Senator John McCain vociferously defended the institution of marriage today. If only he had come up with this ingenious intellectual argument which moves everyone who hears it to tears, then gay marriage never would’ve dared rear its head.
McCain was on the daytime show “Ellen” today. The host, Ellen Degeneres, a lesbian (for those who have had their heads buried in the sand for the last seven years), asked the Republican Presidential nominee about his thoughts on gay marriage.
Watch how McCain stands up for the culture and explains in detail the obvious difference between marriage and “gay marriage.”
SENATOR JOHN McCAIN: Well, my thoughts are that I think that people should be able to enter into legal agreements, and I think that that is something that we be should encouraging, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas, decisions that have to be made. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman. And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue.
Wow. If I had any doubts about that issue, they’re gone now.
But seriously, that answer was just soooo weak. I mean, just by reading it I’m almost half-gay. I’m already looking for a neighbor to spoon with. Did McCain not know he was going to be asked about gay marriage? HE WAS GOING ON “ELLEN!”
Then, of course, Ellen smacks it out of the park by framing it as a civil rights issue and making McCain look like the George Wallace of homosexuals. McCain also acts as if this is the first time he’s heard of this issue, and is muy uncomfortable.
ELLEN DeGENERES: Yeah, I mean, I think that it’s — it is looked at — and some people are saying the same — that blacks and women did not have the right to vote. I mean, women just got the right to vote in 1920. Blacks didn’t have the right to vote until 1870. And it just feels like there is this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. We are all the same people, all of us. You’re no different than I am. Our love is the same. To me — to me, what it feels like — just, you know, I will speak for myself — it feels — when someone says, “You can have a contract, and you’ll still have insurance, and you’ll get all that,” it sounds to me like saying, “Well, you can sit there; you just can’t sit there.” That’s what it sounds like to me. It feels like — it doesn’t feel inclusive…It feels — it feels isolated. It feels like we are not — you know, we aren’t owed the same things and the same wording.
SENATOR JOHN McCAIN: Well, I’ve heard you articulate that position in a very eloquent fashion. We just have a disagreement. And I, along with many, many others, wish you every happiness.
Don’t you feel like McCain would be a lot more at home articulating why he believes the War in Iraq was a good idea than discussing gay marriage. This is what worries the heck out of me about McCain. He was so easily painted into a caricature of a dinosaur who is simply “uncomfortable” with the gay thing and therefore wants to make it illegal. By saying it was just a “disagreement” he legitimizes her position.
If he can’t defend his thoughts on this, it could be that he really he doesn’t think gay marriage is a bad idea or he has no real conviction about this issue at all.
May 23, 2008 at 12:27 am
Time to get back to basic spelling lessons–e.g., how does one spell John McCain?
a-r-n-o-l-d
s-c-h-w-a-r-z-e-n-e-g-g-e-r
May 23, 2008 at 12:39 am
Just to clarify for Ellen (and all other pro-same sex marriage types) marriage is not a right, it is a privilege (or should be). Just because I am a human being does not mean I have a right to be married, just like because a person is 16 does not mean they have a right to drive. I don’t think her equating marriage with voting is valid since these are two very different issues and it is non-sensical to lump them together.
May 23, 2008 at 12:59 am
He didn’t even try to explain it. And then him saying “touche” was the ultimate coup de grace by admitting his defeat on this issue. A disgrace! McCain got embarassed.
May 23, 2008 at 4:27 am
I am sorry to see this, since this is just the beginning of something I saw coming for months.
For years and years McCain has been puffed up by the media adulation for his “straight talk” when what they really liked was that he was a liberal republican. Now that he’s the nominee, they’ll forget he’s a liberal and remember only that he has an “(R)” in the back of his name, and turn on a dime against him.
Given his behavior these past few years, I’ve been sorely tempted to some schadenfreude concerning his comeupance. But with the threat the country faces, that’s one temptation I must fight fiercely against.
May 23, 2008 at 7:17 am
Why would he go on “Ellen” anyway? He was going to be asked the question, so his choices were:
1. Fudge it, as he did, and look weak and stupid.
2. Make a strong case for marriage as it has been known for the last 5000-odd years, and cop a blast of hostility from the hostess and her audience – boos, hisses, abuse and the like…
It’s a no-win for him. The best he could hope for from that audience is a grudging half-respect for standing his ground, and they would still vote Obama anyway.
There’s a good third of the electorate (at least) who will never vote for him because of that (R). He can and should ignore them.
May 23, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Oh please. Did you guys really think he should have appeared on that show in the first place? Did he really think he was gonna dodge that bullet? Had he even attempted a coherent defense of traditional marriage, he would have been booed by the harpies in the audience, and thrown off the show. That would have haunted him for the next few news cycles, that’s for sure. He should have demonstrated his “respectful disagreement” by staying the hell off that show.
He was a lot better on Letterman.
May 23, 2008 at 3:38 pm
How is it that the political process in this country has become so degraded that presidential candidates are now required to do the comedy talk show circuit?
Bob Hunt
May 24, 2008 at 1:47 am
McCain better pick one heck of a Social Conservative on the bottom of the ticket!
As of now, a Social Conservative voting for McCain is as about as exciting as taking your sister to the prom.