Here's a press release with excerpts from the speech. If I can find a more complete copy, I'll post it here.
Joe Smydo covered it for the Post-Gazette. I wasn't able to find any coverage (though it's still early) at Dickiecougermellonscaife's Trib. If anyone can find any mention over there at the little paper that could, please let me know.
I thought Smydo's coverage was OK, but he missed a few big points and, unfortunately, the overall tenor of the speech. Nor did he mention the its context. Take a look here. Dean made a huge blunder while speaking to (and I am holding my nose as I type this) the 700 Club a short while back. He appeared to contradict the Democratic Party's platform on gay marriage. He said the platform defined a marriage as between a man and a woman. Though as Joshua Lyson of Washingtonblade.com points out:
That statement contradicts the Democratic National Committee's official stance, adopted in 2004. The '04 party platform indicates that marriage is an issue that should be left to the states to resolve, taking no position on whether or not states should marry same-sex couples.Once that hit the internets, all hell broke loose. Dean quickly released a statement explaining himself:
"We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families," the platform says.
I misstated the Democratic Party's platform, which does not say that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman, but says the Party is committed to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and leaves the issue to the states to decide. The Democratic Party remains committed to equal protection under the law for all Americans. How we achieve that goal continues to be the subject of a contentious debate, but our Party continues to oppose constitutional amendments that seek to short circuit the debate on how to achieve equality for all Americans.My guess (and this is just a guess) is that Dean spoke to the Stonewall Democrats to "make the peace" or otherwise smooth things over. In very general terms, Dean seemed to be saying that the Demcoratic Party needs the LGBT community and the LGBT community needs the Democratic Party.
While he didn't address the 700 club statement directly he did say a number of times that the Democratic party will oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment. For the one or two of you that don't already know it, here's what the Wikipedia says about the FMA. Our "compassionate conservative" president has already just declared his support for it.
Dean accused the Bush administration of scapegoating the LGBT community for political gains and added that that's morally wrong. A quotation:
We live in a time when our President thinks it is OK to fire Arabic translators in the military who happen to be gay, even though the 9/11 Commission said we don't have enough translators to fight the war on terrorism...Dean spoke of an 82 yr old man he'd met who'd thanked him for signing Vermont's civil unions bill. The man's a veteran and stormed the beaches at Normandy on D-Day. The man's also gay. Dean pointed out to the audence that "here's a guy who did everything that Dick Cheney didn't do." Referring, of course, to our current chickenhawk VP.
In discussing the FMA, Dean asked rhetorically whether the timing of it had anything to do with the debacle in Iraq or any of the other failed programs of this failed administration. And if you don't know that the answer to that rhetorical question is, "Well duh!" then you haven't been paying attention. Dean said the FMA is an attempt to divert attention away from Bush's "multiple failures" and to scapegoat LGBT Americans in the process.
He said it's time to end the politics of fear and divisiveness.
The main point, I think, of Dean's speech (and thus the general position of the Democratic party) is that:
...every taxpayer should have the same government services and benefits as any other American.And here's the biggie that our conservative friends (and you know who you are) just don't seem to understand:
LGBT Americans are Americans first.It's too bad that we live in a country that can't seem to get that.
UPDATE: Be sure to check out the comment/clarification from Scott Safier, the event organizer. Gov. Dean's speech was scheduled months before the event.
15 comments:
Howard was amazing as always - I would do anything for that man. But the speaker that was a true surprise was Steve Driscoll, what an eloquent and powerful orator! The Democratic party and the entire country is truly blessed by the dedicated work of the Stonewall Democrats.
Can we get Mr. Driscoll to run for office?
anything for that man? Youd suck his d*ck if he asked you to
Ok, creepy perv Anonymous - you are a class A jerk. The kind of asshole that I am terrified will come home with one of my kids someday and force me to go against one of my cardinal rules by purchasing a firearm.
My husband and I are both Dean supporters and doing anything politically would not include breaking my marriage vows.
You and your Republican kind - Rick 'Man on Dog' Santorum, Neil "have sex with farm animals' Horsley, and Scotter 'The Apprentice' Libby........are you all so mentally wrapped up in who will or will not 'suck your dick' that you need to be the demand authority over people and circumstances that are none of your business?
dear JIAL,
it's amazaing how liberals will forgive liberals for misstating themselves on the 700 club and continue to point out the hyprocrisy of conservatives who do the same sort of misstating.
come on, if dean can so obviously (or should that be obliviously) forget a major plank of the democratic platform when he's talking to pat robertson, what's he goind to do under real pressure?
and yes, i'm a democrat who appreciated dean's former ability to shot himself in the foot with his honesty. he's still doing it, but in the same old tired way as other politicians.
i'm tired of mavericks...dean...mccain or whoever else. let's get a solid democrat with beliefs and statements that don't blow up in his or her face all the time.
it's time to quit being tammy wynette...it doesn't always make sense to stand by your man.
one other thing JIAL
wish you hadn't made the gun statement...cause i think jesus would have turned the other ear to anonymous or just walked away. from what i remember, the other 12 guys with JC were apostles, not hit men.
violence (like war) is not the answer. threatened or otherwise.
Dear Sean,
I took a look at your blog. You have so many friends there discussing your middle of the road whiny ass posts. Maybe you should do something to change America if everyone else is so inept.
You must not have children because no parent could be so unbelievably milk-toast-like in America today.
If you are young and single I hope you never come to my home with one of my daughters because my reaction to you would be very similar.
You aren't even 1/8 the man that Howard Dean is. Maybe you should grow a backbone and try to evolve a little.
Pay no mind to JIAL. She is just a ticked off, frumpy old woman who cannot explain her liberal actions - because she's too brainwashed to even realize what she says.
Hey,
Glad to see you yesterday.
Just some information for you. Chairman Dean's speech was scheduled month's before the 700 Club Controversy. He did not speak "to make peace", and as the convention organizer, I worried that he might cancel after the blunder. He really was raked over the coals in the gay press.
NSD issued a press release after Gov Dean's appearance on that show, pointing out his error. I am loathe to discuss the private meeting we had with the Chairman, but I can honestly say that the the Governor was truely sorry for his honest mistake and that, in my view, he was hurt by the firestorm it caused.
I am somewhat of an expert of the Democratic Party Platform. I sat on that committee, and attending the meeting of the Platform Committee in Florida. I know what is an what is not in the platform. Most people don't. Governor Dean did not write the platform -- John Kerry's campaign did. It is not surprising that, like most people, Howard Dean is somewhat fuzzy on the exact language of a document that is 30 to 40 pages long.
The Pittsburgh Convention was a huge success, and I'm glad you did cover it on your blog.
Scott:
Thanks for the update. I wasn't sure and so that's why I wrote it was only a guess.
David
Dear JIAL
good lord, i hope i never meet one of your daughters. i'd rather date lady macbeth. hey thanks for visiting my site.
as for friends discussing issues at my site, who needs them? i don't want sycophants who swallow the party without question...and then get hostile with those who don't. hate is hate. whatever side it comes from. you need to reference your man JC on that one.
and anonymous,please, i don't need your help.
Scott,
Look, I know that no one — howard dean or george bush — could be expected to know every details of a 30-40 page document — even if it does outline his party's beliefs. but both of those guys should have a good grasp of the main concepts. once again, it seems that the guys in charge don't see the whole picture.
I mean, it's not as though gay marriage is a little discussed topic. dean deserves to have his ass kicked for kissing robertson's ass. this kind of making nice by liberals is what gets the republicans elected again and again.
gore and kerry both should have been able to knock out bush in the last two elections. but neither went in for the kill. now dean is dancing around the ring, trying to win on style points. trust me, he could appear on the 700 club every day and talk about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, and not one of the show's viewers would ever change his or her little mind. he can't preach to that choir. and he shouldn't even try.
Dear JIAL,
If you ever visit my site again, please leave a comment...nasty or otherwise! i promise not to be insulting,condescending or intolerant. can you make the same promise? hell, i might even write something about my feelings of not being able to stomach the strikingly similar hyprocrisies of the left, right, middle and libertarians...and use you as an example.
back to dean...
yeah, sure bush and his toadies are using gay marriage as a lightning rod issue...and it's creating plenty of sparks. whenever it comes up for a vote, the issue gets shot down by a majority, sometimes by a large majority. which means the bigger part of america isn't ready for it...and isn't going to give its consent.
so if you have one side that wants an amendment to make gay marriage UNCONSTITUTIONAL and another working to make it CONSTITUTIONAL, where's it going to end up? and i don't see too many straight americans of the liberal persuasion actually showing public support of gay marriage. otherwise, the issue wouldn't get its ass kicked at the ballot box everywhere.
that's not to say that i think anyone should let the topic grow cold. but maybe it's a matter of getting everyone who believes in this — gays, lesbians, transgenders, straights — to come out and vote for gay marriage the next time it's on the ballot. And if it wins at least in one state...that's a turning point.
hell, if that happened, i might let rick santorum fuck my dog...buy only if he promised to marry her. i don't believe in that pre-marital hanky panky.
hey, JIAL, just how old are your daughters?
On a Completely different topic...
There was a Trib reporter there wandering around afterwards talking to everyone. She was young and fresh and probably wrote a positive story which got totally killed by the trib. Too bad. Not all conservatives are bigots--in fact most probably are not.
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