Spineless Democrats
January 7, 2010 33 Comments
Over the years, gay groups have been among the most reliable supporters of the Democratic party. Still, a proposal to institute gay marriage in New Jersey got only 14 yes votes today in the state Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
Do not blame Republicans; most are philosophically opposed to the idea.
Blame some spineless Democrats who were afraid to support equal righrts because of a perceived political fallout. If one does not support equal rights for all, they have no right to call themselves Democrats.
Shame on the Dems who voted no!
About fsnowflack
Morris County Politics 
Fred,
I fully concur.
Each one who voted “NO” should face a primary challenge.
Fred:
Maybe the”gay marriage” issue is not simply a political issue. Maybe it is more complex. NJ does have liberal same sex partnership laws. I am quite shocked at your published statement “spineless democrats”
Well, spineless because three of them showed up, but did not vote, and also, from what I read, this would have passed if Corzine won the election.
So, my point is, why does that matter? It should be a vote of conscience.
That a boy Freddy! That’s the Fred we want to read more of! Good job man!!!!
Fred i agree with you 100 %. Those democrats care more about their job security than a vote to do the right thing or a vote as to how they really feel. In years to come when the vote to institute gay marriage passes in the senate, all the naysayers will look back at themselves and say what the hell were we thinking in 2010 ?
Fred, I agree with your “spineless” label. The bill would have passed if Corzine won and that proves the spineless ones only strive to maintain political power. Now they must fear New Jersey’s rather strong liberal wing of the Republican party Short sighted spineless fools might be a better lablel.
This is my prediction. The NJ Supreme Court eventually rules “separate but equal” cannot stand and orders marriage licenses issued to gay couples.
When some obscure municipal official in Hunterdon County refuses to carry out their duty to issue a license they will be joined by Steve Lonegan and Michael Doherty on the steps of town hall where they will try to block the entrance to a gay couple getting their license.
A Republican Governor, Chris Christie, will act swiftly to mobilize the State Police and put the State Militia on stand-by alert. New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow will travel to the town hall, accompanied by a gay couple, and demand the license be issued. When the town official refuses they are taken into custody along with Lonegan and Doherty.
A few day later, after Lonegan supporters make accusations of police brutality, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce will offer a resolution condemning Paula Dow’s handling of the affair and offer an apology. The resolution will be defeated by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.
The real scam was the three Dems who didn’t even vote, including incoming Senate president Steve Sweeney. Great leadership.
Fred,
I agree with you and Kevin. It’s not the fault of Republicans that this did not pass. Most of them are too cowardly to admit the fact that they’re only against gay marriage due to homophobia, but that’s another story. Anybody with a “D-Wherever” to the right of their names that voted no or did not vote, should be tossed. Don’t let the door hit their butts on the way out.
I am most concerned about incoming Senate President Steven Sweeney. He didn’t vote b/c he didn’t think it would pass anyway. What? He’s supposed to show leadership, not hide in a corner while everyone else does the work. This guy is awful.
Spineless is a good choice of words.
If Steven Goldstein sells what he smokes when he says that there were 24 senators willing to vote for S1967 at any time, then we won’t need to discuss medical marijuana. There never were 21 votes, much less 21. Anybody who bothered to listen knew that certainly Van Drew, Sweeney, Madden, Redd, Turner, Sacco and Rice were “no” votes. There was nothing to indicate that Beach, Sarlo and Girgenti were going to vote “yes.” So, you needed EIGHT Republicans to vote “yes” to pass the bill. If, for example, Beck, Bateman and Sean Kean had ever actually said that they would vote for the bill, then Goldstein would be calling them “liars” and “backstabbers.” But, he isn’t because they never did. Even if they had, you are still another four votes short and where were they going to come from??? This simply further sets back the momentum in states where civil unions are going to be a struggle but would make a difference. Bad strategy, bad tactics, bad politics and too much fantasy and narcissism.
Whether one agrees or diosagrees with ME I don’t think spineless has anything to do with Democrat no votes. Most of those Democrats who voted no have safe seats so to call them timid or spineless is ridiculous. One can even argue that some of those Democrats who voted no have more to fear from a primary challenge bankrolled by Garden State Equality than they do a Republican challenger in the general election. The fact is they probably did vote their conscience, just like pro-life Democrats who vote their conscience on abortion.
Let’s face it, not every Democrat supports marriage equality any more than every Democrat is pro-choice.
There is no indication that the majority of NJ residences are in favor of Gay Marriage. The fallacy of most of these posts is that gay rights are the equivalent to civil rights that minorities have fought for. The truth is that gays do not want to have equal rights they want special rights that they feel will legitimize their life style. I know they do not want to hear it, but their lifestyle is not so different than most deviant behavior and it does not deserve special consideration by the legislature or the courts for that matter. Be gay if you chose to be but do not ask the rest of us to codify your behavior into our laws.
Hogwash:
Please name a ‘special right” gays are asking for that heterosexual couples don’t already have.
A special punishment for someone attacking him or her you know the mind crime or hate crime. If someone strikes me and causes me great bodily harm and someone else does it to a gay person why should the punishment be more for the gay assault?
You know Nedd I use to thing you were a reasonable person but now I see that you are fixated on your perception of social injustice and liberal causes. My point is that you were a fraud when you were running for office in Washington Township. Now you are just a liberal ethnic centric fraud.
I must respond to Hogwash …
He talks about “hate crimes.”
The logic is that penalties are increased because in the hypothetical case at hand, a person is attacked specifically and perhaps only because of his sexual preference. Just like if someone is roaming the streets specifically looking to beat up, say, Jews. That is seen not merely as an attack on a sole person, but on a group.
Of course, I am not saying that the hate crime statute is correctly applied all the time, but there is good logic behind it.
Also, Hogwash11 (Is there a Hogwash12) your comments on Nedd are a little out of line. Unlike you, he gives his views and states his real name, rather than hide behnd an alias.
Hog:
The cleaners called, they wanted to know if you want your hood starched?
Just to cap off this thread, from NJ.com – http://blog.nj.com/njv_thurman_hart/2010/01/leadership_sweeney_style.html – A hat tip to my buddy Joey Novick for this gem –
“What’s the difference between the New Jersey State Senate and the show “Jersey Shore”? . . . One is a group of homophobic narrow-minded Neanderthals who embarrass New Jersey nationally, and the other is on MTV each week.” bahdah boom!
Nedd
When your argument is weak or your intellect is such that you cannot sustain a train of thought you can always call your opponent a racist. I am not fearful of that tag because I know that it is the furthest from the truth, you on the other hand use racism as a tool to beat down the innocent and the meek. If you are not inferior no work or thought can make you that way. People like you set race relations back a hundred years.
Hog:
Take a close look at this thread. The original topic had to do with gay marriage, which I happen to support. When I asked you to back up your claim of gays asking for “special rights” beyond those of heterosexuals, you responded with a ridiculous answer on “hate crimes” which applies to ANYONE who is attacked based on his or her perceived membership in a certain social group. This includes a white person targeted by a group of blacks just because he or she is white. In addition, you directed a comment accusing me of being a “liberal ethnic centric fraud”. Yet you seem to think I introduced “race” into this discussion? My response, while terse, called you out for what you are. The psycho drivel that followed reflects your issue with race, not mine.
You should write a nice happy article on John Cryan. That stand up guy got away with another drunken assault! See if you can give that a happy pro-Cryan spin!
You’re the best Snowy!
OK Chubbypaul ,,,, How did he get away with it?
Read the Star Ledgar man. Thats how most people inform themselves. Go to MorristownGreen.com to inform yourself of the situation!
There is definitely a happy way for you to spin this if you look hard enough.
Actually, he got away with nothing. The charges were downgraded; something that happens all the time.
For a guy that calls himself a journalist, you are a rather sad man.
Go read the arrest report and write about that Snow-Dog! It was far from just being disorderly. But again, no comments about the situation from the Daily Record’s guru of Morris County politics.
You want to get a lot of bloggers? Post some of the guts of that arrest report and you will set a record!!! Whats written in that tells you exactly what kind of person this lunatic is! But again, you wouldn’t do that would you?
Fred,
Chubby has a point here. We should not have to go and get copies of police reports to obtain all the facts pertaining to crimes that happen in our area, like I had to do with respect to a certain local GOP operative who committed a violent crime in my area. That should be the job of your paper to obtain and publish ALL the facts gathered and made public by taxpayer provided resources.
Cryan is a good guy. He is just a bad drinker.
Blame it on the ah-ah-ah-alcohol, blame it on the ah-ah ah-ah ah-al-co-hol
Freddy, please report on the arrest report! Its 10 times more interesting than anything ever written on here.
Or explain to the Daily Record readers, why you don’t think it has value to this story!!!
You are paid to inform the readers, right???? Let us know why you are not informing us.
CP – I take offense to the statement “It’s ten times more interesting than ANYTHING written on here.”
A drunken councilman getting into a fight is B-O-R-I-N-G in comparison to all the real topics that should discussed – the Economy (and the fake stimulus bill Obama passed), Health Care “Reform” and the TRILLIONS in new taxes headed our way, the War Against Terrorists and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Card Check (or how I tried to turn America into GM!), . . . !
If you want to have an up/close personal view of the seedier parts of Morris County/Morristown, go visit the jail or night court. The rest of us really don’t care.
So Fred’s stuff may be boring, but mine surely isn’t. 😉
Kevin
Hog is not far off on these hate crime issues, two years ago a group of Black Youths were running around Morristown beating down Latinos and robbing them. They only picked on Latino men late at night that had been drinking. Not only were they not tried as hate crimes but also they got off virtually free because a group of Black parents came out and said how wonderful these kids were and this was just a mistake. A week later one of the Bandits was arrested for selling drugs on MLK Ave. Where was the Justice on this occasion? Nedd, take a look around and stop seeing everything as a great Republican conspiracy, Gay Marriage is not that big an issue in the realm of all our problems. I have friends that are gay and in loving relationships who have taken care of their issues with the help of lawyers. Until they can they will enjoy each others company without the word Marriage associated with their relationship. You should get over it.
Bill,
My point to Hog was that “hate crime” legislation does not qualify as a “special right” for gays. It is protects all of us in cases where we are specifically targeted for who we are, given there is sufficient evidence to prove this to be true. I don’t know the details of the cases you mentioned, but If you have issues on how they were handled, talk to Robert Bianchi, the Morris County prosecutor. I have had the pleasure of working with him on the Human Relations Commission. He is a straight up guy and will listen to your concerns.
As to your political comment, if the shoe fits…