Wednesday, December 01, 2010

How DADT Repeal Came to be Hostage of the Lame Duck Session

As many of us hold our breath and wonder whether or not DADT repeal will finally happen in the lame duck session of Congress, it's important to remember how we came to be in the current posture of things: Democratic Party spinelessness and a constant string of lies from the White House. Not that the Democrats will accept any of the responsibility. Thus, it is hopeful to look back on some of the bullshit that has emanated from the Democrats in the lead up to this 11th hour do or die situation. A case in point is the whining of Andrew Tobias, DNC Treasurer (pictured at left). Tobias exemplifies the phenomenon of it being easier to blame someone else rather than admit that your team has been called out for being utter screw ups, if not two faced liars. As many may recall, Tobias has sought to place the blame for the growing rift between the Democrat Party and many LGBT Americans who are sick to death of the Liar-in-Chiefs lies and the overall spinelessness of the Congressional Democrats on LGBT issues. Oh, and did I mention all those broken campaign promises? No, Tobias would rather blame it all on John Aravosis and America Blog and by extension other LGBT bloggers and activists who refuse to drink the DNC's Kool-Aid and cheer lead for Obama like HRC.
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The truth is that some of us - like John - want action, not cocktail party invites and "access." Tobias needs to get his head out of his ass and wake up to reality. Most of the LGBT community is smart enough to recognize when they are being conned and are just plain tired of it. If the DNC and Democrat Party have problems with their LGBT constituents, they need only look in the mirror to find the cause. If DADT repeal fails to pass, the Democrats haven't seen anything yet in terms of LGBT anger. Joe Sudbury had a piece earlier in the month on America Blog that looks at Tobias' efforts to deflect blame from where it belongs which bears revisiting. Here are some highlights:
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DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias joined in the comments section last night of John's latest post about the DNC's, and White House's, growing gay problem. And he wasn't very happy.
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The DNC's Tobias, a series of 11 comments spanning into the early hours of the morning, blames John for the increasingly strained relationship between the gay community and the Democratic party: As these comments show, you are being quite effective in turning people against support of the Democrats. That, by definition, helps the Republicans.
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So, John is to blame for the Obama administration's infamous DOMA brief last June comparing same-sex relationships to incest and pedophilia. Right. I remember how hard John worked on that brief. Oh, right, it wasn't John who wrote that brief. Obama's Department of Justice did, and Obama's press secretary said the President stands behind it.
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And I suppose it's John's fault that President-elect Obama invited famed homophobe Rick Warren, who was an outspoken supporter of Prop 8, to give the invocation at the inauguration.
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It was also John's fault that Senator Durbin said this week that the Senate may not take up the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" next year, even though our community has been repeatedly told that early next year DADT will be repealed, as the president promised.
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Tobias is the top-ranking gay official at the DNC and his comments really gave us some insight into the way that organization thinks. He blamed Aravosis for turning people against the DNC. Apparently, in the world of Andy Tobias and the DNC, John's gay civil rights advocacy is helping the Republicans. All we're asking is for Obama to keep his promises to the LGBT community. All we've done here at AMERICAblog is report whether or not those promises have been kept.
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If any Senate Democrats break ranks and fail to vote for DADT repeal, it will be interesting to see how Tobias tries to play that situation. I'm sure anyone and everyone will be to blame except the White House and the Congressional Democrats.

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