Deb Price reminds us that the shining stars in the Democratic party do not include candidates who embrace or even offer a defense of gay marriage. Hell, you are lucky if you can find a Dem who can speak of gay rights without shuffling her/his feet and apologizing.
All too often, Dems don't lead, they follow the GOP.
Deb Price has a list of some of the 'bright' Democratic stars. If these people had been in office during the civil rights era, you can bet they'd have been staunch supporters of racial segregation.
• Newly elected Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, was tapped to give the Democratic response to Bush's State of the Union address.
• Tennessee's Rep. Harold Ford, boosted by national Democrats for a Senate seat being vacated by the GOP, brags of voting in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to outlaw gay marriage.
• The Democrat recruited by the national party to challenge deeply prejudiced Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Bob Casey Jr., boasts, "The values I live by call on me to fight discrimination wherever I find it." Only trouble is, he doesn't find discrimination when he sees gay couples prevented from protecting themselves and their children by marrying.
• And, of course, there will be plenty of cameo appearances by Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is quick to point out she supports the Defense of Marriage Act. The party's leading lady sees nothing wrong with a federal law that keeps elderly gay partners from getting Social Security survivor benefits.
Price ends her column with the reminder that the "Democratic Party is still taking millions upon millions of gay and gay-friendly voters for granted."
As the Dems continue to take the gay vote, the black vote, and the women's vote for granted, you have to wonder exactly who it is they are wooing.
If a decent progressive presidential candidate were to suddenly appear on a third party ticket, the Democratic party wouldn't have a base.
Read the Deb Price column
Gay Democrats Harold Ford Gay Marriage Hillary Clinton 2008 Deb Price Tennessee
