The Vice Presidential debate was predictably boring tonight, but I thought Biden did well and kept our advantage alive. There were a few good moments though. While I still get a little prickly when politicians use the “traditional marriage” football, Sarah Palin was surprisingly honest about her feelings on the rights of gay couples. I hate the governor’s politics, but it’s heartening to know she’s at least, you know, not a totally bad person. From Talking Points Memo:
Biden got Palin to agree that she believes in full civil rights for gay couples. I think she’ll want another bite at that apple.
Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria—whose appearances on the Daily Show consistently make for my favorite episodes—takes on McCain for the “fundamentally irresponsible” choice of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential candidate:
Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.
While there are many objections to this proposition—further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text—it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8.
What a huge sign of respect for Google’s gay employees. I’d like to see more progressively-minded California companies make their position on Proposition 8 public. I’ve donated to No on 8—if equal rights for gays and lesbians is important to you, and you’ve got the cash to spare, you should consider doing so too.
In May, after the California State Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal, the courts mandated state officials to provide gender-neutral licenses and other marriage forms. “Bride” and “groom” became “Party A” and “Party B.”
[Newly-married heterosexual couple] Bird and Codding have refused to complete the new forms, a stand that has already cost them. Because their marriage is not registered with the state, Bird cannot sign up for Codding’s medical benefits or legally take his name. They are now exploring their options, she said.
Bird and Codding say they are trying to figure out what to do next. Bird said she does not know what she will do if she should become ill and need insurance. “I really don’t know,” she said.
With millions of gay couples in America locked out of the benefits of marriage by unconstitutional state laws banning marriage for gays and lesbians, it’s such a slap in the face for this couple to suggest that they’re being discriminated against because they don’t like the terminology on the form. Perhaps their struggle will open their eyes to the hurtful and discriminatory position that gay people are subjected to in this country.
“In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove—the man who held the previous record—said McCain’s ads have gone too far.”
Better late than never—a while back we noticed that a Google image search for “WordPress logo” turns up some, ahh, interesting results. Unfortunately this means that a lot of times when WordPress is mentioned on blogs or in the news, it’s accompanied by what I’ve deemed the fauxgo—a squat, bizarro-world version of the WordPress logo that’s not quite right but not wrong enough to be totally obvious. At any rate, we figured while we were at it, we’d throw in some swanky new web graphics and desktop wallpapers for those of you who like to show the WordPress pride. So for the sake of the Google juice, please check out the new official WordPress logo bling.
“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.
This is just entirely too rich—Republicans Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan were on MSNBC discussing the Palin VP pick with Chuck Todd, and inadvertantly got caught telling the truth about the nominee. This gem from Noonan:
The most qualified? No! I think they went for this—excuse me—political bullshit about narratives … Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.
Talking Points Memo provides the full transcript. I want to make Peggy Noonan saying “It’s over” my ringtone.
