Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced that Democrats may take a . This just a day after President Obama came out in support of gay marriage, albeit on a personal level—he’s still playing the “states’ rights” card.
Reid tells Politico that they’re glad to tackle it but not sure quite when:
“If it gets on the floor, we’ll be happy to take a look at it. It’s an important piece of legislation…. I just don’t know where it is now and we have a few other things to do. Presumably … the Republicans won’t let us get it on the floor anyway, but we’ll take a look at it. It’s not a Democratic problem, it’s a Republican problem.”
More conservative Democrats, like Montana’s Sen. Max Baucus weren’t so happy to champion the cause, saying that Obama and other leadership should take the reins on this issue.
Well, then, excuse us while we call the President and let him know we’d like DOMA repealed, stat. Oh, and a large coke and side of cheese fries, too.
How about we take this to the next level?
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jason
Right, thanks for nothing, Harry. You had a super-majority in Congress just 2 years ago and failed to do anything about it.
Zane
Yah, the Mormon Church is totally going to let him repeal DOMA.
UsualPlayers
Yeah, its great Obama said what he said, but this is insulting as far as playing politics with the issue. They always makes these sorts of annoucnements when they know they can’t pass it.
See ENDA, which failed both with and without the inclusion of trans, under Democratic Congresses.
I simply do not buy what they are peddling.
Again I say that appreciating the movement forward yesterday. this part , however, is blatant b.s.
Hyhybt
“Playing politics” or not, better chance two years ago or not, he’s essentially right. It takes 60 votes to get *anything* through the Senate, and that means finding Republicans at least willing not to block the bill. (And how much effort it’s worth to get it to a vote in the Senate when there’s not a chance in hell of getting it through the current house is a fair question as well.)
jeff4justice
LGBTs want Obama and others to have courage to do the right thing on marriage but we don’t want to do the right thing an support peace candidates? I don’t follow that ethically piss-poor logic.
MLK stood up to LBJ on the war. We should stand up to Obama on the war.
1. We are supposed to live in a multiple choice democratic republic – not a 2party rotation.
2. There’s no such thing as no chance of winning. They used to say woman and blacks would never be allowed to vote. They used to say we’d never elect a black President or openly-gay candidates. They used to say we’d never have marriage equality anywhere. Electing an alternative party candidate in the media age is a far easier task than all of those things.
3. The 2party system is turning this country into a third world nation while taking people’s civil liberties. The 2party system is not worth defending.
4. The onus is on all people to do the right and ethical thing even when it’s hard – just like we wanted Obama to support LGBT equality. MLK stood up to LBJ on the war. We should stand up to Obama on the war.
5. If we give up before putting up a fight then I guess I should not have worked to fight Prop 8 here in CA?
6. All of the Occupy grievances are caused by the 2party system. That’s enough momentum to un-occupy the 2party system.
Me
@Hyhybt: With Joe Lieberman’s vote in 2009 they had the sixty votes to pass ENDA, as well as repeal both DOMA and DADT. That is if, conservative blue-dog DEMOCRATS wouldn’t have stood in the way for two years. Place the blame where it lies. Even a single-payer, medicare for all, national health care could have been passed if Democrats didn’t stop it.
Bills adding low income wage earners as well as the uninsurable to a Medicare-for-all bill could have been passed through reconciliation with just a simple majority — just like the Republicans used to pass the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy when they were threatened with a filibuster by the Democrats. The Republicans have the balls to get things done (albeit evil things), whereas the Democrats do not have any guts and they have no convictions whatsoever past getting re-elected.
PS – Don’t use that lame excuse of the repeal of DADT as a feather in Obama’s cap. It had already been struck down twice by the federal courts where Obama’s inJustice Department had argued to uphold it. The Democrats only repealed it at the eleventh hour, during a lame duck session of the Congress, after they had already been stomped in the mid-terms because the had alienated their progressive base who stayed home in drove on election day.
Hyhybt
@Me: Why do you even have my name attached as if that were a reply when you obviously ignored what I said? I know they *USED TO* have enough of a majority. They don’t have it now, and therefore he’s right to say they can’t pass a DOMA repeal (without the use of a time machine, but I thought I could leave that unsaid!) without Republican support.
And I’m pretty sure the reconciliation process is only for certain purposes, and that a DOMA repeal would fall outside that. (Wouldn’t mind being wrong, but it STILL doesn’t matter a whit what the Senate does with it so long as we have the current House.)
me
@Hyhybt: Why do you even have my name attached as if that were a reply when you obviously ignored what I said? No one said that the Senate could repeal DOMA or any law through reconciliation. I said that they could have expanded Medicare (an incremental approach to a single payer system) to include more people, not just retired folks, through reconciliation (with a simple majority vote) and cobbled together a national health care system because Medicare is an existing program.
Many political experts have said that this could have been done this way — even with Blue-Dog Democrats and all Republicans against it. The Bush Era tax-cuts were pushed through Congress in this method. I never mentioned that the reconciliation approach could be used to repeal DOMA.
Now, of course, ENDA could have been pushed though when the Democrats had majorities, in both Houses, because even a number of Republicans supported that.
Myles MacLean
Jeff4justice.
I am happy to see more people opening their eyes on the sorry state of democracy in America.You should expect a few comments informing you that you are a communist and that if you don’t love America the way it is you should move to Russia.
Ignore that fool.
When a 38% per cent turnout,like in North Carolina,is considered a record vote something is definitely going amiss with this democracy.
Myles.
Bob
@Zane: The Momons do want it repealed, though not for us…they want to be allowed to have 6 wives or more again.
1equalityUSA
Bob, polygamy is restricted to both gay and straight people. The ban against polygamy moves across the spectrum. Gays are banned from even having one spouse and that is where the inequality arises. One set of Americans are being denied what another set of Americans enjoy and take for granted. Our immutable characteristic is singled out for discrimination based on others’ religious beliefs. Two tiers of rights cannot be tolerated. Polygamy is not the issue, but rather, inequality.
Robert in NYC
@jason: The republicans have had super majorities and did squat for LGBT and still do squat. They vote against every equality bill. Only 8 of them signed on to repeal of DADT whereas all democrats signed.
Robert in NYC
@jeff4justice: And the Libertarian party supports DOMA and equal marriage as long as states so legislate. It can’t have it have both ways and won’t win.
Hyhybt
@me: This whole thread is about *DOMA*. None of the rest of that is relevant at all.
If you want to wander off topic, don’t blame me for it.
jeff4justice
@Myles MacLean: Amen.
I typically get fear-based reaction feebly trying to justify all of Obama’s evils on war, medical marijuana users, immigrants, the environment, protestors rights, and of course NDAA.
jeff4justice
@Robert in NYC: Then that’s the same as Obama.
But you have other alternative parties such as the Green Party, Peace & Freedom, Justice, and Socialist parties.
jason
Obama only says he supports gay marriage when he knows there’s a snowflake’s chance in hell of passing it through Congress. It’s all about getting you think he’s your friend so that you can donate to his campaign coffers.