"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

[shizumaslover]

When my dad turned to me last night and demanded to know Obama's immigration policies, I was dismayed to realize I didn't exactly know the answer. So, in the interest of being able to shoot Obama facts at him (and any other Obama detractors I come across) I spent a couple of hours tonight reading up on the issues.

Eventually I stumbled upon this

Comments

[psylum_atla]

Hopefully you found how they plan to adress immigration too.

The difference between the two of them is so stark, so scary it boggles the mind. On everything from civil rights, national security, the economy, health care, basically everything important to the country, Obama has it right.

Also, as an added bonus, the Obama campaign is officially going there and bringing up The Keating Five scandal. Just when the McCain Campaign wants to bring up "guilt by association" involving William Ayers, Obama and his campaign pull up Charles Keating....David Axelrod is a freaking genius.

[shizumaslover]

Yes, I made sure to research other key issues before I looked at anything to do with LGBT issues, since that's what I'm (obviously) most passionate about and I knew I might get wrapped up in it.

It's hilarious how the McCain camp is trying to paint Obama as a dangerous liberal, when all of his policies are mostly just... common sense and fairness? Meanwhile, the McCain ticket is the one supporting radical positions like overturning an important supreme court decision, refusing to refocus or set a goal for a wasteful and futile war, etc. THAT SHIT IS BANANAS.

Yeah, I saw that at ONTD_P earlier. So fantastic. That's what they get for thinking Obama was weak enough to take lie-filled character assassination lying down. They just HAD to go bringing up a couple of casual acquaintances, when their own skeletons are far more incriminating. (Speaking of which, LOLOL @ those people agreeing to testify in Palin's abuse of power case. KARMA'S A BITCH TO BITCHES.)

[psylum_atla]

*hug* Show that pompous piece of shit.

Also, THe Obama campaign proves what excellent timing they have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsI_0bV2CZo

McCain wants to play guilt-by-association with Bill Ayers, lets bring up Charles Keating. David Axelrod is a beast.

[junglefowl26]

Hold on a minute, one minute here...this says right at the top this from the Obama website.

And you trust that? Of course it is going to do everything to make McCain look bad. If know anything about politics, I would bet many of those quotes are badly out of context, if they are true at all.

You might as well believe Pepsi is better than Coke because the Pepsi website says so.

Now, I'm as sure as shit shooting down Prop 8, and any other discriminatory bullshit like that (especially since the idea of using the Constitution for one's private agenda is offensive to everything American), but I am going to need more than one spreadsheet with an obvious agenda before I declare someone a bigot.

[shizumaslover]

Oh, I'm aware that politics is all about spin, and that both candidates have been, at the very least, bending the truth to suit their agendas.

The thing is, I LOOKED for something that leaned in McCain's favor. I went to his website and unlike Barack Obama, who has an entire page devoted to GLBT issues, I can't find a single scrap of pro-gay information, even under his "Human Dignity" and "Fighting Crime" sections. Maybe there's something I overlooked, but I looked pretty thoroughly.

So I went to YouTube to try to find video of McCain talking about it, as well as to his ontheissues.org Civil Rights voting record page. Although I couldn't find anything to confirm the quote Obama's site cited about passing the gay marriage ban amendment if he becomes president (despite voting against it in the Senate) I didn't find anything to suggest that the other information (like voting against legislation that would prevent job discrimination or expand the definition of hate crimes to include homosexuality) was taken out of context or fabricated

[junglefowl26]

My apologies. I in no way meant to imply you would be the type to take something at face value....I just surprised at the strength of your reaction...

Your research is convincing...I will need to think about this. I guess the curse of my political views is that I have the agenda of a social liberal and economic and governmental conservative (in short, I don't like the government interference anywhere.) So I always have tow eight which means more to me each election.

In any case, it is clear I need to start researching this stuff myself. Your attention to double checking is frankly inspiring.

[shizumaslover]

Oh, no, it's fine! I totally get it. I wasn't clear in my post that I looked other places besides Barack's site. And I do have a tendency to be EXTREMELY emotional when I start to think about the state of civil rights in this country, so I wouldn't fault people for thinking maybe I wasn't being entirely rational when I wrote this post.

It's just that this issue is incredibly close to my heart, and the fact that it's an issue at all plagues me every single day.

[ithilien22]

On LGBT issues, Palin's the one who really scares the shit out of me. But yeah, McCain is not an advocate, by any means.

Here in Nebraska, it is perfectly okay to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or because you've found out that they're transgendered. You can even tell them to their face that that's why you're firing them. They are not protected even in the slightest.

Even here at the university (which is arguably a rather liberal place for such a red state as this), faculty members can not have same sex partners on their health insurance plan. And the director of housing has gone on record stating that gender neutral housing will "never" happen. He isn't even open to discussing the possibility, even though the LGBT committee brings it up at almost every possible opportunity.

Things like that just hurt my heart. And honestly, those things aren't going to change if Obama becomes president. Which is maybe the saddest part of this whole election process for me.

[shizumaslover]

Yeah, Palin's definitely scarier in a lot of ways. If they're elected I'm going to have trouble sleeping at night. And I'll seriously consider moving to another country.

Things like that just hurt my heart. And honestly, those things aren't going to change if Obama becomes president. Which is maybe the saddest part of this whole election process for me.
I know significant change will take time and have a lot of opposition, but I'd like to think that Obama will at least try to make the changes he's promised. Maybe I'm being incredibly naive, but if I don't hold out hope for it I won't know what to do with myself.

[ithilien22]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply Obama wouldn't keep his word. I just meant in the sense that all the things I mentioned are state level, as is much of the legislation regarding LGBT rights.

I'm leaving next January for six months in Spain, so either way I'll be out of the country when the new president gets sworn in. The only difference is that if McCain/Palin is elected, I might not come back. lol.

[shizumaslover]

Yeah. There's only so much he can personally do, like help to enact the Matthew Shepard Act and push a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. But hopefully having a president who's a strong advocate of gay rights will influence how the state level issues play out.

The only difference is that if McCain/Palin is elected, I might not come back. lol.
Ahahaha! That's awesome. 8D

[bonnie_halfelvn]

How are there so many people who still find this sort of mentality acceptable? I can sort of understand wanting to protect the sanctity of marriage, if there is such a thing as sanctity in this age of Vegas weddings and quickie divorces, but...

The "santity of marriage" argument is a joke when you consider people like Brittany Spears. Is a gay couple who have been committed to each other for more than 10 years less sanctimonious than my ex-husband who promised he would never cheat on me, then years later said he "meant it at the time"?

In the VP debate, Palin says she respects her best friend's "choice" to be gay. So yeah, her narrow views scare me more.

I agree with junglefowl26, though. Propaganda on an Obama-skewed website doth not a McCain biggot make. If elected, I hope he just stays quiet on the issue.

Education is the key because all prejudice is rooted in ignorance.

[shizumaslover]

The "santity of marriage" argument is a joke when you consider people like Brittany Spears. Is a gay couple who have been committed to each other for more than 10 years less sanctimonious than my ex-husband who promised he would never cheat on me, then years later said he "meant it at the time"?
I saw a video on YouTube today where a woman questioned McCain about the sanctity of marriage in light of rampant adultery and divorce, and all he could say in response was that he supported the sanctity of a man-woman marriage. And the crowd went wild. He didn't even attempt to talk around the issue, he just ignored it completely.

Propaganda on an Obama-skewed website doth not a McCain biggot make.
Oh, I know. I looked in several other places, like ontheissues.org, and was able to confirm that McCain has voted against legislation to prevent job discrimination and to expand the definition of hate crimes to include homosexuality. Maybe it's not necessarily explicit bigotry, but it's still the opposite of advocacy.