As if Mitt Romney's flip-flopping on every issue imaginable wasn't enough, we now have another flip-flopper on our hands. And believe it or not, its another Republican!!! Its everyone's favorite self-serving mayor, Rudy Guiliani. Basically he was for gay civil unions before he was against it. As mayor of New York City, Guiliani described himself as a backer of civil unions, and in fact he initiated domestic partnership laws while he was mayor in '98. Ask him the same question today...not so much. When his campaign was asked about this flip-flop, they responded by saying...well Guiliani is okay with what he enacted as mayor in 1998, but he does not go as far as to back civil unions. The only problem is when he was mayor, he did support civil unions.
Joe Traver, an advocate for gay rights in New York responded to Guiliani's change of heart, stating:
"It's really disappointing he's stepped back from his position on civil unions, it's quite obvious he's playing to the people whose votes he needs to get the Republican nomination."
Its typical of politicians, change your position in order to win the nomination. Guiliani knows that he has to make himself at least appear more conservative on social issues if he is going to have a shot at winning the early states in the nomination process: Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It might be a smart change politically right now, but all this flip-flopping is sure to come back to bite him in the butt if he gets the nomination. No one likes a candidate who panders just to win over a crowd. It was a key flaw in John Kerry's armor and it will come into play if Guiliani or Romney get the nomination.
This flip-flopping issue has long annoyed me. Its nothing but pandering to appeal to a specific crowd at a specific time. That is why I truly admire what Hillary Clinton has done so far in this campaign. She has taken a stance on issues that is un-favorable to the crowd at which she is in front of. She boldly said that she would continue to take lobbyist money because lobbyists do represent real people, in front of an anti-lobbyist crowd. She stood up for her beliefs and said she was not for gay marriage while in front of a pro-gay marriage crowd. While the GOP courts the right, and some of the democratic candidates court the left, Hillary is the only one who stands firm for what she believes in and refuses to pander to a crowd. That is a very respectable quality in a candidate and indeed a sign for a true leader.
2 comments :
Guess the after taste of the Bill Clinton days had me not seeing the real Hillary. Article has cleared some cob webs for me and I see Hillary in a different lightl.
I digress. Hillary's stance on the civil union is nothing more than her husbands "don't ask, don't tell" policy. TRUE equality would be pro-gay marriage and not the PC civil union alternative.
Hillary believes that she can sell the civil union alternative but that gay marriage could cost her the election.
As for the political correctness of Dennis Kucinich, who openly stated that he supported gay marriage and full equality for gays, he's took the politically incorrect approach instead of trying to straddle the fence.
Which do you think will be harder to sell to middle America, gay marriage or civil unions? Hillary showed no courage at all by taking the same approach her husband did to the gays in the military issue.
Post a Comment