Posted on 03/28/2013 1:12:39 PM PDT by lbryce
He had just flown across the country after an exhausting campaign day in Oregon and South Dakota, landing at the White House after dark. But President Bill Clinton still had more business before bed. He picked up a pen and scrawled out his name, turning a bill into law.
It was 10 minutes before 1 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, 1996, and there were no cameras, no ceremony. The witching-hour timing bespoke both political calculation and personal angst. With his signature, federal law now defined marriage as the union of a man and woman. Mr. Clinton considered it a gay-baiting measure, but was unwilling to risk re-election by vetoing it.
For nearly 17 years since, that middle-of-the-night moment has haunted Mr. Clinton, the source of tension with friends, advisers and gay rights supporters. He tried to explain, defend and justify. He asked for understanding. Then he inched away from it bit by bit. Finally this month, he disavowed the Defense of Marriage Act entirely, urging that the law be overturned by the Supreme Court, which takes up the matter on Wednesday on the second of two days of arguments devoted to same-sex marriage issues.
Rarely has a former president declared that an action he took in office violated the Constitution. But Mr. Clinton’s journey from signing the Defense of Marriage Act to repudiating it mirrors larger changes in society as same-sex marriage has gone from a fringe idea to one with a majority.
“President Clinton has evolved on this issue just like every American has evolved,” said Chad Griffin, who worked as a junior press aide in Mr. Clinton’s White House and now heads the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s most prominent gay rights organization.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It's all a political farce when the opportunity to become Mr. Hillary Clinton,the first First Husband, rears its ugly head.
Well, that oughta finally persuade the rest of us reactionary dogs of imperialism!
The Bent One is in favor of getting bent.
By declaring that blow jobs were not sex to try to save his sorry skin clinton helped educate a whole new generation that traditional sexual mores were out the window.
Now we are living with that fruit of having had a pervert in the oval office.
The clintons have always been and still are scum.
Whenever I want advice on married life, I turn to Bill Clintoon.
The Great Man admits he changed his mind on this crucial issue due to peer pressure.
What a touching story NOT.
Mark of a towering intellect!
Clinton has not evolved on anything. Screwing things up is his thing.
Clinton has not evolved on anything. Screwing things up is his thing.
Bill Clinton wouldn’t know what constitutes a real marriage if it raised up and bit him on the arse.
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