White House Official Expressed Regret at Some Cites in Pro-DOMA Justice Department Brief
EmailIn a panel discussion at the liberal American Constitution Society Friday, President Obama’s staff secretary, Lisa Brown, expressed personal reservations about some of the language in the Justice Department brief against same-sex marriage that cited the ability of states to refuse to recognize incestuous marriages as a comparison with same-sex ones.
“It was an awful lot better that the brief that was written in the Bush administration,” Brown said, as first reported by Politico’s Josh Gerstein. “There’s no question — personal statement — that there were some cites in there that should not … have been in there.”
For many gay and lesbian Democratic donors, the brief — written in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which allows states to refuse to recognize gay and lesbian marriages — was so outrageous they dropped out of a major DNC fundraiser for the gay and lesbian community this Thursday.
At another point, the moderator drew applause after asking about the slow pace of progress on gay and lesbian rights issue.
Ron Klain, the chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, said, “I understand why people are impatient with the pace of progress. We have only been here 125 days, and in those 125 days have many irons in the fire. … I hope that next year when we have this conference and that question gets asked it doesn’t elicit the same kind of applause that it elicited this time.”
Think Progress has posted video of the event:
-jpt
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Concerned in OH:”You people are gonna try and ride his coattails forever it seems.”
You break it, you bought it. Bush broke this country – the military, the economy (he started with a deficit – heavily hyped the $5 trillion+ surplus personally to get his tax cuts through), and the branch institutions. (Obama is still trying to get DOJ acting like a professional department again; never mind the awful Gitmo positions, they even chased bungled projects against Republicans like Stevens that Obama had to shut down.)
It’s not about blaming Bush, it is about Republicans taking responsibility for their demonstratively failed policies and inept leadership the past 8 years.
Posted by: jhw539 | June 21, 2009, 12:02 pm 12:02 pm
I disagree, jhw539; it is ALL about blaming Bush. Otherwise his name wouldn’t keep coming up. Obama and Pals WANTED to take the wheel, remember? Now that they’ve had it for over six months, isn’t it about time to shut up and drive?
Posted by: Dave | June 21, 2009, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
Otherwise his name wouldn’t keep coming up. Posted by: Dave
maybe if Cheney and his daughter would shut up and stop lying and trying to rewrite the history of the last 8 years…. Bush’s name wouldn’t come up.
Posted by: No Mas | June 21, 2009, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
It’s impossible not to figure in the mess the Bush administration left the country in. And it’s impossible not to figure in the national and global economic meltdown which took place at the end of the Bush administration – we’re far from out of that although the panic seems to have subsided. And the $10 trillion dollar national debt left at the end of the Bush administration certainly loomed large.
However, the news article was about the Defense of Marriage Act.
Posted by: danita | June 21, 2009, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
isn’t it about time to shut up and drive?
Posted by: Dave
when Bush was selected and came into office, all you heard was how they were the ‘adults’ and they were going to bring ‘honor’ back to the white House…..and they constantly raved & ranted against Clinton…
8 years later we see what their lies and malfeasance have done to our country.
Posted by: No Mas | June 21, 2009, 2:54 pm 2:54 pm
They’re not sorry that they wrote the brief, they’re sorry that they got “caught”. They’re sorry that the gay community is waking up to Obama’s duplicity, and that they’re refusing to be walked on any longer by this clown.
He would ABSOLUTELY not have won the election without the support of the gay community — the same community he spat in the face of after the election — and now Obama and the Dems needs to scramble because the gay money train has come to a halt.
Posted by: paul | June 21, 2009, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
paul . ..
I bet you we will see major steps forward from this administration in supporting human rights for those concerned.
Posted by: danita | June 21, 2009, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
My goodness, when is the Obama administration going to man up?
Show us all those offensive cites that were worse than the drivel you included about incest.
Whining is so bloody unattractive.
Posted by: Plumber | June 21, 2009, 8:57 pm 8:57 pm
I wonder why the Democrates are not looking into Nancy’s statement that the CIA lies to congress all the time(this would be a Felony to lie to congress)?. I wonder why Obama’s Admin. is investigating the CIA’s action’s about how they handled terrorist in a manner that was allowed by congress.I wonder what the real reason for there actions are, could it be that when the president said in his own words” Judge me by who I surround myself with” he did’nt think that the news(FOX NEWS)would look into it. Maby the ground work was layed so when the CIA looks into terrorist ties in the United States, and it shows Obama surrounds himself with Socialist,comminust and terrorist. The obama admin. has already put out there that the CIA can’t be trusted. Remember Nancy never backed her claims up(Because she is the lier), Why not I wonder, that would be the smoking gun she’s looking for. OR MAYBE IT’S JUST COVER for something else. If we can’t trust the CIA what inteligence are we looking to?(Maby the U.N.). Given the tract record, I want Nancy to back up her charge against the CIA or get out of the way and let REAL MEN AND WOMEN do there jobs. GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!
Posted by: DavidinDestin | September 19, 2009, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm