Heard Mort kondrake say that Kerry's vote against DOMA

[tobius]

doesn't jibe with his stance now. DOMA gave states the right to define marriage as they saw fit and keep the federal gov't out of it, ie.. ---...

SECTION 2. POWERS RESERVED TO THE STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.-CHAPTER 115 OF TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE, IS AMENDED BY ADDING AFTER SECTION 1738B THE FOLLOWING:
"1738C. Certain acts, records, and proceedings and the effect thereof
"No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.". http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~leg450/doma.htm

".... President Clinton has said he will sign it.
The measure would not bar states from legalizing gay marriages within their borders, but states would not be obligated to recognize such marriages performed in another state. http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/10/gay.marriage/
"... the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, I was under intense pressure from many of my colleagues to have the act prohibit all same-sex marriage. Such an approach, the same one taken by the Federal Marriage Amendment, would have missed the point.

Marriage is a quintessential state issue. The Defense of Marriage Act goes as far as is necessary in codifying the federal legal status and parameters of marriage. A constitutional amendment is both unnecessary and needlessly intrusive and punitive.

The 1996 act, for purposes of federal benefits, defines "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman, and then allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. As any good federalist should recognize, this law leaves states the appropriate amount of wiggle room to decide their own definitions of marriage or other similar social compacts, free of federal meddling. http://www.gaypasg.org/Press%20Clippings/August%202003/Leave%20Marriage%20To%20the%20States.htm

[jpgray]

1. But DOMA passed--his position now needs to account for it

He can't pretend it doesn't exist. He can work to remove it entirely, and I hope he does. But for strategic reasons if not ideological reasons, he won't run on that in the GE. He will run on the 'I like civil unions but not marriage' bilge all the major Dems have run on, excepting Clark, Kucinich and Sharpton.

[tobius]

2. i have always respected someone who takes a strong stand, popular or not

and from what i've gathered bush will face a backlash on his support for an amendment. but his base knows where he stands and the moderates and independents sees him stick his neck out. They may not support his decision but feel that his views are not wishy-washy.

i support gay marriage and want Kerry to stop saying one thing and winking at us that he doesn't really mean it. take a stand ,take the heat then move on strategically if you have to, but this plays into the meme already begun on him.