POLL: 1/3 Of Americans Deny Gays' Equal Relationship Rights

Interesting poll results from PPP for DailyKos.com on legal recognition of same-sex relationships:

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos. 1/14-16. Registered voters. MoE 3.1% (No trend lines)

Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship.

         Marry  Civil unions  Neither
All         34       31         33

Dem         53       24         20
Rep         11       35         52
Ind         37       34         27

Lib         78       10         12
Mod         40       38         20
Con          8       32         57

Tea Party   17       30         52
Non-TP      42       30         27

White       33       30         35
Black       32       30         30
Latino      47       32         22

18-29       52       13         33
30-45       37       31         29
46-65       31       36         31
65+         23       34         42

Notice that nearly two-thirds of respondents either support full marriage equality or civil unions for same-sex couples. A majority of Democrats support marriage equality while a functionally equal majority of Republicans support no legal recognition for a gay couple's relationship. This is limited government?

Markos says that PPP will be polling on marriage equality every four weeks in 2011, which should provide some interesting longitudinal data on attitudes of Americans on the question of how same-sex couples should be recognized under the law.

Celebrity Friday: Sarah Palin

NH GOP Apparently Delaying Attempt To End Marriage Equality

New Hampshire Republicans, who possess veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature, have apparently decided not to attempt to repeal that state's marriage equality law in 2011. The Democratic Governor John Lynch signed a marriage equality bill into law June 3, 2009 which went info effect January 1, 2010. He had vowed to veto any attempt to repeal the measure. In the 2010 election the National Organization for Marriage strongly supported Lynch's opponent and supported Republican state legislative candidates.

The Associated Press reports:

"House Republican Leader D.J. Bettencourt confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that jobs and the economy will be the top priorities on an agenda to be announced Thursday. Bettencourt says there's widespread agreement that social issues will have to take a back seat."

The New Hampshire Freedom To Marry Coalition responded:

“We are pleased again to hear the House majority leader say that gay marriage is not a priority this legislative session. Voters want their legislators to focus on the economy; they did not send people to Concord to rehash marriage equality. But we heard some wiggle room in today’s remarks, leaving the door open to bring up a repeal of marriage equality in the coming weeks. We are continuing our efforts to educate and engage all Granite Staters as planned to show that it’s not the role of government to take away rights from New Hampshire citizens and families.”

Pew Survey Of Religious Composition of 112th Congress

Well, this is disappointing. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a religious survey of the incoming members of the 112th Congress and the results are displayed above. Note the almost complete lack of anyone who publicly espouses an atheist or agnostic view.

They also compared the difference between the 111th and 112th Congresses.

112th Congress More Anti-LGBT Than 111th

Joe.My.God reports that HRC is assessing the new Congress as significantly less disposed to passing LGBT-supportive legislation than the previous Congress.

I suppose these facts may challenge the views of people who were complaining about the Democrats in control of the previous Congress and making non-sensical claims that "there's no difference" between the parties.

Obama Has Lowest Judicial Confirmation Rate In 30 Years

When the 111th Congress ended with a bang by approving DADT repeal, the START treaty and the Obama-Republican tax-cut deal, the Senate's shameful inaction on confirming federal judges may have been overlooked by some, but not by yours truly.

Think Progress notes that roughly one-ninth of all Article III judgeships are now vacant. In fact, Obama has the lowest rate of judicial confirmation (60 judges) of any of the last 6 presidential administrations after the conclusion of their first Congress.

It should especially be noted that Republican obstructionism is disproportionately preventing judicial nominees who happen to not be white or male from joining the federal judiciary. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. NOT!

Republicans Kill Liu Nomination; Approve 19 Others

Goodwin Liu

What's that smell? I think it's the stench of "pragmatism" and horse trading. Apparently a deal has been reached between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to kill the nominations of four "controversial" federal judicial candidates in return for getting several other of President Obama's judicial nominations approved. The four judges that were anathema to Republicans just happen to be Goodwin Liu, Edward Chen, Louis B. Butler, Jr. and John J. McConnell, Jr.

MadProfessah has been following the odyssey of Liu's nomination because I met him once at joint State Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Proposition 8, where the Dean of UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law. Liu is an unapologetic API LGBT ally and progressive jurist who some consider a likely candidate for a Supreme Court nomination in Obama's second term.

Officials familiar with the deal said Democrats agreed not to seek votes on the nominations of Goodwin Liu, associate dean at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, and three others, while Republicans agreed to confirm at least 19 of President Barack Obama's noncontroversial nominees.

If confirmed, Liu, 40, of Berkeley, would be only the second Asian-American serving on a federal appeals court and the only active Asian-American on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and is seen by some as a potential future U.S. Supreme Court pick. However, his nomination in February was almost immediately met by Republican opposition.

"Professor Liu is an outstanding nominee and it is most unfortunate that my Republican colleagues are blocking an up-or-down vote on his nomination," U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Tuesday. "I will keep fighting until he is confirmed."

The approval of judges means that Democratic-nominated judges are now a majority on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and increased their margin on the 4th Circuit to 9-5. There are 11 federal circuit courts of appeals.

DADT Update: 61 Senators Support Repeal; Vote Date Uncertain

The latest news on DADT repeal is that there are now officially 61 Senators who have either voted for repeal or announced that they will do so if it comes up again this year. When the measure failed last Friday there were 57 votes in favor (and 40 against).

Since then, Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Scott Brown (R-MA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have all announced that they will support S. 4023, a stand-alone bill to repeal the military's anti-gay policy before the 111th Congress ends.

An identical bill to S. 4023 which would repeal DDT passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday 250-175.

It is expected there will be a final vote to send S. 4023 to the President's desk before the end of the Congress, but it has not been scheduled by Senator Harry Reid yet.

Polls Show Wide Support For Obama-Republican Tax Plan

Huffington Post is reporting on two new polls which show that President Obama's new tax cut deal with Congressional Republicans is widely popular with Americans.

The Pew poll has support at 60-22 and the ABC/Washington Post poll has support at 69-17, with various levels of support for the various policy items which make up the deal.

Today cloture was reached in the Senate on the tax cut measure, so it is very likely that the deal will be enacted by Congress before the end of the year (possibly the week).

BREAKING: Senate Falls 3 Votes Short of DADT Repeal

The Senate has failed to invoke cloture on the NDAA including DADT repeal by a vote of 57-40.

Here is the president's statement:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2010

Statement by the President on the Senate Vote on the National Defense Authorization Act

I am extremely disappointed that yet another filibuster has prevented the Senate from moving forward with the National Defense Authorization Act.  Despite having the bipartisan support of a clear majority of Senators, a minority of Senators are standing in the way of the funding upon which our troops, veterans and military families depend. This annual bill has been enacted each of the past 48 years, and our armed forces deserve nothing less this year. 

A minority of Senators were willing to block this important legislation largely because they oppose the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’  As Commander in Chief, I have pledged to repeal this discriminatory law, a step supported by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and informed by a comprehensive study that shows overwhelming majorities of our armed forces are prepared to serve with Americans who are openly gay or lesbian.  A great majority of the American people agree.  This law weakens our national security, diminishes our military readiness, and violates fundamental American principles of fairness, integrity and equality.

I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Armed Services Committee Chairman Levin, and Senators Lieberman and Collins for all the work they have done on this bill.  While today’s vote was disappointing, it must not be the end of our efforts.  I urge the Senate to revisit these important issues during the lame duck session.

###

2012 Senate Outlook Grim For Democrats

If you thought the political landscape in 2010 was bad for Democrats, wait till you see the terrain on which the 2012 Senate elections will be fought:

According to the Cook Political Report, there are currently 23 Democrats up for re-election compared to 10 Republicans.

Solid: These races are not considered competitive and are not likely to become closely contested.
Likely: These seats are not considered competitive at this point but have the potential to become engaged.
Lean: These are considered competitive races but one party has an advantage.
Toss Up: These are the most competitive races; either party has a good chance of winning.

DEMOCRATS | 23 HELD SEATS
SOLID D (9) Feinstein* (CA) Carper* (DE) Akaka* (HI) Cardin (MD) Klobuchar (MN) Menendez (NJ) Bingaman* (NM) Whitehouse (RI) Sanders (VT) Kohl* (WI)	LIKELY D (5) Stabenow (MI) Tester (MT) Conrad* (ND) Casey (PA) Cantwell (WA)	LEAN D (3) Lieberman* (CT) Nelson* (FL) McCaskill (MO) Brown (OH)	TOSS UP (3) Nelson* (NE) Webb* (VA) Manchin (WV)	LEAN R (0)	LIKELY R (0)	SOLID R (0)

REPUBLICANS | 10 HELD SEATS
SOLID D (0)	LIKELY D (0)	LEAN D (0)	TOSS UP (2) Brown (MA) Ensign* (NV)	LEAN R (0)	LIKELY R (1) Snowe* (ME)	SOLID R (7) Kyl* (AZ) Lugar (IN) Wicker (MS) Corker (TN) Hutchison* (TX) Hatch* (UT) Barrasso (WY)

* = potential retirement

Interestingly, the 2012 outlook in the U.S. House of Representatives is better, where of the Top 100 most competitive seats 43 favor Democrats and 57 favor Republicans. This analysis is still preliminary because all House seats will be redrawn in the 2011 redistricting.

hat/tip to Political Wire

TV Shows Liked By Democrats and Republicans Differ Greatly

According to Experian Simmons, a media research firm, there is no overlap between the most watched shows by Democrats and Republicans.

One of my students in my #CSP19: LGBT Rights in the Era of Obama and Google class pointed out  the list to me, and commented on the cognitive dissonance of the members of the anti-gay political party enjoying watching a show (Modern Family) which prominently features a gay white male couple raising a Vietnamese baby girl.

That's an interesting observation. What I notice from the list is that the shows which are in my DVR are Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Survivor, and 30 Rock. We just stopped watching Desperate Housewives, V and Damages this year. I have tuned into Countdown with Keith Olberman but prefer The Rachel Maddow Show.

Surprisingly, the shows that I prefer to watch live (or within 7 days of taping) are Modern Family and Survivor, which are on the Republican list. You can count me in the significant fraction (20%) of Californians who would "almost never consider" voting for a Republican candidate for any office.

So, clearly I exhibit some kind of partisan hybridity in television selection!

Nate Silver's Final 2010 Election Predictions

Above are the final predictions made by Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight about the 2010 id-Term elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and Governors races.

4 Questions To Ask Before You Vote

From Dailykos.com here are 4 questions everyone should ask themselves before they vote in the 2010 elections:

Questions:

1. What was the average monthly private sector job growth in 2008, the final year of the Bush presidency, and what has it been so far in 2010?

2. What was the Federal deficit for the last fiscal year of the Bush presidency, and what was it for the first full fiscal year of the Obama presidency?

3. What was the stock market at on the last day of the Bush presidency? What is it at today?

4. Which party's candidate for speaker will campaign this weekend with a Nazi reenactor who dressed up in a SS uniform?

Answers:

1. In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a difference of nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year.

2. In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.

3. On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.

4. The Republican Party, whose candidate for speaker, John Boehner, will campaign with Nazi re-enactor Rich Iott this weekend. If you need an explanation why this is offensive, you are a lost cause.

WATCH: Reid Calls Angle "Pathological Liar" In Latest Ad

2010 Elections: One Week Away

Outed Ill. Senate Candidate Kirk (R) Caught Discussing Voter Suppression

U.S. Representative Mark Kirk, who has recently been outed as a gay man by blogger Mike Rogers, and is currently in a very tight race with Alexi Giannoulias for the Illinois Senate seat once held by Barack Obama has been caught on tape discussing the long-running, illegal Republican practice of minority vote suppression.

Talking Points Memo reports:

Kirk's campaign confirmed the candidate was secretly taped last week as he was talking about his anti-voter fraud effort.

"These are lawyers and other people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts, for example, South and West sides of Chicago, Rockford, Metro East, where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat," he said in the audio posted on YouTube.

As TPMMuckraker has reported, accusations from conservatives that ineligible voters are fraudulently stealing elections for Democrats have continued to fly in the 2010 campaign cycle, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud. "Voter fraud" has been the rally cry for conservative groups seeking to make it more difficult to cast ballots and suppress minority voter turnout.

Kirk is widely considered the most moderate of the potential Republican senators to take office in January 2011. What's interesting here is that despite being known as a closeted homosexual, he is still a Republican at  heart, with the opposition to minority voting that that entails. Another example of the surprises intersectionality can produce!

Senator DeMint (R-SC) Calls For Employment Discrimination Based On Sex

United States Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, has started taking a more prominent role as the standard bearer for ultra-conservatism in America. Recently, DeMint has called for openly gay or lesbian people and sexually active unmarried women to be barred from working as public teachers.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says that even though "no one" came to his defense in 2004 after he said that gay people and unwed mothers should be banned from teaching, "everyone" quietly told him that he shouldn't back down from his position.

He also implied that not banning gay people and women who have sex before marriage from teaching would be an attack on Christians, and defended his position on banning gay teachers because he holds the same position on women who have sex outside of marriage.

"[When I said those things,] no one came to my defense," he said, the Spartanberg Herald-Journal reported. "But everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn't back down. They don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion."

So, basically Senator DeMint is calling for public employment discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientatiom.

Needless to say, he has been roundly criticized for these bigoted beliefs.

"Sexist bigots like Sen. Jim DeMint don't belong in the United States Congress," said National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill. "He thinks gay women and men and sexually active single women should be banned from teaching, but he said nothing about sexually active, single straight men."

"It is salt in the wound in our community," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "It's irresponsible for Sen. DeMint to reassert this position in this day and age. I would ask him to apologize."

"What matters in the workplace is your ability to do your job, yet you can be fired for your sexual orientation in 29 states and for your gender identity in 38. I can't imagine what people think is 'moral' about job discrimination," said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement.

Beliefs like DeMint (and his people who support him) are exactly why the Employment Non-Discrimination Act needs to become federal law.

WATCH Jon Stewart Take Down Republican "Pledge To America"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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White House Issues Statement on DADT Appeal

The White House has just issued a statement about the Department of Justice filing an appeal in federal court today in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America, the case in which a federal judge recently struck down the military's anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as unconstitutional.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

____________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 23, 2010

Statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Justice Department filing in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America

Today, the Department of Justice made a filing in a legal challenge to the Don’t Ask, Don’t tell (DADT) policy, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged.  This filing in no way diminishes the President’s firm commitment to achieve a legislative repeal of DADT – indeed, it clearly shows why Congress must act to end this misguided policy.   The President was disappointed earlier this week when a majority of the Senate was willing to proceed with National Defense Authorization Act, but political posturing created a 60 vote threshold.  The President spoke out against DADT in his first State of the Union Address, and the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have both testified in support of repeal.   And the Department of Defense continues to work on a plan on how to implement repeal.  The President, along with his Administration, will continue to work with the Senate Leadership to achieve a legislative repeal of DADT as outlined in the NDAA this fall.

###