Barr Switches Sides On DOMA
Some of you have probably heard that former congressman and hard core conservative, Bob Barr, won the Libertarian Party's nomination for president. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit ambivalent on the issue.
There's some real screaming and gnashing of the teeth in some circles of the LP over this, Barr's sponsoring of the Defense Of Marriage Act being one big issue some just won't forgive him for. They consider all his talk of changing his opinion just that: talk.
Seems to me Barr's doing a pretty good job of getting the word out, though, and I can't help but think he couldn't be too phony about it if he's taking off and running with the issue as he seems to have been. The Marietta (Georgia) Daily Journal reports on his conversion, also pointing out that Barr expressed support for the California Supreme Court decision that struck down laws against same- sex marriages even before the LP nominating convention was even held.
That's quite a 180 for Barr. Sounds good enough to me.
Meanwhile, as Barr talks about repealing his own law, some in congress are upset with California's Supreme Court decision and one congresscritter, Paul Broun (from Barr's own state of Georgia), has introduced a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and woman.
I'd be interested in seeing both Barr and Broun debate the issue.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 2:15 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
After this guy's history with his own marriages [3?], it's surprising his opinion on the topic matters.
That could be said to be true of any number of conservative types that support, or defend, the Defense Of Marriage Act.
I might add that support for DOMA often extends across party lines. Take a look at Prop 22- that defense of marriage initiative that passed here some years ago. It passed by over 60%, I believe.
California is a very big government, liberal state. Many of those people that voted for Prop 22 were what would be considered "liberals".
That might be changing now.
I might add that it might be changing more from what is considered the Conservative side of the aisle, not the lefties.
If Barr gets some attention, he might do more to help the cause than any number of wacked out lefties. That's assuming he's sincere and knows how to argue the issue.
Social conservatives are beginning to come to grips with the reality that most of them have brothers, sisters, uncles or aunts who are gay. They can't irrationally hate people once they learn their own loved ones are members of the group they have been oppressing. Because gay people speak out within their own families, polls show changes in attitudes nation-wide.
Can Barr win the Gay Vote? Stranger things have happened.
Do you remember when Ariana Huffington was a conservative? She made the transition to liberal blogmeister quite smoothly and successfully.
I wouldn't bet the farm on it, though.
Barr is going to siphon off 3-5 percent of the vote from McCain. I'm urging all my small-government Republican friends/family members to vote for Barr. Some of them will do just that. Thanks, Bog.
Broun's record is even worse than Barr's. What a hypocrite! He's on marriage #4. And Barr has given him thousands of dollars from his PAC... sounds like maybe Barr's opinion is just talk.
Andrew Bird said...
Thanks, Bog.
I note the closeness of the letter g to b on the keyboard. I think the odd thought, The typing hand types, and having typed, moves on. (Without reading what it has typed, apparently.)
7:30 AM: "sounds like maybe Barr's opinion is just talk."
Sort of like McPain?
3 to 5 percent is probably optimistic (from my point of view), but he could bring Georgia into play for Obama.
Post a Comment
<< Home