Bill Clinton defends federalism.
On DoMA, no less.
By Moe Lane Posted in 2008 | Defense of Marriage Act | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
It's fascinating to watch, really:
Speaking as a supporter of same-sex marriage, and speaking not as any sort of legal professional, the part of DoMA that allows states not to recognize other state's SSMs is bad law... and a damned good idea, because if it ever gets overthrown by the courts (it won't be repealed, and I don't care what nonsense Senator Obama uttered about how he'll go about doing that) we will see a Constitutional amendment pass Congress with unseemly haste, coupled by a quick ratification by enough states within 2 years, tops. And the hypothetical President Obama will not be able to do anything official about it, because the Constitution is set up explicitly to prevent the Executive branch from being formally involved in Constitutional amendments... for reasons that should be blindingly obvious to anyone who's bothered to think about the subject for thirty uninterrupted seconds.
We will now pause for the hardshell progressives to catch up.
(pause)
Excellent. As Hot Air noted, it's fun to watch Bill Clinton defend federalism - particularly to a student journalist - but this is turning into the weirdest election campaign on record. Seeing a Democrat defend federalism (which is one of their code words for "state's rights," which itself is one of their code words for "I feel like calling a Republican a racist") will do that to a person. So will hearing one of them actually say (as Allahpundit notes): "So you don’t care what the practical implications are?"
Although that may just be because Bill Clinton looks and acts pretty tired right now. Then again, they probably all are at this point: it's a long season, and it's just going to get longer. Stagger those vacations in shifts, Democrats. You've got at least two more months of the grind to go, and this is the slack time.
Well, for you. We're recharging, ourselves.
Moe Lane
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Bill Clinton defends federalism. 10 Comments (0 topical, 10 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
what he has to say is based on real-world facts and not disinformative political persuasion.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
My goodness. I think I saw a blood vessel pop in Bill Clinton's forehead as he tried to answer that question!
Actually the part of DoMA allowing non-recognition is the only part of the bill that is good law - and I have legal training.
Congress has no authority to define marriage - for any purposes. It simply is not within the grant of power in Art. I, and marriage was clearly around in 1789 - so one must assume the folks assigning powers knew what they meant when they left family law and domestic relations solely to the state. So the idea that Congress can define marriage "for federal purposes" seems weakly grounded.
On the other hand, the Constitution, contrary to the confident statements of many a non-lawyer, does not require a state to give effect to marriages performed in other states. That's black letter, teach the kids in bar exam review courses, law. New York, not a conservative state, even recognizes that any marriage that violates the strong policies of the state can be ignored (presumably one would think that if some state allowed 12-year-olds to marry, NY would not be particularly keen to recognize that union). So, to the extent that DoMA states that Full Faith and Credit does not require that states recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state, it is only make explicit in statute what has always been the law in this area.
However, your point about it being good politics is quite valid. The vast majority of people, whatever their opinion on same-sex marriage, do not believe that it should be judicially imposed. And even more of them do not believe that same-sex marriage should come to their state because of a court opinion in some other place from judges they had no hand in selecting. You're right that any effort to force the decisions of one state like Massachusetts on the rest of the country through an attack on DoMA and a claim of full faith and credit protection would lead to a backlash that would either force Democrats in Congress to pass an amendment on to the states or risk being swept away to make room for those who will. And given that there are marriage amendments in virtually 3/4 of the states already, ratification would be easy (actually the certainty of ratification is probably why Democrats in Congress are currently so intense in fighting the amendment - if they believed it would fail they would probably pass it and then use the failure as proof that the public isn't really against same-sex marriage like the VRWC claims).
Soon after Rush organizes a voting drive for Hillary Clinton, Bill starts promoting federalism and Hill gets photographed with former VRWC arch-enemy Richard Mellon Scaife.
Maybe the Goldwater Girl is making a comeback.
Soon after Rush organizes a voting drive for Hillary Clinton, Bill starts promoting federalism and Hill gets photographed with former VRWC arch-enemy Richard Mellon Scaife.
Maybe the Goldwater Girl is making a comeback.
That's the only thing I can thnk of when I hear him speak and try to pt the poor kids on the spot with his evasive "answer". I half expect him to run onto his front lawn with a shotgun screaming at the neighborhod kids to "git offa mah grass!"
And you know what, as much as that college journalism student is probably a snotty little lib, kudos to her anyway for sticking to her guns and not being bowled over by Billyboy's bullying and barking ("Now You Answer My Question!").
In less than a year, he's gone from slapping Chris Wallace on the knee to snarling at a 19 year old. What a joke.
Clinton proclaimed the era of big government is over in 1994. Conservaives must realize that federalism is a means to an end. It is not and end unto itself. Clinton is playing the game wisely and using his rhetoric wisely here. Liberals can use federalism to their advantage to advance unpopular casues mush like they exploited the Courts and litigation.
And I am loving it.
Clintons being attacked by the press.
Democrats engaging in intraparty race baiting.
Especially the Obama Girl videos. I am pretty certain that they aren't helping Obama anymore and are probably polarizing their party even more.
Clintons being caught in lies and being forced to eat their words.
Now we have Bill Clinton considering the consequences of actions and discovering that the role of the branches of government are limited.
If you had of told me this two years ago I would have thought you mad.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777