutting our efforts to beat back the anti-LGBT propositions in California, Arizona and Florida.
Naturally, they’d have to begin with Obama. Then work your way over to the ordained bigot who runs the DNC, Leah Daughtry and her boss Dean. Then add the Clintons, Barney Frank and Biden. Then add all the Democrats who voted for DOMA and DADT and to gut ENDA . Then…
But that’s not going to happen. However reasonably necessary it is it’s just a fantasy. Those who support the Democrats will just have to live with the bigots who run it watching again and again as they pander, wheel and deal, and keep that bus of theirs gassed up and ready to run over us on a moments notice.
And while Democrats inherit that, Obama, if the racist vote is small, will inherit an economy in deep failure mode and a war he can’t win even if he uses a 50 year timetable of 'phased withdrawal'. The Middle East is seething with enraged anti-American patriots from Palestine to Pakistan.