But Mr. Bush also said at the time that states should be permitted to have same-sex civil unions if they chose.
So, the President has been in open opposition to the Republican Party Platform since at least February and the NY Slimes decide to report this SEVEN DAYS BEFORE the election??
This is pretty much my opinion. I do not oppose same sex civil unions.
What is the confusion? Seems pretty straightforward to me and consistant, despite Elisabeth trying to make it appear there's a contradiction.
First, he says it's up to the states and Bumiller says he wouldn't have supported it as governor.
Well, that's governing Texas, isn't it. Not the whold U.S. of A.
This an effort to divide the party (I hope you don't labor under the illusion that the president endorsed the whole platform).
President Bush, I disagree. But I'll still be voting for you.
States rights. At a minimum, though, we need a Constitutional amendment providing that the States do not have to recognize gay marriages effected in other states.
HOW TO LOSE AN ELECTION 101
Hey, polygamy.
Regardless of how you feel about this issue, it was not smart for Bush to comment with one week to go in the election. The whole key to Bush's success this year is getting religious Americans who stayed home in 2000 to come out and vote this year. This is their number one issue.
Bush is ahead right now. Would it be too much to ask that everyone in the campaign just keep their traps shut for seven more days?
P.S. The Times published this for the express purpose of keeping evangelicals at home.
Hint it's the New York Times.
How much you wanna make a bet that the NY Slimes tooks Bush's words out of context. NY Times is on an all out smear campaign to get Kerry elected. As far as I am concerned - the NY Times is no longer a major Newspaper. They have been wrong too many times and shown their hatred of Republicans and Bush too many times now.
He's talking about TWO separate situations.
A LEGAL union would be a Binding Contract. One person agrees to provide for another person. ONLY AN ATTORNEY could sever the contract for one or the other party. Just like any other business contract one party would have to buy out the other. (Ideally there would be no 'children' involved, but some same-gender couples have the 'mothering/fathering' instinct -- which leads me personally back to "same-gender is a choice because your biological clock wants a child which child is produced from 'opposite-gender' consumation -- leaving artificial means out of the original picture -- so you aren't 'really' a same-gender person. BUT YMMV, so no flames.)
A MARRIAGE is a Covenant between two people and their G*d. It is also seen as a binding contract where one person pays -- alimony and/or child support -- when the covenant is broken. It's the COVENANT in a marriage that must be broken to disolve a marriage. Covenant= A binding and solemn agreement to do or keep from doing a specific thing. An agreement between two parties and their G*d to defend and maintain their faith in each other and the marriage.
So there IS a difference between a legal contract and a Covenant (which also includes the legal contract). Legal contracts are binding. They require an attorney to break. A Covenant includes a third entity, a greater power. To break a covenant is a very serious thing. It shouldn't be taken as lightly as it is today in American culture.
YMMV, but that's my Highly Opinionated comment.
Politicians always try to have it both ways.
$5 says something has been taken out of context. W has stood firm on the marraige amendment, no reason he'd do a John Kerry now.
He knows he can live without the Andrew Sullivan vote.
This is coming from the New York Times. I think that says it all.
Leaving it up to the states is a conservative position, whether you agree with it or not.
Apparently it's just the word marriage that he values. It's the fundamental word of civiliztion. How stupid. Well, I'll still vote for him even though I think he is a fool on this subject, and an even bigger fool for only now making this statment. He will lose key votes over it.
Read later.