(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
This morning on “Meet the Press“, Vice President Joe Biden had heads literally spinning when he gave his unequivocal endorsement for same sex marriage. Within minutes in the White House press room heads exploded and the walk back began.
GREGORY: Have your views evolved?
BIDEN: The good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out what all marriages at their root are about. Whether they are marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals. […]
GREGORY: You’re comfortable with same-sex marriage now?
BIDEN: Look, I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that. […] I think Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has done so far. People fear that is different and now they’re beginning to understand.
h/t Think Progress
@chucktodd @meetthepress What VP said-that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights-is precisely POTUS’s position.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) May 6, 2012
Not quite, David. President Obama has yet to say he endorses same sex marriage. Civil Unions, yes; Marriage, no.
What Pam Spaulding said:
Biden’s comments are interesting in that they represent the President’s exact view – that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same civil rights, save the whole bit about the word “marriage.” Talk about threading the political needle.
What John Aravosis said:
Wrong. Biden talked about the marriages of gays and lesbians being the same as heterosexual marriages. And Axelrod’s attempt to back away from what the White House apparently sees as the radioactive nature of our civil rights is patently offensive.
2 comments
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I’ve been hearing that Obama’s hands are tied, ya know, bad, bad republicans, that Obama couldn’t possibly set any policies — oh yeah, except for not investigating war crimes, bank crimes, you know, things like that and a huge list of other things.
I almost choked when I read that Biden said: “The president sets the policy.”
So in other words, ain’t political spinning into a pretzel great.
And, yes, you can fool some of the people all of the time. I’m seeing it.