In a move that stunned nobody, The Advocate has come out and endorsed Barack Obama for President in its August issueOkay, we’re being a little snarky—after all, what were they gonna do: endorse Romney?
Actually The Advocate hasn’t endorsed anyone for president in decades—and it was only because the stakes are so high that the magazine did now.
“Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest,” writes Advocate editor in chief Matthew Breen. “This election presents a choice between starkly opposing futures. Barack Obama is a leader of undeniable accomplishment, vision, and integrity on LGBT rights. His opponent, Mitt Romney, betrays equality on numerous issues and aligns himself with a faction of the Republican Party that does not include equality among its declared ideals.”
Breen goes on to praise Obama for his defense of marriage equality and other pro-LGBT efforts:
Also significant are the actions the President’s administration has taken in support of LGBT equality. The president signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Prevention Act and lifted the ban on HIV-positive green card applicants and visitors to the United States. He signed the first federal pro-LGBT law in U.S. history with the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
He has appointed more LGBTs to leadership positions than any other president in history, launched a national resource center for LGBT elders, ensured insurance exchanges can not deny coverage to someone LGBT under the Affordable Care Act, and directed hospitals receiving federal funds to allow partner visitation rights, among many other achievements.”
And just in case any of us forgot, Breen reminds readers just what a Romney administration would mean for out community:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Obama can easily be contrasted with his opponent who, despite making claims that he would be “better than Ted Kennedy” on gay rights when running for U.S. Senate in 1994, has changed his position on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, declared support for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and is opposed to marriage equality.
The GOP abandoned core values of limited government and federalism in exchange for demonizing rhetoric and repressive legislation over who can marry, what kind of sex to have, and whether women are equal to men. No candidate beholden to this party can be an LGBT champion. While there are Republicans demonstrating independence, and who defy the GOP’s positions on these issues in pursuit of the greater good, Romney is not among them.”
Word.
Photo Composite: Scott McPherson/The Advocate
Barefoot Accountant
21 Reasons why Obama has failed Progressives
I have become very disenchanted with President Barack Obama even though I voted for him in 2008.
1. He did not even propose the public option healthcare system: he had campaigned on that system, promising to propose it. (Wikipedia: ”President Barack Obama promoted the idea of the public option while running for election.[3] After becoming President, Obama downplayed the need for a public health insurance option including calling it a “sliver” of health care reform,[4] but had not given up pursuing the idea before the health care reform was passed.[5] The preceding statement is disputed by evidence that the Obama administration had agreed to drop the public option from the final plan in the summer of 2009[6] in a back room deal with representatives of the for-profit hospital lobby[7]“)
2. He has appointed countless Wall Streeters to his top economic team, failing to appoint labor voices like Robert Reich.
3. He has bailed out Wall Street instead of Main Street: remember TARP? And then the banks dispensed $6 billion in bonuses in that year to its executives.
4. He failed to attack the mortgage crisis, leaving an elephant still in our “room”, with one-third of home mortgages now underwater.
5. He failed to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, doing away with habeous corpus, allowing the government to arrest and detain indefinitely without a trial or hearing.
6. He agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and on top of that, he agreed to an egregious reduction of the estate taxes on the rich, exempting as much as $10 million from any estate taxes and lowering the estate tax rate down to a ridiculous rate of 35%, when our country has a $15 trillion debt. That alone saved the Walton heirs $17 billion in taxes.
7. He has failed to indict and imprison any of those banksters involved in all of that fraud on Wall Street from the subprime mortgage, including robo-signing, and selling shit-backed mortgage securities known to be worthless.
8. He appointed Jeffrey Immelt to head his Jobs Council when GE has been saying “China, China, China,” and shipping all jobs overseas while closing plants here in the US.
9. President Obama is now considering and proposing to lower the corporate tax rate to 26%, when corporations are not only at a low-time rate of paying taxes but getting billions in tax subsidies from our government and opening up offices on the 19th floor of one building on the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes altogether.
10. President Obama spoke in favor of PIPA and SOPA, when the internet is the last vestige of free speech and the availability of free information to the general public.
11. There were no indictments by President Obama of all the contractor fraud reported on by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in a Congressional Report released over a year ago. Whenever the rich and big corporations are caught in fraud, Eric Holder adopts a policy of “looking forward”, instead of holding them accountable.
12. President Obama agreed to the “grand bargain” (thank, God, Boehner did not accept it) to cut over $2 trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid, and other social safety-net programs merely in return for hypothetical “revenue increases” of $800 billion relying on “dynamic scoring”.
13. President Obama has done nothing to level the trade treaties, where corporations are shipping labor to Cambodia (22.5 cents per hour), China, Philippines, etc., where labor is paid 25 cents per hour. This is exporting slavery to other countries. Where is the level playing field for Americans?
14. President Obama in 2009 only proposed $140 billion in infrastructure spending when Paul Krugman and other economists predicted that $1.5 trillion was needed for our economy to recover. And last year only proposed a paltry $108 billion in infrastructure spending.
15. President Obama praised the recent JOBS Act, which allows corporations to go public and raise capital without audited financial information in their public presentations for the first five years, allowing them to present fictitious numbers and defraud investors?
16. President Obama has failed to propose the return of Glass-Steagall, separating commercial and investment banking, which will soon plunge us back into another mega-bailout of Wall Street.
17. President Obama has failed to propose the break up of the big banks and corporations. What ever happened to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?
18. President Obama touted a $25 billion robo-signing settlement when a trillion dollars of our pension and retirement funds were stolen.
19. While campaigning, President Obama promised to put on his walking shoes for labor, but failed to even show up in Wisconsin and walk the picket line against Governor Walker.
20. President Obama has not declared war on the Supreme Court, as President Roosevelt did, to oppose the corporate/rich posture of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Why not take them on?
21. President Obama has arrested and raided more marijuana users in less than four years than George Bush did in eight years. Why is President Obama proposing cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid while spending more on marijuana arrests and raids, especially when a majority of Americans are for legalization of pot and for the open sale of marijuana for medical use?
Time and time again President Obama did not fight the good fight for working Americans, who are losing their jobs, health insurance, homes, dignity, etc.
I am tired of the lame excuse of how we must vote for Obama because of the Supreme Court. How can anyone believe that Obama would not disappoint progressives on that issue after he failed to undertake a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position to which she was more entitled to direct than any other American?
I am done with President Obama.
jeff4justice
@Barefoot Accountant: Amen!!!!
jeff4justice
NOBAMA!
As a gay man, I WILL GLADLY trade the risk my freedom to marry for the peace of my conscious to not vote for Obama and the 2party system of vicious war.
After President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill in 1964, Martin Luther King had the bravery and character to criticize him and the immoral Vietnam War.
The next time I see photos of a precious child whose body has been partly blown off by drone attack bombs (or any war violence for that matter), I will be at peace knowing I did not concede or consent to accepting things as having to be this way when there are better alternative party options of peace, freedom, and liberty.
In the social media age and in a time where most people who speak up do not have to worry about the threat of violence, there is no reason why we cannot organize to topple the 2party system. But even if we cannot topple the 2party system in this upcoming election, at the very least, we certainly do not have to validate it and its perpetual war, poverty, and attack on civil liberties with our vote.
I’d rather put my energy into doing the right thing from the get go instead of giving into the vicious cycle of fear-based conceding for short sighted tradeoffs at the expense of other people’s suffering.
To the victims of the weapon wars, drug law wars, poverty, illness caused by the policies of the corporately controlled 2party system, and any other injustice, I am so sorry that so many of my fellow Americans cannot emancipate themselves from the fear of voting for alternative parties. I am so sorry so many keep conceding to accepting the acceleration of human suffering as inevitable just because the powers that be creating these horrors have such great wealth – especially when WE could have the fighting spirit combined with our numbers as the 99% to organize and topple the corporately controlled 2party system.
We got woman the right to vote. We got the Civil Rights act. We’re getting more and more LGBT equality. We can certainly topple the 2party system.
I will never, never, never, never, never again vote for the 2party system if there is an alternative party option on my ballot. If there is no alternative party option, I will either abstain or, if allowed, write in myself.
I will never, never, never, never, never validate, justify, or make excuses for the evils of the 2party system.
An injustice to one is an injustice to all.
jeff4justice
What a shame that Queerty rarely talks about alternative party options and leads LGBT sheeple to the 2party system charade.
YouTube search: 2012 Presidential Debate Of Alternative Parties
Making up stuff is fun!
@Barefoot Accountant: So you prefer president Romney? Moron.
Making up stuff is fun!
@Barefoot Accountant: Gee, it’s almost like Obama is the president of a republic, who therefore has to make compromises and engage in the give and take of democratic politics, and not a dictator with unlimited powers (except that even such a dictator would have to make concessions to the various factions in his power base, so not even a Generalissimo Obama would be able to please you.)
PS: Don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I think you’re a moron.
GOProudest
@Making up stuff is fun!: I certainly do! 4 years of failure is enough. Romney 2012!
jeff4justice
If you like poverty, war, the erosion of civil liberties then yes keep voting for the corporately controlled 2party system over and over and expect different results.
Aquarelle
@GOProudest: Oh thank God you’re around, you’re really one of the very few thoughtful people around on these boards. Romney 2012!
Michael Bedwell
NEWS BULLETIN: Queerty overrun with cockroaches. Film at 11.
[They make the Obambots look sane.]
GOProudest
@Aquarelle: 1-2-3 before the wild mob of foam-mouthed bigots goes hating after us for daring to think for ourselves and support Romney!
jeff4justice
Am I the Only Gay Who Eyes Obama’s ‘Evolution’ on Gay Marriage With Suspicion?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lady-bunny/obama-gay-marriage_b_1506815.html
jeff4justice
Insist Obama & Romney Debate 3rd Party Opponents
http://youtu.be/nCZuasjnXOA
Aquarelle
@GOProudest: “Mob” is exactly how I’d put it; these are people who all choose to relinquish their individual minds to adopt the left-wing pod-people mindset. No thank you. Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I can’t think for myself.
Romney 2012!
Ronbo
@Barefoot Accountant: You are exactly right. President Obama is a core-Republican arsehole. He wouldn’t push the gay agenda – even worked to have Pelosi shelve her DADT-repeal legislation.
Only fools don’t recongnize a Republican in Democratic talking-points. And yes, he is better than Romney. But there are many, many other (and much, much better candidates) than Obama. He only talks like a Democrat. When it comes to legislation, he is full-blown Republican. Ask him about extending the Bush tax cuts for the richest of the rich!
jeff4justice
@Ronbo: Amen. Vote alternative party.
Colin
@GOProudest: @Aquarelle: All three of us are in agreement. Romney 2012.
Barefoot Accountant
No I don’t support Romney. I do however support 3rd party candidates.
GOProudest
@Aquarelle: @Colin: Glad to see the signs of intelligent life on this board!
Drew
That’s because Aquarelle, Colin, and GOProudest are all the same person. 😉
Mike
Why do people assume that if you are disappointed with Obama that you simply must be a Romney supporter?
Colin
@Drew: Yeah, we’re all the same person: We’re all intelligent and can think for ourselves.
@GOProudest: The feeling is mutual, my friend.
UsualPlayers
Just one question: Why does Colin insist on using sock puppets to talk to himself?
AbsolutelyNoUsualPlayers
@UsualPlayers: I absolutely agree.
Aquarelle
@Drew: Typical pod-person reply. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but being gay =/= voting democrat. Someone, at some point, sold you a bill of goods.
@GOProudest: Right back at you, buddy.
UsualPlayers
@AbsolutelyNoUsualPlayers: See how its done.
Colin
@Aquarelle: You’re right but like you said, they’re gay pod people. They can’t be shown the light.
GOProudest
@UsualPlayers: Yeah, we create sock puppets just to impress your dumb a**. We really give a sh*t about your opinions. If we did we’d vote Democrat.
Colin
@GOProudest: Hahahaha, nice. That dude is obsessed with me, though. He’s mad because he’s black and is taking it out on me. Just ignore him. He just wants to feel important and needs attention. LOL.
GOProudest
@Aquarelle: Drew does not know any better, he grew up on the Plantation. They have not taught him how to think, sadly. That’s why he is still in the abusive relationship with Obama
GOProudest
@Colin: He has not said anything worth taking seriously anyways
Colin
@GOProudest: And he never will.
Aquarelle
@AbsolutelyNoUsualPlayers: I just can’t laugh enough when I read stuff like this. Hey, UP, guess what: There’s more than one gay person in the world with a mind of his own.
You’ve clearly taken the blue pill, but some of us chose red.
UsualPlayers
@Aquarelle: Well, I only really have two things to say that Colin: (1) First multiple personalities on counts as one mind no matter how many times those voices tell you otherwise; (2) Those voices are also wrong when they tell you that you count as “gays” rather than “gay.” As for “mind of your own,” if you call repeating talking points again and again “a mind” I suppose the loose definition fits.
Will L
@Making up stuff is fun! : I agree. I don’t want to elect a President who has absolute power (like some of these folks seem to want). It all fine until the OTHER side gets in power. We’ve come a long way under Obama. It’s a slow process but steady.
Aquarelle
@UsualPlayers: So, I did my best to parse your comment, and what I gathered was that you think Colin and I are the same person. We’re not.
What I think is really funny, though, is that when faced with the possibility that (gasp!) two gay men might agree that Romney is the better choice for America, your only comeback is basically the online equivalent of a schoolyard taunt (“You’re suckpuppets! You’re suckpupets!”) That’s not how adults should argue politics.
Please come up with a real argument. I’d welcome an actual debate.
hassia
@Barefoot Accountant you my dear have too much time on your hands.
Trevor
Obama is no “Fierce advocate” to LGBT People he just wants to pretend that he is.
I have friends who are hetero and even THEY can easily tell that Obama is not for LGBT rights or same gender marriage at all he just will claim he is but with him it’s all talk and no real action at all.
sca
Wow – you all make me so glad not to be American. If one was to believe everything you have to say above – you’re all f’d either way! Yet another example of the Queer community choosing to only point out the negative and not to search for positive solutions or to look for optimism. No wonder we’re still so far behind as a community.
Spike
@Barefoot Accountant: And under President Romney, after the LGBT Community is shipped off to the camps, when it comes time for the ‘showers’, don’t be surprised when you are pushed to the front of the line. BTW, are you aware the President Obama is President, not King? You silly clown.
Chuck
If anybody bothered to read the Advocate’s endorsement, they would find a constant record of support for the LGBT community from President Obama, in market contrast to everything Romney has pledged to do. Blaming Obama for the debt created by George W. Bush’s two unfunded wars and unfunded tax cuts for the rich, which didn’t work or create any jobs, is beyond moronic. Obama has been more consistent on LGBT rights than any other group including African Americans or Latinos.
Why would a gay person even consider voting for Romney who says he is not only against marriage by civil unions as well. Further, he wants to amend the US Constitution to make discrimination against LGBT people the law of the land. He will defend the blatently homophobic DOMA, he will not support ENDA. Either this site is being freeped by corporate shills and Moromons (who cost us Marriage in California with their support for Prop 8) or you people have a death wish.
The Democratic Party has long supported LGBT rights and this year will write support for LGBT marriage into the platform, in stark contrast to the Republican party platform’s support for “traditional marriage” ie. bigotry against LGBTs. Finally, the Republican party is completely morally bankrupt on any debt talk. It was Dems who passed the balanced budget amendment. Trickle down schemes not only do not work for the middle class, they ALWAYS create debt. We saw this with Reagan and George W. Bush.
MND
@GOProudest: “1-2-3 before the wild mob of foam-mouthed bigots goes hating after us for daring to think for ourselves and support Romney!”
You call voting for Romney thinking for yourself? GOProuders has jokes! Half of Americans typically vote for the RepubliKlan candidate, how the hell does that translate into thinking for yourself?
biscuit_batter
@Barefoot Accountant: Thank you!!! Very impressed with your homework and the courage to stand up and say hello no to another 4 years of this BS. On a side note, just because someone is not for Obama does not mean he is for Romney. Many of us are just tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. There has to be a better way. We are a great country and its time we start looking at the TRUTH and not just voting for someone because they belong to a certain party.
jeff4justice
Too bad The Advocate (along with most corporately controlled mainstream media) ignores alternative political parties. If they did a chart comparison to Obama/Romney and the alternative parties on LGBT issues and all other politcal issues it would be more clear to people the 2party system is no longer worth defending.
UsualPlayers
@Aquarelle: If you say so Colin.
Trevor
I agree Jeff4Justice, we as Americans are fed up with the two party system.
I remember when Ross Perot spent a lot of his own money as a 3rd party Candidate and he basically said how in the United States then as now America is brainwashed into the two party system.
As far as Obama goes he has done some good for the LGBT community but I don’t believe that he’s for LGBT rights or same gender marriage and just wants LGBT people to vote for him and more importantly donate our money again.
kernelt
What a bunch of twat and bubbleheads. If one to doubt another, saying that he is insincere in his deed need to prove that indeed he is in his thoughts and contradictions.
I have not know any past president who have done as much as Obama have in promoting lgbt cause for true equality. We as a community, if truly wanted equality should support candidate who supported our rights as human and the unalienable right we are born with.
Liberty is the cornerstone of this nation and to say that one would forge it for the any reason does not deserve the live here and enjoy the freedom we have traded for by the bloods of our veterans. One need to move to china instead of living here and make a mockery of this great nation of Liberty.
I wish we abolish political party and instead just have independent candidate who would offer their solution to the problem of each generation.
P.s have some respect for the office of presidency, who is he commander on chef, head of the nation.
Smith
This is why the Advocate is failing. It’s out of touch with LGBT culture and politics.
Obama is a joke of a President, going to be a 1 term President, and he’s NOT for LGBT people or supporting LGBT people at all he just pretends to. He’s not for true LGBT equality at all.
Jackie
Chuck what’s your point? The Democrats also create TONS of debt and are spend crazy.
Obama can try to blame Bush but in reality no other President has spent more money or driven us into debt as Obama has.
Obama is not for LGBT rights either despite how the Obama bots want to pretend he is and how even Obama will pretend that he is but it’s all just talk and bullshit.
Secondly just because you don’t like Obama or don’t support him it does not mean that you’re going to vote for Romney.
That’s what this stupid 2 party system has gotten us: “If you’re not completely for Obama or the Dems you simply MUST be for Ronmey and the Republicans!” type of BS thinking by people who have small minds like Chuck has shown.
Denise
It would have been more interesting if they had endorsed someone totally whacked out like Ron Paul. Or even if they endorsed Romney for Prez it would have generated a lot more buzz.
I agree that even the democrats are not for LGBT rights or same gender marriage. They just like to lie to your face, promise you everything, and then when it comes down to actual action nothing gets done by them.
Mrs. Patrick Campbell
Could we expect anything different from a publicatia that is 100% owned by the “HIV/AID$” industry?!
It is so b.o.r.i.n.g. that we are amazed that anyone even reads it anymore!
UsualPlayers
Actually it would have been more interesting if they choose someone who wasn’t predictable as the “outside choice who is not really an outsider” like Ron Paul
He’s an elected officials. He’s not an outsider. Also being different just to be different without any real value to it like choosing Romney is just retarded
I am not saying they needed to endorse Obama. In fact, I think its a mistake in the “let’s make all politicians sweat to give us what we want” kind of way. I think we should always leave politicians guessing about whether we will support them until we show up on election day. The more scared of us they are, the better.
Paul, Romney Obama – they know they don’t need to buy the cow because we give the milk away for free.
Kyle215
I’m now old enough at 43 to know that the LGBT community uses fear of the religious right to support the democratic nominee as much as Republicans use fear of the LGBT community to support their nominee. If a Republican wins WE as a community are not being rounded up and taken off to camps as so many people on gay blogs love to suggest. This future of living in a concentration camp is what was suggested under Bush and didn’t happen in 8 years and was also used by our community in the Clinton/Dole campaigns.
I will not vote for Obama (I have a voting record of 80/20 in favor of Democrats) because he didn’t give me the change he promised. He campaigned in 2008 as being different, yet he gave posts to H. Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, T. Geithner and numerous other people that basically weren’t representative of “change” but were cronies from previous administrations.
4 years into his administration the unemployment rate is at an all time high….much higher than what is suggested at 8.2% since many people have fallen off the track list since they no longer are eligible for unemployment. It is closer to 20% if not higher. Yet, the wall street bankers who thrust us into this economic mess 5 years ago still go unpunished an main street suffers. What happened to supporting main street mr. president?
I am a gay man, but all our rights (marriage equality, military service, etc) that I feel were within our reach regardless of Obama being president since the views of the US population has shifted due to media, education and a younger generation. Obama wasn’t a fierce advocate for our rights…WE WERE. He made the easy decision seeing that was the way the majority of the country was going. All these rights are nice, BUT if we don’t have jobs and money to buy food and live our lives it doesn’t matter.
My vote is for a president who is about creating jobs in the US, not overseas. My vote is for a president who doesn’t talk about change and then recycle the same script from previous administrations.
The way we are going econonomically we should hope there are concentration camps for our community. At least we will have roofs over our heads. That’s more than we can expect if we stay this course under Obama.
GOProudest
@Kyle215: C’mon we need to keep spreading stories about the “concentration camps” to have all these left wing “activists” and “fundraisers” employed. Fear sells. Outrageous fear sells outrageously.
Red Meat
Romney has a lot of mormons pretending to be gay on gay news blogs, HI GUYZ!
Chuck
@Jackie: “No other president has spent more money or driven us into debt the way Obama has.” That is not true. Do you have a source? The current debt is almost completely a result of Bush’s unfunded wars and unfunded tax cuts. You can repeat the lie that Obama has spent more than any other president, but repeating a lie again and again does not make it true, even if you are a ditto head Republican.
“Obama is not for LGBT rights.” Again NOT TRUE. Obama signed the Matthew Shepherd Act. Obama ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Obama demanded hospitals allow visitation to gay partners. Obama signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights mandate that Bush refused to sign because it called for LGBT equality. Obama would sign ENDA and ALL of ENDA’s sponsors are Democrats.
So Jackie, everything you said is a lie. Try another source than FoxNews or hate radio once in awhile and you won’t be so ignorant and downright stupid.
Chuck
The comments here are hilarious. The consensus seems to be voting for a third party is the way to go. Nevermind that would be throwing your vote away with no chance of influencing the elections, which is exactly what Republicans want. People on here actually use Obama’s support of LGBT causes to prove he does not support LGBT causes! Hilarious! Then we have people just blatantly lying all over the place like Jackie. Obama has spent more than any president in the history of the world! Killer bees! Killer bees! Just because it isn’t true doesn’t stop them from repeating it even though any third grader can look it up and see it’s not even close to true. Of course nobody even tries to defend Romney or GOProud because their hate of the gays is part of their platform. John “Hey, we’re broke!” Boehner is currently spending your tax dollars defending DOMA. Mitt Romney is against gay marriage AND against civil unions. Virginia Fox said it was Matthew Shepherd’s own fault for being beaten to death on the floor of the House. John Boehner said gay bashing was protected as freedom of speech. And on and on. There is a reason that pro-LGBT legislation only passes under Democrats. If you don’t think LGBT distrust of the right wing evangelical community is justified, go to a Baptist church or watch a televangelist tv show sometime. Their hate of gays is 50% of their schpeel. The only time Republicans consider gay people at all is during times like 2004 election when Ken Mehlman used gay scapegoating to get out the vote in dozens of states where banning gay marriage was added to the state constitutions.
jeff4justice
@Trevor: Amen. Doesn’t it bother you that even LGBT media tells you who to vote for by ignoring alternative party options to let people think for themselves?
Carlos
Well said Kyle215, just wondering are you from Philadelphia or around the 215 area code?
Voting for a 3rd party is NOT throwing away your vote at all!
jeff4justice
@Chuck: All the dumb conservatives think the same thing about voting for alternative parties. You stuck on stupid with the 2party system.
If woman can get the right to vote, if racial minorities can get the right to vote, if we can elect openly LGBT cnaidates and if we can elect a black President then we can surly elect an alternative party.
If you are in a red state should you not put up a fight against a discriminatory law just becuase it seems like you might lose?
Dre
Chuck you are forgetting GOProud and the Log Cabin republicans. Then again a lot of LGBT people have totally swallowed the kool aid that ANY candidate that’s not a Democrat is somehow “bad” LOL
jeff4justice
@Carlos: Amen. This is NOT 2party dictatorship (or a 1party corporately controlled dictatorship).
YouTube search:
Insist Obama & Romney Debate 3rd Party Opponents
Top 3 Dumb Excuses To Not Vote 3rd Party
6 Easy Steps To End The 2-Party System
James Peron
If I thought voting made a real difference, and given the quality of the major parties, I don’t think it does, I would vote for Gov. Gary Johnson.
Chuck
@Dre: No, I read the party platforms and know what side of the issues the candidates are on. GOProud and the Log Cabins are as morally bankrupt as jews for Hitler.
Chuck
@jeff4justice: It’s nice that you’re on this third party kick. You won’t get anywhere but I don’t disagree that multiple party system is better. Canada and most European countries have multiple party systems that work well. Never happen here though, and certainly won’t happen before this November.
Dre
*Yawn* Oh the old, “If you’re LGBT and vote for a Republican or heaven forbid a 3rd party Candidate” then you’re a Nazi, a traitor, and akin to those Jews in Nazi Germany who were sympathetic towards the Nazis.
Sell your BS somewhere else, we’re not buying it here.
Yes we can have multiple parties in the United States and eventually it will happen. As Americans we must break free from the 2 party system.
Chuck
@Dre: Good luck with that.
Chuck
To all the gay Republicans coming out of the woodwork: How do you justify John Boehner’s special defense of DOMA? How do you justify that Mitt Romney wants a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and is also against civil unions? How do you spin George W. Bush blowing the Clinton surplus, committing the nation to 2 wars based on lies and paid for by borrowing, and having the economy collapse in his final year? How do you explain that the Matthew Shepherd act passed Nancy Pelosi’s House, and did not get any Republican support? How do you explain the fact that every co-sponsor of ENDA is Democratic?
the other Greg
I’m puzzled by these guys who think they are “gay” Republicans.
Just because you think girls have cooties, and you masturbate thinking about money, that does NOT make you “gay.” (Except in the middle school sense of “gay” meaning “lame.”) This makes you a fetishist – not that there’s anything wrong with that, necessarily – but despite what the other guys in middle school or your “Family Guy” fan club told you, it does not make you an actual homosexual.
Your money fetish does not impress real homosexuals. Sadly, it also does not impress real Republicans, who still hate you!
unclemike
@Chuck: THANK YOU for trying to be a voice of sanity here.
Colin
@Dre: I agree.
Matt
If i lived in the states I wouldn’t be sure who to vote for. It seems like on one side we have someone that would support enhancing rights of the LGBT community, but has economic policies and a socialism mindset that is killing the country. On the other you have someone that would support preventing equal rights against the LGBT community, but has economic policies that the United States needs to start cutting its debt, not adding to it.
Glad I live in Canada!
Lesbian Conservative
Romney 2012! How shocking it must be for the gay and lesbian communities to discover we’re all not a bunch of Democrat sheep so eager to be herded into the gay marriage corral.
Quite frankly, gay marriage is about 6th or 7th on my list of life concerns. I’m more focused on keeping my job, paying my mortgage, and not having my retirement investments wiped out in an economic downturn.
But all you so so oppressed white middle class gays and lesbians out there must not have such worries, I presume. Well, the lesbians–probably not. The odds that a lesbian earns her living through some government/taxpayer funded agency are pretty high. Maybe that’s why the Dem’s Big Daddy government is so appealing to them. Their slogan should be: I am woman, hear me roar–Meow!
Chuck
It’s always kinda sad/amusing when NOM and Focus on the Family freep Queerty!
the other Greg
@Lesbian Conservative: Romney’s 3-Point Plan for the economy:
1) Cut taxes yet again for the rich;
2) Start another war (unfunded, on borrowed money), probably with Iran (gotta please the donors);
3) uh… uh… uh… guess it’s just a 2-Point Plan.
GOProudest
@Chuck: We don’t care. The positions on economy, regulation and taxation are more important.
@the other Greg: We don’t care about who you consider “really” gay. Taking opinion / life direction from bigoted people like you is a fate worse than death. No thanks. Whine to someone who cares.
@Lesbian Conservative: Welcome! Yes the sheep are annoyed that not every LGBT is a sheep like them.
UsualPlayers
I’m really getting sick and tired of this whole “if you’re gay, you can’t be a Republican.”
Please, the grand sages of homosexuality, the High Priests who decide what is and isn’t permissible for a gay man to believe, please, enlighten me:
–How is being against runaway deficits a gay/straight thing?
–How is supporting a robust national defense budget a gay/straight thing?
–How is preferring small government and disliking bloated, inefficient bureaucracies a gay/straight thing?
–How is believing in a strong work ethic and eschewing government handouts a gay/straight thing?
–How is believing in free markets a gay/straight thing?
–How is believing in states’ rights a gay/straight thing?
Please. Somebody explain those things to me. I’d love to know the answer.
GOProudest
The most amusing thing though are all those morons here who think everyone here posting in support of Romney is on NOM payroll. You probably live in a ghetto where everyone thinks and acts just like you. Surprise! Lots of gay people do not define themselves first and foremost by what their ghetto friends think. We have actual lives and careers in productive sectors of the economy.
the other Greg
@GOProudest: Do you care that the other Republicans all fucking HATE you? That seems a weird thing to not care about, and a not-minor sticky point. Stickier than the cum stains you guys put on the 20 dollar bills (ewwww!).
Chuck
Well I thing the freeping of this thread is complete. Of course, nobody can take this thread seriously anymore. Unless you like Romney and want to return to the Bush era, you are apparently a sheep. Of course other than name calling and bumper sticker rhetoric, they refuse to address anything specific. Anyhoo, say hi to Bryan Fisher and Tony Perkins for the rest of us, hey giiiiiiiiirl! Your projecting of your self loathing is hurting LGBT people nationwide. Congrats!
GOProudest
@the other Greg: I don’t care. I don’t run into much hate in my real life. I do however run into high taxes, regulations and runaway bloated Government caused by Democrats. That’s the bigger concern.
Chuck
@GOProudest: Of course, you do know that since Obama extended the Bush tax cuts, taxes are still lower than they were under Reagan.
Kurt
This would be nice if Obama actually was a real advocate to LGBT people instead of just pretending that he is.
Chuck
Queerty, please retitle this page “If you’re gay, you must a Republican. LOL.” Try to do it without irony, laughing, or oral projectiles.
Chuck
This thread can now be used by actual LGBT people as a visual aid to the lengths the right will go to to try to divide us. Hmm, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Well, we must be making progress. When the BYU students, NOM lakees, and cubicle shills move on, we’ll be pretty close to the final step in that truism.
the other Greg
@GOProudest: Federal taxes have not gone up, and most of the runaway bloated government was caused by Republican-started wars, and farm subsidies (hi, Michele & Marcus Bachmann!) and the idiotic drug war (I don’t give Obama a pass there, he’s a hypocrite on that one), but do you really run into all that many regulations as a traveling salesman?
Chuck
@unclemike: Merci. Yes, I speak French like Mitt Romney, only my accent is much better.
Chuck
Still waiting for the GOProud freaks to tell us why putting LGBT discrimination into red state constitutions is actually GOOD for gay people, and why being able to fire somebody for being gay is too. Of course, I do appreciate that they haven’t yet used the usual hate radio put down to African Americans and mentioned the word ‘plantation.’
GOProudest
@Chuck: Look carefully, I used the word plantation here: @here:
LGBT discrimination in state constitutions will go away when there are enough Gay Republicans to have real influence in the GOP. By turning a civil rights issue into a partisan football you are hurting your own cause.
Colin
@GOProudest: You are one of the most sensible posters here. Thank you for your patience with these Demo-gay trolls and their hysterics.
Aquarelle
@Colin: @GOProudest: I second your sentiment, Colin, and add you to the list of sensible posters.
Colin
@Aquarelle: I think all three of us are very sensible when we aren’t being accused of being the same person. Maybe Lesbian Conservative will stick around so we can have a 4th person to be accused of being one/all of us. LOL.
Chuck
More than 50 posts more than any other Queerty article. No freeping here! LOL.
Chuck
For the casual observer: The right makes no arguments based on specifics or legislation. Their single message is vote for the GOP to be different and an individual. That such an empty argument is their best offer to LGBTs tells you all you need to know.
Lesbian Conservative
@GOProudest:
Yea! You are so right.
I belong to a local Tea Party organization and I have been welcomed and supported. I’m sure there are folks there who don’t approve of me and aren’t happy that I’m actively taking part in the group, but I have never been on the receiving end of anything that could even remotely be characterized as unpleasant, let alone hateful. Something I can’t say about the lesbian/gay community, where I have learned what it means to be on the receiving end of a hateful intolerant mentality. You guys could give lessons in how to hate.
Misty
To all the A**holes here commenting on how Obama is a traitor to the LGBT community, you are F**king liars and need to get beyond dare I say, his race, because you guys are not voting in your interests in regards to gay rights. If you guys were, you’d be more intellectually honest about it and not be the A**holes that you are just because supporting Obama isn’t cool anymore
MikeSF
Misty STFU quit using the whole bullshit argument of “If you don’t like Obama it’s because he’s ‘black’ or actually mixed race/biracial!”. I know A LOT of black gay men who do not like Obama and unlike Obama they’re actually black and not half wife or mixed race/biracial.
Obama is a stooge, the worst president ever, and he’s not really for LGBT rights or equality at all.
Nelson
Conservative Lesbian-You are correct, a lot of so called “Liberal” and “progressive” LGBT people-especially gays and lesbians-are highly homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic. It’s no secret that within the LGBT community we love to back stab other LGBT people and “eat our own.”
Misty
telling someone to Shut up is rude. Whatever you say. But on LGBT issues in particular, there is every reason to like Obama and no reason to hate him. Instead of getting all defensive about, maybe consider that’s the reason I brought up why people consider him an enemy of the gay community.
Misty
@MikeSF: Explain to me how he’s not really when he’s done arguably the most that any president has ever done when it comes to LGBT rights?
Aquarelle
@Misty: To be fair, he told you to shut the FUCK up. And you haven’t, so it’s YOU who’s kind of rude.
Mark Spellman
Oh jeez not the bullshit of “Obama has done more for LGBT people than ANY other President has!”
This is not true, he and his administration defended DOMA more than any other President, he did not really get rid of DADT (don’t ask don’t tell) since he edited out the non-discrimination clause therefore making it totally legal and fine for the military to still do witch hunts towards bisexuals, gays, and lesbians-Trans people STILL can’t openly serve in the military!-and the Pentagon and top military brass actually ended DADT. Obama’s whole “Gawd’s in the mix and marriage is between a hetero man and hetero woman!” was a total slap in the face to LGBT people and LGBT youth. He’s not really for same gender marriage at all he just wants to pretend he is to get our votes, money, and support again.
Marisol
Obama isn’t black he’s mixed race, biracial, or as we call him in Brasil a mulatto.
Aquarelle
@Marisol: Darling, nos Estados Unidos, a palavra “mulato” é um insulto racial. Encontre um outro termo, por favor.
jeff4justice
@Chuck: So if an anti-gay ballot measure seemed un-winnable would you give up?
You can vote for the alternative parties or vote for the corporation party of war, poverty and attacks on civil liberties while expecting different results.
jeff4justice
@Dre: Amen Dre. If we can get woman and racial minorities the right to vote, elected openly LGBT elected officials, and elect a black President we can certainly do something as smile as vote alternative party.
jeff4justice
@Chuck: How do you defend Obama’s NDAA, attack on protestors’ rights, continuing the Afghan war and his unconstitutional wars in places like Libya, his drone attacks, kill list, keeping Guantanamo open, appointing people from Monsanto to the FDA, allowing the EPA to raise radiation standards after the Japan nuc meltdown, attacks on medical marijuana dispensaries, trivializing of Occupy, etc…???
This is what blind follows of the corporately controlled 2party system do. They squabble like idiots over who did what worse when they’re both ruining the country.
Don;t forget there are still anti-gay Democrats while the alternative parties are consistently pro-equality and unlike the 2party system they’re pro-people.
Colin
@Aquarelle: I completely agree. Very accurate observation.
Forrest
How any gay person who values their own humanity and self worth can vote Republican is beyond me. Are you people masochists? Is this some kind of kink or fetish or just self loathing?
A central tenet of the party is an enshrined bigotry and discrimination against LGBT Americans. The Democratic
Party could not be more different, to me this issue is paramount because it’s core to
who I am. I could live with myself voting Republican.
Stay Faded
I’m a Mulatto, American, and no it’s not a rac!st term or an insult. To call me either black or white is rac!st and an insult.
Dre
Forrest-I see that you’ve drank the kool aid that Democrats are somehow completely different than Republicans and that they actually are for LGBT rights when in reality both parties are pretty much the same, and both are not for LGBT rights or equality. Meanwhile 3rd parties such as the Green party and Libertarian party are all for LGBT rights, and always have been.
Chuck
@Dre: Right. And the Green of Libertarian parties have about as much chance to be elected president as Santa Clause being elected president.
Chuck
GOP apologists on here will attack you if you do not agree with them that the party of constitutional amendments against gays and “don’t say gay” bills is actually BETTER for LGBTs than the party that brought is the Matthew Shepherd Act, ended DADT, and is sponsoring ENDA. If you don’t agree with them in that absurd notion, then you’re “drinking the kool aid.”
Meanwhile, their Kool Aid is grape flavored.
Chuck
1. Leading national LGBT mag endorses the president.
2. GOP who liked to scapegoat LGBTs knows they can’t compete for LGBT vote.
3. They come on here and urge LGBTs to vote for 3rd party.
jeff4justice
@Chuck: So you can’t refute the many ways Obama has acted as GWB’s third term and then have the audacity to claim that one votes third party they must be a closeted Republican? You cannot defend Obama.
If you’re a Democrat or a Repblulcian you stand for perpetual war, poverty, the erosion of civil liberties and corporations taking over everything from political parties, media, and nonprofits.
Democrats and Republicans are fucking stupid!
jeff4justice
@Chuck: Also, if Obama is so great he should have no problem debating the alternative politcal party opponents. But both he and Romney will puss out and avoid debating their alternative party opponents.
The debates are organized by by a group called the Commission On Presidential Debates, a bunch of 2party system insiders who take corporate donations to host the debates. What a fucking joke.
Chuck
@jeff4justice: What the hell are you talking about. Quit trying to make LGBTs vote for 3rd party with no chance of winning to help your Republican owners. Your mouth is purple.
jeff4justice
@Chuck: You’re either ignorant or willfully in denial.
NO ONE wins with the 2party system.
Bush, Obama, Same Old Drama!
http://stpeteforpeace.org/obama.html
21 reasons why I will not vote for Obama in 2012
http://my.firedoglake.com/barefootaccountant/2012/04/25/20-reasons-why-i-will-never-again-vote-for-obama/
Romney Obama the Same?
http://youtu.be/IWDJEc92d38
The False Left/Right Paradigm Nightmare
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/727-the-false-leftright-paradigm-nightmare
Explaining the left-right paradigm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kw7j4lbDB4
Environmentalists Against Obama
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Environmentalists-Against-Obama/216203031771907
jeff4justice
@Chuck: You’re either ignorant or willfully in denial.
NO ONE wins with the 2party system.
Look up:
Bush, Obama, Same Old Drama!
21 reasons why I will not vote for Obama in 2012
Romney Obama the Same?
The False Left/Right Paradigm Nightmare
Explaining the left-right paradigm
Environmentalists Against Obama
Chuck
@jeff4justice: I like that you’ve gone from trying to make it seem like Republicans are good for the gays to now trying to get gay people to vote for a third party because you lost that argument. Either way, it is transparent and pathetic. This story is now relegated to page 2 so nobody is gonna read it anymore. Your efforts would probably be better served trying to suppress the votes of Latinos and African Americans. Every great social movement creates job opportunities for sell outs, thank you for being a living breathing example of Gloria Steinem’s truism. Have a nice life you shill.
jeff4justice
@Chuck: Ok chuck, willfully in denial.
+ Nice attempt at censorship there at the end. I understand 2party system apologists are fond of censorship.
Even though one can Google Jeff 4 Justice 3rd party and see I’ve been advocating for the advancement of alternative parties well over a decade or have been an activists for equality over a decade.
It must hurt to realize you’re fucking people over by defending the corporately owned 2party system. You’ve got so much in vested in thinking you’re a hero for the poor and oppressed while leading them to their oppressors.
I denounce Democrats. I denounce Republicans. I denounce media that keeps people nu-informed of alternative party options. And I denounce 2party system apologists like you who are stuck so much in your denial illusions that you’ve lost all critical thinking skills.
No matter how bad Obama is, you’ll be there to defend him. And no matter how bad Romney is there are just as many willfully stupid Republicans doing the same thing.
Chuck
@jeff4justice: For the love of God, give it a rest already. If you really think a 3rd party candidate has ANY chance of winning the presidency this year, you really need to seek mental help ASAP. I’m worried about you. Get help.
Jason
Chuck-You need to get help since you’re that much of a brainwashed Obama bot.
I agree the 2 party system is long outdated and has to go.
John
@Jason: Like Chuck said, you are just trying to diminish the gay vote with this 3rd party nonsense. No credible or sane person believes a third party candidate will win this November. Nice try trying to assuage the LGBT vote because Republicans rightly know they have no hope of appealing to gays.
Jeff
I’m gay and the way the Dems including Obama are total hypocrites toward LGBT rights promising everything but delivering nothing I’m going to vote for a 3rd party candidate instead.
Aaron Price
Another reason I am not voting for Barack Obama – remember he wanted Arab Spring and talked about how great it is? The man is a FOOL, and no I am not white btw.
Kris
@Aaron Price: Obama is smarter than you. Just sayin’.
Kris
@Jeff: Why would you throw your vote away? Matthew Shepherd Act, repealing DADT, sponsoring ENDA, that is not hypocritical at all. The GOP has “traditional marriage between one man and one woman” in its freaking PARTY PLATFORM. Mitt is against marriage AND against civil unions. Don’t throw your vote away when the stakes are this high.
Chuck
Just today, the pro-LGBT Democratic party led by Nancy Pelosi filed a court brief for the repeal of DOMA. Contrasting sharply, GOP non Mitt Romney told the NAACP that “as president I will defend traditional marriage.”
One of these two parties will win this November, make your vote count and don’t throw it away on a 3rd party.
Barefoot Accountant
For a more complete list, see Hugh’s list at http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com/2009/10/table-of-contents.html:
1. Reneged on pledge to filibuster FISA Amendments Act (July 2008)
2. Lobbied for $700 billion Paulson TARP bank bailout
3. Pushed for no sanctions against Lieberman despite his support for John McCain
4. Nominated healthcare company lobbyist Tom Daschle as Secretary of HHS
5. Had neoliberal Robert Rubin as his chief economics adviser
6. Then had the equally neoliberal Larry Summers assume this role
7. Chose the failing upwards Timothy Geithner to head Treasury
8. AIG bonuses and money to Goldman under Obama
9. Doubling down in Afghanistan
10. Delay and reduction of withdrawal from Iraq
11. Moving Guantanamo activities to Bagram
12. Military commissions for some detainees
13. Support for indefinite detention
14. Refusal to release torture photos under FOIA
15. Refusal to investigate and prosecute Bush era criminality
16. Geithner’s DOA economic rescue programs: the PPIP and TALF
17. Minimal help for homeowners and no cramdowns
18. Treatment of Chrysler and GM with bankrupcy compared to bank no fail “stress tests”
19. Kabuki of TARP repayment by banks while still dependent on government credit lines
20. Extra-Constitutional use of the Fed by the Executive for fiscal policy
21. Credit Card bill without usury caps and with 9 month delay for other reforms
22. Business friendly Mary Schapiro named to head SEC
23. Gary Gensler who helped deregulate derivatives named to head CFTC
24. $787 billion stimulus: too little, too late, poorly structured
25. Use of financial crisis to attack Social Security and Medicare
26. The great healthcare non-debate
27. Continued use of state secrets argument in ongoing Bush era cases
28. Use of signing statements, including one to punish whistleblowers
29. Vetting process problems, especially tax related ones
30. Leaving Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head OLC twisting in the wind
31. Eric Holder, failure to reform DOJ, not removing worst of Bush USAs
32. Failure to move against new oil bubble
33. Retention of Bush Defense team: Gates, Patraeus, and Odierno
34. Continued missile strikes inside Pakistan
35. Keeping Bush’s domestic spying programs and adding a new one, cybersecurity
36. Choice of Elena Kagan who favors expansive Presidential powers as Sollicitor General, her subsequent nomination to the Supreme Court
37. Leaving EFCA (to help counter anti-union companies) to wither in Congress
38. Welcoming Arlen Specter who brings nothing to the Democrats into the party
39. Weak ineffective proposals for financial reform
40. Obama wanted John Brennan at CIA but settled for making him his counter- terrorism adviser
41. Chas Freeman with broader Mideast perspective done in by AIPAC
42. Dennis Blair made DNI; failed to act to stop atrocities in East Timor
43. Choice of McChrystal involved in torture in Iraq to head Afghanistan command
44. Obama threat to suspend intelligence cooperation with UK over Binyam Mohamed case
45. Efforts to keep Bush and Obama White House logs secret
46. Playing games with “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
47. Filing a brief to overturn Jackson (access to lawyer) in the Montejo case
48. Not withdrawing Bush brief in Osborne DNA case
49. Egregious brief in challenge to Defense of Marriage Act
50. The Supplemental which made Iraq and Afghanistan Democratic wars
51. Choice of Rahm Emanuel as the President’s Chief of Staff
52. Choice of Dennis Ross as Iran envoy and then his move to the White House
53. Politically embarrassing processes to fill Obama and Clinton’s Senate seats
54. Choice of Bill Richardson, then Judd Gregg to head Commerce Department
55. Reneging on pledge to re-negotiate NAFTA
56. Obama’s throwing his pastor Jeremiah Wright to the curb, then reaching out to religious conservative Rick Warren
57. Continued challenges to habeas corpus petitions over indefinite detention, the Janko case
58. The Obama White House website
59. Continuing an ineffective program that Iran can exploit politically
60. Going slow on climate change when there is no time to
61. Not withdrawing a Bush-era amicus brief in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case and supporting a rollback of Title VII
62. Appointment of a CIA General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
63. Appointment of a DNI General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
64. CIA delay in a FOIA request concerning torture
65. The influence of Goldman Sachs in the Obama Administration
66. Attempt to keep secret the Cheney interview on the Plame affair
67. Mountaintop removal under Obama
68. Attempt to restrict Congressional notification on intelligence matters
69. Opposition to a second stimulus
70. Another egregious attempt to fight a habeas corpus petition in the Jawad case
71. Continuing charter schools and standardized tests
72. Holder’s decision to support a weak, narrow review of torture
73. Re-appointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman
74. Continuing renditions
75. Politically dubious company was used to vet reporters in Afghanistan
76. Judge vetoes a too weak SEC plea bargain with Bank of America
77. Justice’s argument for making Bagram a new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case
78. Defense to turn over databases to poorly controlled fusion centers
79. Obama changes but keeps Bush’s Star Wars program
80. Failure to win an Israeli freeze on settlements
81. White House refuses to back its own staffer environmentalist Van Jones
82. Politicized US Attorney in the Siegelman case cleared by Office of Special Counsel
83. Criticism of Iranian nuclear program; support of Israeli nuclear weapons
84. Support for a weakened reporter’s shield law
85. Use of the Zazi case to retain broad Patriot Act surveillance provisions
86. Wilner v. NSA, continuing the coverup of warrantless surveillance of communications between attorneys and detainees
87. Attempt to spike the Goldstone report on Israeli-Hamas war crimes in Gaza
88. Slowness in filling federal judgeships
89. Inadequate aid to overwhelmed state budgets
90. Attempting to dodge the Supreme Court deciding whether innocent Guantanamo detainees can be resettled in the US
91. Allowing drilling in the waters off the north coast of Alaska
92. Keeping detainee accounts of CIA torture secret
93. Current FBI manual allows for widespread domestic spying
94. Securitization invalidates most foreclosures
95. Geithner wanting unlimited powers to save large banks
96. Another state secrets defense to conceal domestic spying
97. Circuit Court dismissal of Maher Arar suit
98. Weakening Sarbanes-Oxley and calling it financial reform
99. Unemployment
100. Inspector General for Fannie and Freddie ousted for investigating fraud
101. Gaming courts to convict Guantanamo detainees
102. White House counsel removed for his principled stands on torture and Guantanamo
103. US seizes mosques claiming Iranian connection
104. Howard Dean removed as head of the DNC
105. Scientist with close ties to Monsanto put in charge of all governmental agricultural research
106. Pesticide lobbyist nominated as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for trade
107. Effort to let some government contractors avoid paying taxes
108. A bad US Attorney nomination for Northern Iowa
109. Hunger in America
110. The breast cancer recommendations fiasco
111. Ongoing confusion and disorganization in the military commissions process
112. Phillip Carter another official in closing Guantanamo resigns
113. Refusal to sign anti-land mine treaty
114. The Ghizzawi case and the legal limbo of “cleared for release”
115. Black prisons at Balad and Bagram
116. Delay in declassifying historic documents
117. Max Baucus’ conflicts of interest in healthcare and with his girlfriend
118. Major security breach at a White House party and a ridiculous assertion of “executive privilege”
119. Dana “Pig Missile” Perino nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors
120. Cass Sunstein, an anti-regulator in a regulatory position
121. Warrantless for profit electronic surveillance by telecoms and search engines
122. The government sides with torture lawyer John Yoo and attacks Bevins actions again
123. The TSA publishes its security manual online
124. Toxic legal arguments in al Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, yet another Bevins action
125. The Nobel Peace Prize and a neocon acceptance speech
126. Blackwater’s involvement in military and CIA assassination and drone programs
127. Congressional Research Service censorship in the firing of Morris Davis
128. AIG writes off $25 billion in debt and sticks taxpayers with the bill
129. The Administration plays hardball to kill an amendment that would lower drug costs
130. A poorly considered blank check to Fannie and Freddie
131. Continuing a Bush botch in the Nisoor Square massacre case
132. Jonathan Gruber, a major defender of Obamacare was also a paid consultant for it
133. A Geithner related cover up of the AIG at par payments on swaps
134. Adoption of stealth signing statements
135. al Bihani, more bad legal reasoning in another Guantanamo habeas case
136. Cutting Medicare and Social Security by deficit commission proposed
137. A 3 year non-freeze budget freeze proposed
138. NASA flights privatized
139. OPR report on Yoo and Bybee watered down and its relation to the Padilla case
140. Government targeting of US citizens for assassination
141. Abuse of informants by ICE agents
142. Obama leaves Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board empty
143. Obama backs firing of teachers in Rhode Island
144. Irish human rights advocate Edward Horgan has US visa pulled
145. Threatened veto of 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act over Congressional notifications
146. Obama Administration intimidation of whistleblowing site: wikileaks
147. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to ignore science on endangered species
148. Senate vacation more important than jobless benefits
149. Government seeks to compel turnover of emails without a warrant
150. Obama goes after an NSA whistleblower: the Thomas Drake case
151. Obama goes after a CIA whistleblower: the James Risen case
152. Weakening Miranda rights in national security cases
153. Advocating the privatizing of public housing
154. Another step in making Bagram the new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case, the appeals court edition
155. Massey mining disaster, 29 die because of corporate greed and poor regulation
156. Obama proposal for a line item veto
157. A military commander allowed to use military forces for intelligence operations without Presidential approval
158. Political pandering in sending 1200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest border
159. A sad record on resisting Guantanamo habeas petitions
160. Israel attacks an aid convoy for Gaza; Obama punts
161. A further erosion of Miranda: Berghius v. Thompkins
162. Naming James Clapper, a Bush appointee, to be the next DNI
163. DOJ seeks to protect Vatican in sex abuse scandal
164. Yahya Wehelie, an American exiled without charge
165. Failure to replace National Labor Relations Board members means hundreds of decisions must be reviewed
166. SCOTUS opts for overly broad definition of material support to terrorist groups
167. Speaker Pelosi backstabs Social Security
168. Complaints by government scientists of political interference at Bush era levels
169. Flip flop on free trade agreement with Colombia
170. SEC declares major victory but lets Goldman off easy
171. Private contracting of intelligence continues under Obama
172. Two Guantanamo prisoners to be deported back to Algeria against their will
173. The Shirley Sherrod affair: trumped up charges of racism and a bungled response 174. Whitewash report on Bush era US Attorney firings
175. Despite its record, Blackwater still gets big US government contracts
176. Wikileaks releases government files showing Pakistan involvement with Taliban and admission that things are going poorly in Afghanistan
177. Obama seeks to get access to everyone’s web histories without a court order
178. Teacher funding sacrificed to keep Education Secretary Arne Duncan happy
179. State’s top Iran hand resigns over Obama’s Iran policy
180. Citizens United: validation of unlimited corporate political funding
181. Push to expand US arms sales around the world
182. Project Vigilant, Infragard and “volunteer” corporate spying for the government
183. Obama’s approval hits Bush levels in Arab world
184. Effort to pre-empt state environmental lawsuits involving green house gases
185. Justice’s Anti-trust division asleep at the wheel
186. Kagan’s recusals render her even more ineffective on the Supreme Court
187. Poverty level highest since 1994
188. Courts run interference for corporate violators of international law
189. Warren named to set up but not to run Consumer Financial Protection Board
190. Chief economic adviser Larry Summers leaves; Obama looks for someone even more pro-business to replace him
191. DOJ IG report goes soft on Bush era surveillance against peace groups and other activists; meanwhile the Obama Administration conducts raids against similar groups
192. Move to put backdoors in the internet to facilitate spying and more requirements on banks on international money transfers of any size
193. HHS Secretary Sebelius delays for at least two years required insurance coverage for contraception
194. Americans on Medicaid increased to 48.5 million in 2009
195. Big home lenders suspend foreclosures as their documentation gets challenged in court
196. HR 3808, a bill passed by Congress, to facilitate the acceptance of false documentation by banks in foreclosure proceedings
197. ICE raids and deportations increase under Obama
198. Social Security COLA frozen for second straight year; no action taken
199. Waivers for military aid to countries with child soldiers
200. Big and deserved losses in the 2010 elections
201. 42 million Americans on food stamps at the end of FY 2010
202. No indictments for those involved in the CIA destruction of the torture tapes
203. The Bowles-Simpson Cat Food Commission proposals
204. $3 billion in aid for Israel for a 90 day settlement freeze
205. No change in Democratic Congressional leadership after 2010 election disaster
206. Forced proselytizing still prevalent at US Air Force Academy
207. TSA harassment and violation of the 4th Amendment
208. More TSA idiocy: full body scans and invasive pat downs
209. The response to the 2009 coup in Honduras
210. Use of diplomatic personnel to spy at the UN
211. Fed proposes rule change to Truth in Lending Act to protect bank fraud
212. FCC head Genachowski takes an axe to net neutrality
213. Lieberman and Amazon.com seek to censor wikileaks
214. Pressuring the Spanish government into dropping torture prosecutions against 6 high level Bush officials
215. Neoliberal free trade deal with South Korea at a time of high unemployment
216. Hamfisted banning access to wikileaks by government departments
217. Massive screwup in printing $100 bills
218. Extending tax cuts for the rich in a poor compromise on jobless benefits
219. Dancing boys of Afghanistan paid for by US contractor Dyncorp
220. EPA backtracks on smog standards
221. Former OMB director Peter Orszag goes to Citigroup
222. Obama breaks the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to supply Israel with nuclear fuel
223. DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants done in by Senate Democrats
224. DOJ drops investigations of corrupt members of Congress
225. The FBI’s Guardian database, another useless, intrusive surveillance program
226. Pentagon weakens rules on contractor conflicts of interest
227. Investigation by state Attorney Generals into foreclosuregate: no criminal charges
228. Obama names Mr. NAFTA Bill Daley as his new Chief of Staff
229. Obama names neoliberal free trader Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers
230. Executive Order to make regulations more business-friendly
231. Gulet Mohamed: Detention and torture of US citizens by proxy
232. Nelson v. NASA: government can demand intrusive, unnecessary information about its employees
233. Choice of GE’s outsourcing CEO Jeffrey Immelt as Obama’s Jobs Czar
234. Failure to weaken or eliminate the filibuster
235. Corporate targeting of Wikileaks and liberal organizations
236. Reaction to the popular revolution in Egypt
237. HHS Secretary Sebelius helps states cut Medicaid rolls and funding
238. Petraeus accuses parents not US attacks for burns to children in Afghanistan
239. US general in Afghanistan sets up illegal propaganda program targeting Americans
240. Obama plans to devastate small block grants program for the poor
241. Silence on the Wisconsin labor protests
242. Former Senator Christopher Dodd quickly becomes lobbyist after promising not to
243. Obama reinstitutes sham review tribunals at Guantanamo
244. DOJ colludes with Bush era official Scott Bloch to keep him out of jail
245. The treatment of Bradley Manning
246. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley forced to resign over Manning comments
247. Massive conflicts of interest in David Stevens at HUD and soon to be head of main lobbying group for the mortgage industry
248. Mild reaction to bloody anti-democratic repression in Bahrain and Yemen
249. Torture psychologist appointed to White House task force
250. FBI program which allows them to investigate anyone doesn’t work (surprise)
251. In his Libya war, Obama has completed the unconstitutional process of Presidents’ usurpation of Congress’ power to make war
252. Obama accepts award for transparency in secret
253. Democrats create PACs to receive unlimited contributions from anonymous donors 254. 2011 government shutdown threat as Shock Doctrine
254. The 2011 “great” biprtisan budget deal
255. The OCC deal to cover for banks in foreclosuregate
256. Reshuffling neocons at DOD and the CIA
257. Leak of Detainee Assessments shines light on the weakness of cases against many Guantanamo inmates
258. Geithner shields foreign exchange derivatives from Dodd-Frank regulation
259. Crazy new application for some US passports
260. DOJ wants SCOTUS to allow for GPS tracking without a warrant
261. An industry stacked panel to study fracking
262. SCOTUS attacks small claim class actions
263. SCOTUS okays fraud in financial presentations
264. SCOTUS attacks large class actions and Title VII
265. DOJ’s non-investigation of torture produces few results
266. Department of State threatens participants of Gaza flotilla with terrorism charges
267. Detainees now held on ships to avoid judicial scrutiny
268. CIA operating a black site prison in Somalia
269. SCOTUS and DC Appeals Court torpedoing detainee habeas petitions
270. SCOTUS greatly expands warrantless searches; Obama DOJ approves
271. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the 2011 spike in gasoline prices
272. Christine Varney, head of DOJ Anti-Trust Division, goes to law firm that had case before her
273. Senseless 2011 debt ceiling crisis, budget cutting, and attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
274. TSA closes US airspace to Mexican human rights activist
275. DHS guts its unit monitoring right wing terrorism in US
276. “Recovery” benefited corporations, not workers
277. Harassment of a government scientist Charles Monett because his work clashes with drilling in the Arctic
278. African Americans and Hispanic wealth took hardest hit from financial crises
279. Cass Sunstein sitting on labor rules to protect child workers
280. Oil leasing in Gulf resumes
281. Administration pressures NY AG Schneiderman to go along with bogus mortgage settlement
282. DOJ dumps responsibility for its bungled gun running sting on handy US Attorney
283. US ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality
284. White House engages in selective prosecution of Dan Choi over DADT protest
285. COBRA extension ditched
286. Obama spikes EPA ozone limits
287. 2011 Obama fictional jobs plan
288. Contractors cost twice as much as unionized federal workers doing the same work
289. New EPA greenhouse gas limits also being drawn out
290. CFTC proposes ineffectual limits on commodity speculation
291. State Department targets career officer Peter Van Buren for writing critical book
292. Secret Law and the OLC legal justification for killing a US citizen abroad
293. US incomes fall more after recession than during it
294. Another Afghanistan fail: torture rampant in Afghan prisons
295. Bank of America dumps derivative exposure on to the FDIC with Fed approval
296. New rule to legitimize government lying in response to FOIA requests
297. Cronyism and the Keystone XL pipeline
298. Despite pledge, Obama still taking money from lobbyists
299. Secure Communities and deportation as a business
300. The Occupy movement and the attacks upon it
301. DOJ prosecuting financial fraud at the lowest rate in 20 years
302. US stops funding of UNESCO
303. 42% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck
304. The Post Office facing cuts because of unnecessary prefunding mandates
305. Arab Spring and allowing Fundamentalist Muslims to take control of Egypt.
Nestor
Chuck go fuck yourself as the only action you’ll get is from a dildo!
Voting for a 3rd party is not throwing away your vote at all.
Obama and his administration can claim all they want that they’re for LGBT rights and same gender marriage but when push comes to shove in reality they are not for them at all.
Evan Martin
Chuck=another brainwashed Obama bot who is convinced that Obama is actually for LGBT rights and same gender marriage when in reality he is not and never has been, and he’s not “Evolved” at all.
Chuck
Wow, these shills are like a dog with a bone. Classy Nestor.
Brian
Someone, I suspect the same person using multiple names, has freeped this article with loads of posts telling you to vote for a 3rd party. The LGBT does not have the luxury of reforming the American political system at such a pivotal time when LGBT rights are the civil rights issue of our time. Nor do we have that responsibility. The party delineations are clear to anyone who cares to read the party platforms. The Democratic party and President Obama’s records on LGBT issues are self evident and beyond reproach. It is disturbing but evidently necessary that we endure clandestine ploys to annul our voices at such a pivotal time in the LGBT rights struggle. But rest assured, we will prevail. As Barack Obama’s favorite saying states, “the arch of history is long, but it bends towards social justice.” What is the GOP’s favorite saying? “I got mine, so screw you.”
Chuck
The buffoons who began this thread telling LGBTs to vote Republican, then when the facts were laid out so obviously, they knew there was no hope of making that stick, then moved on to this, hey LGBTs vote for a 3rd party crap. Never again should you doubt the money Crossroads GPS is throwing at this election. If they’re not trying to stop people from voting, they’re trying to get gays to throw away their vote. Hey, how ’bout going on FoxNews site and convincing a few of them to vote for a 3rd party. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Hank
@Nestor: So voting for a 3rd party thus helping “traditional marriage amendment” Mitt win is what you should do? Are you retarded or just stupid?
Hank
@Nestor: How is voting for 3rd party not throwing your vote away? Do you think someone other than “traditional marriage amendment” Mitt or Obama will be our next president? Really? You think that? You have bigger issues than freeping this thread.
Truth Wins
Chuck, I think you’re giving him too much credit. That much rage doesn’t come from an an employed person. It’s just a KKK member with a modem using multiple names. Sad, really.
Vic
Yeah and look, that racist human cancer takes exactly 2 minutes to knock these out, look at today’s comments at 12:44, 12:46, 12:48! LOL. You’re exposed loser. Truly amazing that you are so filled with such hate for our president that you try to pass yourself off as more than one person. Typical Tea Partier white trash piece of crap. Voting for a 3rd party means you hate yourself, America, and the troops!
Vic
Yeah and look, that racist human cancer takes exactly 2 minutes to knock these out, look at today’s comments at 12:44, 12:46, 12:48! LOL. You’re exposed creep!
Vic
Yeah and look, that faker takes exactly 2 minutes to knock these out, look at today’s comments at 12:44, 12:46, 12:48! LOL. You’re exposed creep!
Michael
Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton have each created ‘It Gets Better’ videos to LGBT youth. Mitt Romney, John Boehner, and Eric Cantor have not…and will not.
Greg
@Barefoot Accountant: Your penchant for cutting and pasting in the place of actually making an argument is not particularly skillful and rather boring.
David
I think it’s Larry Craig who’s desperately trying to freep this thread. He reads Queerty daily but he is not gay and has never been gay. Or maybe it’s Mark Foley taking a break from diddling the page boys. Why do gay Republicans always vote against LGBT issues?
Lance
I think this crazy “vote 3rd party” meme is just one crazed Roseanne fan who really thinks she has a chance of winning. Pssst, even she doesn’t think that, it’s just a career ploy.
Cam
@Lance: The mystery is solved! LOL!
Truth Wins
I’m going on the Drudge Report and use the pseudo-reasoning of the one guy using multiple names on this thread who hates Obama, and urge them to vote 3rd party. Thanks for the tip, I never would have thought of doing this!
Vic
@Truth Wins: Don’t forget to tell them how Mitt owns a company that disposes of fetuses and that he was governor when gay marriage passed in Massachusetts.
Truth Wins
Yeah and there are his multiple endorsements of the healthcare mandate. Don’t worry I’ll have them thinking Mitt is to the left of Obama. We have him on tape saying he’s to the left of Ted Kennedy. I already got a response from a Tea Partier who re-Tweeted by “Anyone But Mitt” meme.
Lance
@Truth Wins: Show them the clips of Mitt living in that mansion in France and of him getting his hair dyed. That should play well in Ohio.
Michael
I’m just waiting for that fake creep to come back on here and tell us how Obama is a communist fascist who went back in time to cause Bush to blow the Clinton surplus and is responsible for not keeping the government hands off of Medicare. Oh, man, the warped logic of these people. One has to feel sorry for human beings with that backward of thought process.
Greg
Bush failed on 9/11 and caused worse economic collapse since Great Depression. I’m just waiting for that moron to come back to and say anybody who likes the president is “brainwashed” because…he says so? Haha. That’s about as compelling as the nanner nanner argument my three year old nephew just made.
Lance
Maybe that 3rd party freeper will next tell us how Reagan refusing to even say the word AIDS during the 80s was actually GOOD for the gays.
Truth Wins
@Lance: Yeah, and he’ll try to tell us how asking Latinos for their papers is because Republicans LIKE Latinos.
Lance
In case anybody is confused, turn to ANY credible news source, NYT, WSJ, USA Today, your local paper, whatever and try to find ANY evidence that the next president will be either a Republican or a Democrat. Case closed.
Greg
No, vote 3rd party because they’re all corrupt. What, the 3rd party is corrupt too? Oh well, vote for the guy who got rid of DOMA, signed the first national LGBT hate crime legislation, and supports marriage equality and ENDA. Otherwise the Republican “support traditional marriage” guy who donated millions to the Mormon church who sponsored prop 8 will get in. Yikes.
Michael
All this talk about voting for a 3rd party is silly because there probably won’t even be a 3rd party candidate on most people’s ballots. If you really want to support a 3rd party, then send money to Bernie Sanders, the only 3rd party person in national office.
Misty
@Aquarelle: I don’t have to STFU. I have a right to voice my opinion.
Misty
@Aaron Price: You don’t have to be to see that you are a fool. Race is irrelevent
Misty
@Mark Spellman: With DOMA: he stopped, didn’t he?! And with everything else It happened. We seem reluctant to give him credit for anything. Not that we push him.
Misty
@Mark Spellman: Call it BS all you want, but it’s a historical fact, whether you like it or not. Name one president who has done more? Clinton signed DOMA and DADT into law, so it cannot be him. Bush campaigned on an anti-gay ballot measure. The point wasn’t to make him a saint, the point was to say given his record being mostly positive (and I said MOSTLY, not all) that it makes sense for the Advocate to endorse him over his opponent Mitt Romney. And for that I have every reason to say (and I don’t have to STFU about it) that you may disagree with them and you guys are free to vote for whoever you want, but y’all need to quit your bitchin’ b/c there is no real reason to do so. I don’t understand the magnitude of the anger about it.
And PS. Don’t use the “he’s not black, he’s mixed” shit with me. I’m perfectly well aware of the fact that his mother was white, but still given the magnitude of the nastiness about it and the fact that I have seen this type of nastiness geared at hetero black (or non white) people before, it makes me wonder. I acknowledge I could be wrong, but don’t tell me to shut up. I have every right to ask that question.
Truth Wins
Misty, don’t feed the troll. It’s just one racist guy, that’s all. Ever wonder what the Advocate endorsing President Obama has to do with 3rd party at all? Nothing whatsoever.
Support Roseanne for President, yeah!
Anyhoo, here’s today’s Advocate article exposing the anti-LGBT record of every potential GOP VP nom: http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/07/17/aclus-list-potential-republican-vice-president-picks-and-their-antigay Just sayin’,
Truth Wins
Here’s today’s Advocate article exposing the anti-LGBT record of every potential GOP VP nom: http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/07/17/aclus-list-potential-republican-vice-president-picks-and-their-antigay Just sayin’,
Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/stop-the-presses-advocate-endorses-barack-obama-20120706/#ixzz20wrJkN00
Truth Wins
Ever wonder what the Advocate endorsing President Obama has to do with 3rd party at all? Nothing whatsoever.
Support Roseanne for President, yeah!