Yeah, I know I’m simplifying the issue, but I don’t think it detracts from my over all point. For all intents and purposes, “It’s a sin but none of my business,” functions as, “It’s not a sin,” at least when discussing the public statements of politicians. If they’re not going to judge someone for being gay, they’re not going to judge someone else for not judging people who are gay.
There is well over a year to go. If she comes out with every position now the newsworthyness of her statements will disappear. She has to slowly present her positions after careful; polling and sticking her finger in the air to see which way the wind blows. She is a politician for crying out loud. Nobody in the race has come out with a total platform. Most of you are looking for something in her to bitch about.
Personally , I do not want her to represent the Dems. I’ll take Edwards, or Obama at this time. But I am waiting to find out more. And she is pretty too.
We’re not talking about a fucking platform. We’re talking about a simple question she needed hours to answer because she wasn’t sure what people wanted to hear. “Gay sex is moral” or “gay sex is immoral” isn’t going to be part of anybody’s platform.
I agree with that but no farther. She is running rapidly to the middle where only boredom resides. She looked for a poll before she answered. It was chickenshit on her part. She is actually pretty conservative and hides it well.
I think she’s socially to the right and fiscally to the left. Kind of the Antilibertarian.
So, then she does actually have a chance of getting elected.
-Joe
(I apologize if this has already been addressed) I was watching Larry King’s interview with Barack Obama this morning. He asked him the same question. Barack took a deep breath and said he didn’t think it was immoral. That he had the decency to answer the question honestly (whichever way he went…though obviously I’m glad he went the way I wanted him to) put him ahead in my poll.
Given our masochistic electorate, I’d say a damn good chance.
He didn’t answer every question directly, though. For example, when King asked him about the merits of the point Bush makes that announcing a withdrawal date gives the enemy critical strategic information, Obama pretty much replied that Bush is insane — true, maybe, but it doesn’t answer the question. It’s a bit disturbing that he wasn’t prepared to address something so obvious.
I wish I would have heard the whole thing. I was in a drug-addled insomniac state where I was kind of in and out, so my memory of the interview has holes in it.
Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9GVTrleRvY 
The op had however noted his initial response while better than HRC’s was still not so straightforward:
Now I would’ve accepted a quick honest answer of “No, I do not think that same sex relationships are necessarily immoral” and someone saying “I personally find it morally repugnant.” So long as the candidate emphasizes that it isn’t our business what others’ sexual choices are no matter how we personally feel about their choice. He did less poorly by emphasizing that but still was evasionary and therefore loses points.
I would even have accepted an initial clear refusal to answer on the grounds that it is immaterial; to emphasize that the issue at hand is how we as a people deal with our different religious POVs: with tolerance for different perspectives. To emphasize that the issue is not how we each individually feel about the morality of gay acts but how we feel about their rights.
This was a lost opportunity to make a clear point “on messsage” that we are a country of diverse perspectives and we must respect each others views and rights even when we disgree, that these disagreements cannot overshadow our shared values. Where else do these shared values show up more than in individuals who are willing to risk sacrificing their lives for the good of their country? I am hoping that this is not an early sign that he will disappoint.
I agree. I think he initially fell into the “safety zone” of non-response, but later came clean. Deceptive, dodgy answering is a deeply ingrained habit amongst politicians (in my observation, anyway) and I think he’s making a conscious effort to change that. At least I hope he is.
Thanks. I’ll try to catch up with that in a bit.
Especially in New York.