Obama: Biden ”got out a little over his skis” on same sex marriage.
Barney Frank: “Look, I note that this happens just a couple months before my own marriage. And it makes me very happy both because he’s doing it and because it confirms that we are on the verge of winning this fight within 10 years.”
TPM Reader BT on that Mitt video …
Did you notice that each of these things that Mitt got testy about are issues important to young people? The entirety of this election is generational, with racial and cultural layers built over it. And the Ryan budget is the keystone of that: make everybody under 54 pay full Medicare for everybody over and then cut them off.Generational warfare is the core animating force of our politics.
The most gleeful and the most bitter reactions to Obama’s same sex marriage shift.
Romney gets impatient for interviewer to ask him questions about “issues of significance” after questions about gay marriage, the DREAM Act and medical marijuana.
TPM’s David Taintor on how President Obama’s big interview with ABC came down.
TPMPolltracker guru Kyle Leighton debuts our new video series “Crosstabs”. He goes deep into the numbers to give you a clearer (but never boring) picture of what’s really happening in Campaign 2012.
TPM Reader CN thinks President Obama just gave away the election …
I wish I could agree with reader WB. Most of me is absolutely thrilled to see Obama boldly step forward to the right side of history. But I also have this sinking feeling: the feeling that Obama just handed the election to Romney.Read More →
A few minutes ago TPM Reader FZ flagged this passage in a statement Gov. Romney made this morning on the gay marriage issue. Romney was clear and categorical on his opposition to same sex marriages (no surprise there). But he did seem to hedge, pretty needlessly, on the issue of civil unions.
Here’s the quote …
Read More →Gov. Mitt Romney has now made his first public statement since President Obama’s announcement of support for gay marriage. Aside from reaffirming his opposition, his main angle appears to be that this makes Obama a ‘flip flopper’.
I must say, I think that’s the sort of angle that is silly enough to be damaging to Romney.
Mitt Romney reiterates his opposition to gay marriage in a campaign appearance in Oklahoma City: “This a very tender and sensitive topic as are many social issues, but I have the same views I’ve had since, well, since running for office.”
TPM Reader WB says don’t be surprised Obama took the plunge …
I’m surprised that you’re surprised that Obama has (apparently) endorsed same sex marriage. I don’t care what the polling on the issue says, this won’t hurt Obama in November. In fact it might help him.Read More →
The White House reached out to ABC News yesterday to set up the interview, and requested Robin Roberts as the interviewer.
Fox’s Shep Smith on Obama’s gay marriage announcement: Republicans “sitting very firmly without much question on the wrong side of history.” Watch.
Michael Bloomberg: “This is a major turning point in the history of American civil rights.”
Log Cabin Republicans: “That the president has chosen today, when LGBT Americans are mourning the passage of Amendment One, to finally speak up for marriage equality is offensive and callous.”
The key portion of Obama’s interview with President Obama on his newfound support for gay marriage. Watch.
The TPM Poll Average says 48.8% support and 47.1% oppose.
Trend chart after the jump …
Read More →We haven’t seen him say it yet. But ABC News has just announced this quote: Obama: “Same-Sex Marriage Should be Legal”
2:58 PM: Speaking just for myself I’m very surprised that Obama did this – both because of the politics but also because of who President Obama is. He’s not someone who gets dramatically out in front of issues. Obviously, with the state of national polling, it’s not clearly the case that this is ‘dramatically out in front’. Still, I’m surprised.
ABC reportedly going to interrupt normal programming at 3 p.m. with a special report on its interview with President Obama.
Vice President Joe Biden’s public support for gay marriage earlier this week was not a calculated trial balloon designed to test whether the time had come for President Obama to embrace equal rights. It was just Biden being Biden.
So says President Obama, who told ABC News that while he was already on track to announce his new position before the Democratic National Convention, Biden’s off-the-cuff remarks forced an announcement ahead of schedule.
Here are ten things you need to know today. Gay donors love Obama’s new marriage position: Gay donors, who are already big Democratic backers, were thrilled with President Obama’s changed views on gay marriage, reports the LA Times. As Andrew Tobias, DNC treasurer and a top bundler for Obama, put it to the Times: “Within minutes, people were calling with their credit cards. They’re thrilled.” Strategists divided on impact of Obama’s marriage stance: A quick survey of pollsters and…
A few Republican members of Congress would really like the FBI to stop coddling Muslims. Right-wing blogs have been complaining for months about the FBI’s decision to purge less than one percent of their counterterrorism training materials which a review found contained inaccurate, and often inflammatory information about Islam. On Wednesday, a few members of Congress joined the fight to get that biased information reinstated. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) demanded that FBI Director…
Democrats are chomping at the bit from the defeat of longtime Sen. Dick Lugar in his Republican primary in Indiana, saying that this state’s Senate seat is now officially on the map. Do they have a shot? The more conservative primary winner, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, will now face Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly, who is already praising Lugar’s record of bipartisanship on national security – at the same time as Mourdock is offering an ironic definition of bipartisanship, in…
Longtime Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the first openly gay member of Congress, told TPM he was very happy to see President Obama endorse same-sex marriage, but characterized the move as a political no-brainer that would have little impact on the 2012 election. “I do not think anybody is going to switch his or her opinion on him because of this,” Frank said shortly after Obama’s announcement Wednesday afternoon. “I believe that if you are someone who was going to be so influenced by your …
Less than 12 hours after North Carolina voters approved a same-sex marriage ban in their state, Connecticut state Sen. Beth Bye (D) told her wife that she had accepted the fact that President Obama was not going to support marriage equality until after the election. “I’m going to cry when I say this to you,” Bye told TPM. “I mean, yesterday I felt like I was punched in the stomach.” Bye and her wife, Tracey Wilson, were the first gay couple to marry in the state of Connecticut. The…
The White House called ABC News on Tuesday to ask about Robin Roberts’ schedule. The Good Morning America co-host works a pre-dawn to midday schedule during the week as part of the usual network morning show routine. But the White House wanted something far from routine: a sitdown interview between her and the President the next day. The questions would be of her choosing, but everyone knew the focus would be same-sex marriage. “It doesn’t take a huge leap to figure it out,” a source …
President Obama finished “evolving” on his gay marriage position on Wednesday, stating that he thinks same-sex couple should be allowed to get married.
It was a fairly unequivocal statement, which silenced the string of doubters lining up to announce that he would not be able to take this stance before the election, or that he simply didn’t support it in the first place.
Whatever the talking heads had to say, the President’s position is now clear and marks a historic milestone in American politics.
Mitt Romney responded to President Obama’s personal support for the legalization of gay marriage Wednesday by reaffirming his opposition to legalized same-sex unions of any kind, and suggesting Obama is a flip-flopper for “evolving” his stance.
“I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was governor,” Romney told reporters at a campaign stop in Oklahoma. “I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I know other people have differing views.”
A number of supporters and opponents of gay marriage on the right came together on Wednesday in a rare show of unity to slam President Obama’s announcement that he supports marriage rights for all. Here are a few of the most bitter emerging themes. 1) Did You See How Long He Took? You’d think gay Republican groups would be thrilled with Obama’s announcement, given their vocal support for gay marriage. They weren’t. “Obviously, it’s a good thing,” GOProud strategist Chris Barron…
Updated 5:40 pm ET, Wednesday, May 9 Usually, it’s Twitter’s users that make and break news. But on Tuesday, the company itself became the subject of headlines after filing a motion in New York City criminal court arguing that it should not have to turn over a user’s tweets to authorities. Twitter’s motion came after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office subpoenaed the San Francisco-based company in January, ordering it to turn over three-months worth of tweets and personally…
CNN is reporting new details about the alleged double-agent credited with foiling Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula’s latest underwear bomb plot. Some of the details square with what has previously been reported, while others complicate the picture. The network spoke with two sources “briefed by Saudi counterterrorism officials,” and came away with the following bits of information: Saudi intelligence was involved with the infiltrator “from A to Z.” The infiltrator had moved in …
President Obama made history Wednesday, becoming the first sitting president to come out in support of legal same-sex marriage. In an interview with ABC News, Obama said, “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” The ABC appearance followed several days of amped-up pressure on Obama to change his stance on same-sex marriage after Vice President Biden and members of Obama’s…
The NATO summit will be in Chicago later this month, and protests are expected to come with it. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, some office workers in downtown Chicago are being told to dress down on those days, so as not to attract unwanted attention. An email sent by one tenant of 1 E. Wacker Drive to its employees urges people to “look like a protester” and to leave the suits in the closet, Crain’s reports. The suggestion apparently came from the company that manages the…
Updated 6:00 pm ET, Wednesday, May 9 Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts this week to promote his company’s debut on the stock market to investors haven’t gone over so smoothly. First, Facebook’s unique video presentation reportedly struck a sour note in New York, leading the company to drop it when Zuckerberg went to court investors in Boston. Then, on late Tuesday night, entertainment and tech analyst Michael Pachter, of the firm Wedbush Securities, resoundinglyBloomberg …
A freshman House Republican sent a concise message to his party leaders Wednesday: Stop messing with Planned Parenthood. Rep. Robert Dold, who represents the liberal suburbs of Chicago, on Wednesday unveiled the “Protecting Women’s Access to Health Care Act” outside the Capitol, which would forbid agencies and governments from denying Title X funds to a qualified organization. “As a pro-choice Republican, I believe that this legislation is critical because it ensures…
North Carolina voters may have just passed a change to the state’s constitution that designates marriage between a man and a woman as the only legally recognized union, but gay rights advocates are already considering options to counter the newly minted law. After Amendment One received overwhelming approval in Tuesday’s statewide election, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Protect NC Families told TPM that the organization would now “look at all legal options and political…
Conservative author Jonah Goldberg has an impressive resume. He is the founding editor of National Review Online and its current editor-at-large. He’s a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
But take a look at the dust jacket of his latest book, “The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas,” and you’ll find another accolade: two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee.
Stephen Colbert thinks Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill (D) has a lot to answer for after launching an “attack ad against attack ad launchers.” So he had the senator do just that, inviting her on The Report to talk about all the “secret money” pouring into politics. “You know, I have a Super PAC,” Colbert reminded her. “I don’t know if you read the paper, I’ve got so much cash. Would you like some of it?” “I can’t ask you for Super PAC money because that would be coordination…
Jon Stewart on Tuesday talked about “cognitive dissonance” – when two ideas exist in one’s head like two rats fighting in a bag. Some people are able to “square that circle,” Stewart said.
“Republicans, like all Americans, wanted very much to see Osama bin Laden dead,” he said. “At the same, time they believed Barack Obama is incapable of doing anything right.” Cue conservative politicians and pundits bemoaning President Obama’s “victory lap” on the first anniversary of bin Laden’s death.
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