Maddow On LGBT Rights: ‘THANKS FOR NOTHING, Bill Clinton’

[Segami]

Thursday night on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” host Rachel Maddow marveled at the changes in federal policy on same sex marriage and toward states that are legalizing marijuana. She said that the new laws are so significantly different from the norm that the situation is like “cats chasing dogs, like pigs flying.” Maddow began by discussing the incredible strides made in this country by advocates for same sex marriage. On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury announced that legally married same sex couples can now jointly file their taxes. This is a sea change from just nine years ago when George W. Bush’s re-election team used the issue of stopping same sex marriage to drive conservative voters to the polls.



“Democrats were terrible on the issue as well,” Maddow said, pointing to Bill Clinton’s two major anti-LGBT legacies, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).“Thanks for nothing, Bill Clinton,” she said, adding that it seems almost inconceivable in hindsight that things would change so quickly.



She moved on to Thursday’s historic change in marijuana laws. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government will not be taking action for now against Colorado and Washington for legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use. The Department of Justice sent a memo to U.S. Attorneys with new guidelines on marijuana prosecution, urging them not to prosecute low level users. Maddow pointed out that this comes after decades and decades of federal action against marijuana users and suppliers, that these policy reversals constitute a seismic shift in U.S. drug policy.



“This is a big deal in one day’s news,” she said, “but in the context of a lifetime’s worth of the futile, ever-more-aggressive war on drugs, what the administration just did today feels unimaginable. It feels like cats chasing dogs. It feels like pigs flying. It feels like the Harlem Globetrotters losing. It happened. It’s done. Adjust your expectations for what is within the realm of the possible in our country.”



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/30/maddow-on-lgbt-rights-thanks-for-nothing-bill-clinton/

[Bluenorthwest]

1. She was great. Of course it was not just Bill Clinton, it was Democrats in droves who shit on

GLBT people during his time. Paul Wellstone voted for DOMA and was proud of it, people call him a hero of progressives, I call him a DOMA voter. Biden voted for DOMA. Schumer. Harry Reid, Harkin, Leahy, Dick Durbin, Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Ben Cardin, Marcy Kaptur, the list of DOMA Yes voting Democrats goes on and on and on and on.

[MNBrewer]

6. Paul Wellstone never had the nerve to apologize for it

He went to his grave with that stain on his legacy. When DOMA is repealed, I'll let that betrayal go. It was just that, a betrayal. A betrayal not only of his constituents but of his OWN ideals.

Either he was a moral coward, or a low-grade homophobe.

[LearningCurve]

19. Glad you pointed this out

Clinton was following the trend, not leading it.

[joeybee12]

25. I'll echo your sentiments, but GD is always about sh*ting on the Clintons...

So let's just focus on them and ignore how awful so many other Dems have ben over the years, why don't we.

[Zorra]

2. Warren/Grayson 2016. No more Third Way/New Democrat Presidents.

Government for people, not for profit.

[WI_DEM]

4. My guess no Warren run--further prediction if Hillary runs

Warren will support her along with most of the NY delegation.

[Zorra]

22. Of course Warren would support her. What else could she reasonably do as a Democratic Senator?

It's the old catch 22 ~ vote for the corporatist Democrat, or else a worse corporatist republican will win, causing far more damage than the corporatist Democrat, and without any token social policy gains to soften the blow. The system works!!! For the 1%.

Democrats have a choice: Shoot ourselves in the ass, or have some fascist shoot us in the head.

It's not rocket science; if fact, it's a logical blueprint for plutarchy.

This is why the country continues to go downhill like a snowball rolling into hell. The snowball just generally rolls downhill a lot slower when Democrats are in office.

[NorthCarolina]

27. That's why the primaries are important.

It's not like we don't know or can't find out who the corporate candidates are. Seek out and vote for the progressive in the primaries. They will be the largely unfunded ones that will generate a few "chuckles" and coordinated ad hominems from the handful of authoritarian crew here on DU when their names are mentioned in a post.

[WI_DEM]

3. Despite all the criticism he has received Obama has been the best president

on lgbt rights of all the presidents before him put together.

[MNBrewer]

7. Yes, and

as many have pointed out, that's an exceedingly LOW bar.

[closeupready]

13. Completely agree.

[Zorra]

23. Agreed. nt

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Don't Ask Don't Tell was an awful policy and I was glad to

see it go, but it was still much better than the policy that came before it. They used to send out spies to gay bars and other places, looking to find evidence of homosexuality. They harassed the hell out of people who they even thought might be gay. I knew people after DADT who were known to be gay by many of the people they served with, and they weren't thrown out. Sure, you couldn't be open with your commanders and you had to keep a lot of your personal life private, but it was still much better than it was before. DADT was very flawed, but it was progress.

I got a very high score on the ASFAB and I was practically begged by a recruiter to join. They offered me tens of thousands to join and they were planning to put me through school to work on nuclear subs. That was in the late 80's, and their offers were nothing to sneeze at. The old policy was in place, though, and I was scared of being thrown out and embarrassed by them, so I had to turn it down. I've often wondered what my life would be like now if I'd been able to join.

[MNBrewer]

8. They called me to work on nuclear subs, too

I told them I wanted to be a biologist and never heard from them again.

[michigandem58]

9. Clinton supported Don't Ask Don't Tell on behalf of gay soldiers

The alternative was a ban on their serving at all. It was a compromise to prevent the ban.

[treestar]

11. Which was what was possible at that time

20 years later, let's still be bitter toward Clinton about it (as if he was the only one involved at the time, too).

[treestar]

10. When you take the time of a positive development

To dwell on past failures, you've really said you are a bitter person who prefers the negative.

[Segami]

12. So, I take you disagree with Rachel's criticism of Clinton?

[treestar]

14. I disagree with her saying sarcastically thanks to Bill Clinton

now, yes. He did what he could at that time 20 years ago. Instead of being happy about today, she is choosing to focus on unhappiness of 20 years ago. Overall, I think she prefers complaint to anything else and so with the positive news about gay couples and the IRS and immigration, prefers to remember how disappointed she was 20 years ago.

[closeupready]

15. Completely agree with Rachel; always have said the same thing.

Clinton also betrayed labor on NAFTA, and I will never be a Bill Clinton fan, period.

[LuvNewcastle]

16. History writers will be harsh about NAFTA and getting rid of

Glass-Steagall, I believe. He's popular now, but I think he'll be looked at much more critically when people have the benefit of hindsight.

[Segami]

17. "..Bill Clinton Accepts Award He Doesn't Deserve.."

Former President Bill Clinton did a lot of good things for our country. His record on LGBT issues, however, is far from stellar. In fact, as President, his history is extremely negative.

While he now supports marriage equality, he signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law as part of a political calculation. While he supported full military inclusion for gays and lesbians, he signed Don't Ask Don't Tell into law. Only after he left office did he become a real supporter of our rights - and the public's view on our issues had shifted dramatically in that time. As with any politician, he followed the winds of popular opinion.

Last night GLAAD honored President Clinton with their "Advocate For Change" award based on his recent outspokenness on LGBT rights. Sadly, he's been advocating for a change from policies he instituted. He did not deserve this award in the least.

And one lone audience member had the courage to say so directly. There's the hero of the evening - one person speaking truth to power. That's how change is made.


http://www.bilerico.com/2013/04/bill_clinton_accepts_award_he_doesnt_deserve.php

[closeupready]

18. On the one hand, I do believe that he should be given credit for publicly changing

his mind and throwing his weight behind repealing both DADT and DOMA. After all, if we can't recognize that there is such a thing as Truth which is discovered through discussion, persuasion, and observation, then what does GLBT progess today amount to, except simple accommodation to vocal pressure groups? What would that really be worth? How does something like that do justice to the sacrifices of people like openly gay service people who pressured and demonstrated to repeal DADT? But as to Clinton, I don't think I would have voted to give him an Advocate for Change award. Maybe a Better Late Than Never award? Or even just a Thank You For Seeing How Wrong You Were award.

The GLBT community had to fight TOOTH AND FUCKING NAIL for EVERY bit of progress we've made over the last 20 years, without the support of 3rd fucking way Democrats and Clintonian sellouts like, for example, Blanche Lincoln. And yes, there is a real irony that we were fighting laws SIGNED by Bill Clinton.

[elias7]

20. And in 20 yrs when we have single payer, we can say thanks for nothin, Obama

Perhaps Clinton realized that DADT and DOMA would not stand the test of time, would need to be repealed as sensibilities ripened, opening the door for this day. That seems to me to be what Obama is thinking with the ACA.

[Motown_Johnny]

21. Wrong, Single payer is an extension of the ACA. Not a reversal

If/When we do finally get a single payer system we will be thanking President Obama for setting us on that course. Unlike the example in the OP which is an undoing of what President Clinton did.

Vermont is already working on a single payer system. Thanks, in part, to the ACA.

[elias7]

28. I think the thrust of the counter argument on this thread is

that Clinton's move was step in the direction we have moved to today.

A sacrifice is different than a discovered attack, but both achieve the same end, gaining material or advantage...

[RainDog]

24. Activists change the world

politicians take the credit.

[Supersedeas]

26. What is to be done with all of our brother and sister incarcerated on marijuana charges?

[Safetykitten]

29. Maddow gets it right.