“You’ve Already Lost.”
Piggybacking on Pandora’s post, I must post this video of Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D), in blocking a Republican attempt to reverse the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling:
Here is the transcript:
One of my daughters was in the workplace one day, and her particular workplace at that moment in time, there were a whole bunch of conservative, older men. And those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening for about 20 minutes, said to them: ‘You guys don’t understand. You’ve already lost. My generation doesn’t care.’ I think I learned something from my daughter that day, when she said that. And Ive talked with other people about it and that’s what I see, Senator McKinley. I see a bunch of people that merely want to profess their love for each other, and want state law to recognize that. Is that so wrong? I don’t think that’s so wrong. As a matter of fact, last Friday night, I hugged my wife. You know I’ve been married for 37 years. I hugged my wife. I felt like our love was just a little more meaningful last Friday night because thousands of other Iowa citizens could hug each other and have the state recognize their love for each other. No, Senator McKinley, I will not co-sponsor a leadership bill with you.
David Anderson, you have already lost. The future does not care about your hang-ups. Stop standing in the way of love.
To the larger point, perhaps this is why some Republicans and conservatives are resorting to violence and talk of violence. They are conservatives because they are traditionalists. They hate change. That is the basic essence of being a conservative, for you want to maintain the status quo. Well, they lost the election last year. They lost an entire generation of Americans due to their stance on this issue. They know they do not have the numbers to stop President Obama and the Democrats from enacting the budget and universal healthcare. They know they have lost the battle on the merits already.
THAT is why we hear talk of violence. THAT is why we hear talk of rights being supposedly taken away. THAT is why they are lying about Obama’s plans to take away your guns, and Obama’s plans to send them all off to reeducation camps.
They are conservatives because they are traditionalists. They hate change. That is the basic essence of being a conservative, for you want to maintain the status quo.
I am not so sure about that. They want to overturn the New Deal, more than 70 years old.
I think they hate something else.
I loved that video. I wish he were my Senator.
Anon….
They want to return to how it was before the New Deal, where the elderly died in the streets penniless, and the poor starve or at the very least knew their place.
Hatred of the New Deal is passed down through the generations in a conservative family.
Republicans=violence. 🙄
Please. White Flag. I can’t take this any more. Seriously. My spirit is being crushed today to oblivion. Most Liberals/Democrats…well, non-Conservatives…were right early in CheneyBush’s administration when they declared that discourse was dead (murdered by the majority). I agreed then. I thought it would change. It hasn’t. It just changed hands.
uncle.
I said some, RSmitty. Not you. Not most. Some.
And Discourse is probably dead, I will grant you that. During the Bush years, the other side declaring that we Democrats were traitors and terrorists. Now that we “traitors and terrorists” are in charge, these same blowhards want to kill us all in a revolution.
I am engaging in severe hyperbole, but I am trying to make a point, and that is, how is discourse between such polarized ideologies possible?
There are the rare individuals that can engage in discourse, and luckily Delaware is blessed with a number of them. Hell, even I can also argue the points of policy absent the hyperbole with a conservative on certain issues, so long as the opposing view is a rational one.
But all too often the opposing viewpoint is extreme, unreasonable and insane.
For example:
On abortion: “YOU KILL BABIES!”
On Iraq and Gitmo, etc: “YOU ARE A TERRORIST!!!”
On Gay Marriage: “YOU ARE A FAG, AND WANT TO DESTROY MARRIAGE!”
On the Economy and the Stimulus: “YOU ARE A COMMUNIST, AND WANT TO TAKE AWAY MY RIGHTS!”
I mean, RSmitty, discourse requires two people.
Republicans=violence.
Which would certainly be hyperbolic, but is certainly not what DD is saying here, I think.
Some are, some aren’t. I qualified it.
This is what Del Dem wrote:
I don’t see anywhere where he says that Republicans=violence. He says some are resorting to violence and talk of violence, which is true. I notice no one is disputing that Republicans hate change.
What we’re really dealing with is fear, and the people making big money to feed it. Change is scary for a lot of people, but that won’t stop change from happening (cue David Bowie).
I don’t think republicans=violence – and DD didn’t say that. I think a few right wingers are spewing from the mouth – and would probably perform a gay wedding if it helped their ratings and poll numbers – without giving any thought to what some people are hearing.
That said, reasonable Republicans should get their house in order. The it’s just one crazy guy won’t hold if one turns into three.
Exactly, pandora. The problem for them with the violent rhetoric isn’t just one crazy guy. It’s one crazy network and some crazy leadership.
Anyway, a great tidbit from the Iowa court decision, which totally blows away one of David Anderson’s defenses: what about the children!
I also just read that Washington D.C. voted to recognize same-sex marriages from out of state.
Yes, I know I segmented the crap out of this post, but why can’t I use that segment and join it with the reocurring them of DL as of late? No, DD didn’t claim that all are violent in this post. DL, the whole, has made it a theme, though. How many posts lately have mentioned any amount of Republicans condoning/promoting/creating/causing/instigating/emulating/propagating/supporting some form of violence? Hence, my summation of all that as Republican = violence. 🙄
Seriously, I’m looking at a classification of a mass group of people. You all know me, so I know it’s not on me, personally, but what if another person like me, that a loyal reader of DL randomly meets finds out said-Progressive-minded-Republican is a registered “R,” but suddenly fears for his/her life because Republicans=violence? Is group classification OK?
I’m just tired of the hate rhetoric.
DD – discourse is dead. At least anywhere I look it is, especially in our blogosphere. Too few are the conversations where differing opinions actually are given the effort of insightful thinking and discovery that they truly offer. Instead, it’s ad-hominems and talking point bravado that rule the roost.
Damn it. I knew I shouldn’t have stopped my Lexpro scripts.
Smitty, I see your point, I really do. And I agree with it mostly. Most Republicans aren’t violent and don’t condone violence, it’s only a group of them that does. But really, how much of this talk are we supposed to take before we start fighting back? This kind of talk makes me really scared. I think bringing attention to it early and often is really the only way to bring back some sanity. The big problem I see for the Republican party in general is that we don’t see anyone leader emerging that is fighting back against this dangerous rhetoric. Once one even gives the mildest condemnation of someone like Rush Limbaugh, he or she has to go crawling in apology within days.
Unemployment is 8.5% ….and rising and retirement savings… say no more. Neighbors in foreclosure, (there goes your home equity!). Your health insurance, if you still got, you soon won’t. President Drone thinks we can bomb our way out of Iraq and afghanland (and into pakiland, Iran, N. Korea….). The US dollar is near future toilet paper.
and ……people have their $%@’s in a knot over who’s sackin’ with who ??????
The big problem I see for the Republican party in general is that we don’t see anyone leader emerging that is fighting back against this dangerous rhetoric.
If one tries, he/she gets blasted from the further right for being too liberal and then blasted from the left for being lost and too stupid for being a Republican. Ain’t it a fun game?
DL, the whole, has made it a theme, though. How many posts lately have mentioned any amount of Republicans condoning/promoting/creating/causing/instigating/emulating/propagating/supporting some form of violence?
There have been alot. But there hasn’t been much from the sane Republican side (if you can identify those who are) to report on who are pushing back on this stuff. And — to be fair — the fear and loathing stuff has been a fairly singular message from the leadership (whether the entertainment side OR the elected side) since September. At least. And it shouldn’t be too far of a stretch to empathize with one of the reasons we spend time looking at that fear and loathing — not only is it not true (and that fact not exactly pointed out by our liberal media) but it pointed at us. Liberals. We should be concerned about people who are living in false narratives that are provided to them that help them see others as threats to be eliminated.
Certainly not all Republicans buy into this stupidity, and we all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you do not. But even you would agree that you are no longer representative of those in your party with the megaphones any more. And those who do have megaphones and who are more sane certainly aren’t stepping up to ask their colleagues to put away their GI Joe dolls.
Oh, I am no popular breed and I admit that and those who know me (agreeable or not) see that as well. Unfortunately, those who are agreeable with me are admittedly a more passive lot and that’s an absolute problem.
Aside, carte-blanche labelling is also a problem.
carte-blanche? is that a new vegetable at Friday’s?
only if it’s deep fried.
my point stands, tho.
Aside, carte-blanche labelling is also a problem
And it is a good point. But one I don’t think would be so much of a problem if the world was talking about the Republicans doing something positive.
But I do understand how you feel Smitty — it was out of feelings not unlike yours that the Daily Kos came into being. And the biggest reason why they became successful wasn’t about the technology or the New New thing — it was because a group of fairly like-minded (and like marginalized) people could get together precisely to get themselves heard.
Oh believe me, I know a number of republicans who would resort to violence just to get a point across and I know many supposedly good republicans who would wink an eye and let it happen. I live in a neighborhood full of them.
Yeah, we cannot have the people of Iowa thinking that they have any right to alter or abolish their current framework of government so as to reflect their will. Don’t they know that the people are the servants, not the masters, of government?