Rob Portman Supports Gay Marriage.
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Guess he's less of a republican now that he's gotten a little human compassion.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE92E0G020130315?irpc=932
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was on the short list last year to be the party's vice presidential candidate, said he reversed his opposition to same-sex marriage after learning in 2011 that his son is gay.
Portman announced he now supports gay marriage in an opinion piece on Friday in an Ohio newspaper.
"I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married," Portman wrote in an op-ed piece in the Columbus Dispatch, titled "The Freedom to Marry."
"That isn't how I've always felt. As a Congressman, and more recently as a Senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way."
Portman said his 21-year-old son, Will, told the senator and his wife that he was gay in February 2011.
Portman's announcement comes about a week before the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments in two cases related to gay marriage. One challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
In a related case, the court will also hear arguments that question a California law, known as Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. The cases will be argued on March 26 and March 27.
Portman told another Ohio newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he now believes same-sex couples who marry in states where it is legal should be eligible for the same federal benefits granted to heterosexual couples.
He was among the front-runners to be Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick during the 2012 election, but budget hawk Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin eventually got the nod.
PARTY SPLIT
The Republican Party has become increasingly split on the gay marriage issue, with many arguing that socially conservative positions such as opposition to same-sex marriage are contributing to the party's election losses.
An early Republican favorite for the 2016 presidential race, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, staged a defense of traditional marriage in a high-profile speech to a conservative conference on Thursday.
"Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot," the 41-year-old Cuban-American told the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC.
Among the headliners at the CPAC event on Friday is Romney, who will be making his first major public speech since he lost the election.
Portman's new position was supported by former opponent David Axelrod, who was President Barack Obama's senior campaign advisor.
"Courageous decision by Rob Portman to endorse same-sex marriage, guided by the love of a parent rather than by party ideology," Axelrod tweeted.
In his op-ed piece, Portman wrote of how he has "wrestled" with reconciling his Christian faith with the desire for his son to have the same opportunities as his siblings.
"Ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God," he said.
Portman told the Ohio newspapers in an interview that because of his son he was able to "think of this issue from a new perspective, and that's of a dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have - to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years."
Portman's son, now a junior at Yale University, told the senator that being gay was "not a choice," and that he had been gay "since he could remember," Portman told the newspapers.
The senator said his views on the matter evolved over the past two years, and he had consulted clergy members and friends including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has an openly gay daughter.
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So this viewpoint just didn't exist to him before?
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Just like gun violence it only exists when it affects somebody you love, I guess. It's easy to be a hater when you don't know anybody thats gay.
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Just like gun violence it only exists when it affects somebody you love, I guess. It's easy to be a hater when you don't know anybody thats gay.
Just like gun violence it only exists when it affects somebody you love, I guess. It's easy to be a hater when you don't know anybody thats gay.
Credit for coming around, but agree completely. It's basically admitting you lack the ability to see beyond your immediate world and to understand what anyone else might go through.
But hey, better than the alternative.
Plus, Republicans know they've just lost this issue. They're on the wrong side of history and most of them now know it. Marco Rubio is digging in on it over at CPAC. Can you imagine how unpopular an opinion that will be when he runs three years from now? Of course, he can always "evolve" on that issue, but he's digging in pretty hard.
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Portman is an asshole.
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One tweet I saw:
"If you can only make well-considered policy decisions when they affect your family, maybe you shouldn't be a policymaker."
And Teagan Goddard: "This is newsworthy, but it wouldn’t be if opponents of same-sex marriage thought of other people’s kids.”
Or another take from Kevin Drum:
"I admit that my first reaction to this was disgust: I'm tired of conservatives who suddenly decide that Medicaid should be more generous with stroke victims after they've had a stroke themselves, or who suddenly decide gay marriage is OK when someone in their family turns out to be gay. Is it too much to ask that they show a little empathy even for people and causes that don't directly affect their own lives?
But first reactions aren't always right. I do wish conservatives could demonstrate a little empathy even for people and causes that don't directly affect their own lives, but it's not as if this is an exclusively conservative thing. It's a human thing. Personal experience always touches us more deeply than facts and figures, and in the case of gay marriage we all knew this was how progress would be made. People would see gay characters on TV and shed a little bit of their discomfort. They'd learn that old friends are gay and decide they wanted to stay friends anyway. They'd learn their children are gay, and decide that they still wanted the best for them, even if that means supporting same-sex marriage.
We all knew this was how it would happen, slowly but steadily. We knew it. And now it's happened to Rob Portman. It's progress. It's human. And I should be less churlish about it."
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Never had any use for Portman. He can't figure out who he is except a panderer -
he should be a democrat, except they wouldn't have him either.
The new pope is against gay "marriage". That means far more, in a dramatic understatement...
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that view is going away bro
deal
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http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck. -Don Shula -
As for me, my view hasn't really changed.
The way I look at it we don't really have any inalienable rights anyway so...
If this is something that makes 2 people happy and enriches their lives who the hell am I to oppose it?
And yes part of what shaped that view is my own personal experiences over the last 4 decades or so.
Nice that David Frum has found his niche but I recall another politician who opposed that very issue four years ago.
It must have been okay when he was pandering to his own ignorant and superstitious constituents, right?
WSS
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http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
Ja.brill Peppers - Cleveland Brown OldBrownsFan, on 02 Jun 2017 - 5:09PM said: "No you are not the work of the devil but you are deceived by the devil." Who's got it better than us? Nooooobody! -
http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
Anyone who takes the time to think about any of these issues prioritizes them, I would assume.
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
No, actually it means exactly that to me, and thats all that matters.
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http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/305b-federal-spending-not-down-first-5-months-fy13
The govt has spent 30.5 billion more in the first 5 mos of fisc2013 than the same time of fisc2012.
So this gay marriage issue: ZZZzzzz
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
Equality is worthless, woody, didn't you know? I guarantee these same people would have fought integration and giving blacks a vote in their respective days. They're the exact same people who fight any gun control. I've come to believe its not all bigotry, not really, but a desire to fight any change to the status quo.
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No shit you don't care about an issue that doesn't affect you or anyone close to you.
You guys have made the "why does this even matter" argument before.
Just because something doesn't affect YOU doesn't mean its a worthless and pointless issue.
Anyone who takes the time to think about any of these issues prioritizes them, I would assume.
WSS
Anyone who takes the time to think about any of these issues prioritizes them, I would assume.
WSS
We have a winner.
Much easier to label me a bigot though.
#GoodJobGoodEffort
Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck. -Don Shula -
Actually, Leg, I didn't think it was one of your better posts. You could, after all, extend your reasoning to not discuss just any other issue you could think of. But it doesn't logically hold that because problem A exists therefore we have no time for problem B. Unless that issue is, you know, a giant asteroid is going to hit the earth tomorrow.
The fact that we have a federal deficit is not a reason to imagine that we can't address any other issue that you may think is less urgent than the federal deficit. You've got to walk and chew gum at the same time. As you know, for millions of Americans, the issue of gay marriage is immediately relevant to their lives.
But it's also already won. It really has been. It's got majority support in the country. It's got 80% support in people under 30. As George Will noted this weekend, support for traditional marriage only is literally dying off.
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Anyone who takes the time to think about any of these issues prioritizes them, I would assume.
WSS
We have a winner.
Much easier to label me a bigot though.
#GoodJobGoodEffort
We have a winner.
Much easier to label me a bigot though.
#GoodJobGoodEffort
When did I do that?
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The Republican National Committee’s support of Senator Rob Portman’s flip on gay marriage has infuriated social conservatives.
Though they don’t doubt that RNC chairman Reince Priebus is on their side, some say his vocal praise on Monday of Portman’s new stance could alienate values voters.
“I think [the RNC] should pretty much ignore him,” says Phyllis Schlafly, a longtime conservative activist, in an interview with National Review Online. “I think he has made a mistake, and he probably won’t get reelected.”
Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, says the party has to be careful. “If the Republican party tries to retreat from being a pro-marriage, pro-family party, the big tent is going to become a pup tent very fast,” he says. “I am concerned that some in the party are going wobbly on this issue.”
A source familiar with Ohioans’ response to Portman’s decision tells NRO that 60 percent of the calls the office received were against Portman’s shift and 40 percent of calls received were in support.
Schlafly, for her part, isn’t impressed. “Portman was one of their stars when he won, and he was supposed to be so very smart,” she says, “and I find it hard to believe the stupidity of his statement.”
Other social conservatives share her ire. Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, says Portman will likely face a primary challenger. “He will have a primary because this is too critical of an issue for a Republican senator to abandon,” he says.
Brown also thinks the RNC has “definitely” been too soft on Portman. “This is a critical issue, and to act like it’s just no big deal is just wrong,” he says.
Brown believes the RNC should withhold financial support from Portman and any other senators who change their views to support gay marriage.“The grassroots of the party are 100 percent committed to protecting marriage, to protecting life, the whole platform,” he says, “and you can’t just kick them to the curb.”
Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate and the head of American Values, agrees. He says the party’s leadership is taking its Evangelical base for granted — and that that’s a big mistake.
“I just think right now there is a lot of concern in the party about both satisfying the money wing of the party and keeping libertarians on board and I believe they are clueless to how close the party is to losing the energy and the votes of its largest voting bloc, which are values conservatives,” Bauer says.
“What we shouldn’t do is say to the electorate, ‘Just tell us what you want us to be! We’ll change for you! Just tell us what you want us to do, we’ll do it!’” he adds. “That’s not a political party, that’s just a bunch of pandering idiots.”
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The Republican National Committee’s support of Senator Rob Portman’s flip on gay marriage has infuriated social conservatives.
Though they don’t doubt that RNC chairman Reince Priebus is on their side, some say his vocal praise on Monday of Portman’s new stance could alienate values voters.
“I think [the RNC] should pretty much ignore him,” says Phyllis Schlafly, a longtime conservative activist, in an interview with National Review Online. “I think he has made a mistake, and he probably won’t get reelected.”
Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, says the party has to be careful. “If the Republican party tries to retreat from being a pro-marriage, pro-family party, the big tent is going to become a pup tent very fast,” he says. “I am concerned that some in the party are going wobbly on this issue.”
A source familiar with Ohioans’ response to Portman’s decision tells NRO that 60 percent of the calls the office received were against Portman’s shift and 40 percent of calls received were in support.
Schlafly, for her part, isn’t impressed. “Portman was one of their stars when he won, and he was supposed to be so very smart,” she says, “and I find it hard to believe the stupidity of his statement.”
Other social conservatives share her ire. Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, says Portman will likely face a primary challenger. “He will have a primary because this is too critical of an issue for a Republican senator to abandon,” he says.
Brown also thinks the RNC has “definitely” been too soft on Portman. “This is a critical issue, and to act like it’s just no big deal is just wrong,” he says.
Brown believes the RNC should withhold financial support from Portman and any other senators who change their views to support gay marriage.“The grassroots of the party are 100 percent committed to protecting marriage, to protecting life, the whole platform,” he says, “and you can’t just kick them to the curb.”
Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate and the head of American Values, agrees. He says the party’s leadership is taking its Evangelical base for granted — and that that’s a big mistake.
“I just think right now there is a lot of concern in the party about both satisfying the money wing of the party and keeping libertarians on board and I believe they are clueless to how close the party is to losing the energy and the votes of its largest voting bloc, which are values conservatives,” Bauer says.
“What we shouldn’t do is say to the electorate, ‘Just tell us what you want us to be! We’ll change for you! Just tell us what you want us to do, we’ll do it!’” he adds. “That’s not a political party, that’s just a bunch of pandering idiots.”
The Republican National Committee’s support of Senator Rob Portman’s flip on gay marriage has infuriated social conservatives.
Though they don’t doubt that RNC chairman Reince Priebus is on their side, some say his vocal praise on Monday of Portman’s new stance could alienate values voters.
“I think [the RNC] should pretty much ignore him,” says Phyllis Schlafly, a longtime conservative activist, in an interview with National Review Online. “I think he has made a mistake, and he probably won’t get reelected.”
Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, says the party has to be careful. “If the Republican party tries to retreat from being a pro-marriage, pro-family party, the big tent is going to become a pup tent very fast,” he says. “I am concerned that some in the party are going wobbly on this issue.”
A source familiar with Ohioans’ response to Portman’s decision tells NRO that 60 percent of the calls the office received were against Portman’s shift and 40 percent of calls received were in support.
Schlafly, for her part, isn’t impressed. “Portman was one of their stars when he won, and he was supposed to be so very smart,” she says, “and I find it hard to believe the stupidity of his statement.”
Other social conservatives share her ire. Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, says Portman will likely face a primary challenger. “He will have a primary because this is too critical of an issue for a Republican senator to abandon,” he says.
Brown also thinks the RNC has “definitely” been too soft on Portman. “This is a critical issue, and to act like it’s just no big deal is just wrong,” he says.
Brown believes the RNC should withhold financial support from Portman and any other senators who change their views to support gay marriage.“The grassroots of the party are 100 percent committed to protecting marriage, to protecting life, the whole platform,” he says, “and you can’t just kick them to the curb.”
Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate and the head of American Values, agrees. He says the party’s leadership is taking its Evangelical base for granted — and that that’s a big mistake.
“I just think right now there is a lot of concern in the party about both satisfying the money wing of the party and keeping libertarians on board and I believe they are clueless to how close the party is to losing the energy and the votes of its largest voting bloc, which are values conservatives,” Bauer says.
“What we shouldn’t do is say to the electorate, ‘Just tell us what you want us to be! We’ll change for you! Just tell us what you want us to do, we’ll do it!’” he adds. “That’s not a political party, that’s just a bunch of pandering idiots.”
ditch them its not like they are going to vote for the other team like the indipendants might. quit letting one side of your party keep pulling you away from the rest. If R's were to lose the Christian morality bs I would vote them more often.
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