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Edited on Thu Aug-10-06 06:29 PM by DinoBoy
I went into the local campaign office this afternoon to pick up a bumper sticker, but also to ask a question that has been nagging me for a few weeks. Not long after the primary the Burns campaign put out an add saying that Tester was for gay marriage. Within days the Montana Democratic Party put out an ad saying that Tester was for traditional marriage and opposed gay marriage. All I wanted to know was if Tester would vote for or against the FMA, and if Tester is for Civil Unions.
I went in and two staffers were there, one was on the phone, and the other talked to me. He answered my question by saying, "Jon Tester is for the traditional definition of marriage, but he would vote against the FMA."
Kind of good so far, essentially the same wishy-washy, but tolerable position as Kerry and most Dems.
"He just thinks that tinkering with the Constitution is unnecessary, it's already illegal in most states, so it's not necessary to have something in the Constitution. There are lots of things the Constitution doesn't mention that have laws on the books. Like the Constitution doesn't mention murder, but it's illegal."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just stood there staring at this guy. I couldn't believe those words just came out of his mouth. I couldn't believe anyone would make that comparison, much less a representative of MY party to MY face. They asked if there was anything else they could help me with, I said I wanted a bumper sticker, took one, and left.
I got in my car shaking, and drove for a minute, then turned around, and went back to their office. When I came back in they were all smiles, but I was almost shaking, and half yelled and half stuttered, "Did you seriously just compare gay marriage to murder!?"
He responds with, "No, I just said that murder was illegal and wasn't mentioned in the Constitution and so is gay marriage." Which translates to, "Yes."
"I can't believe you would even think that that's an appropriate comparison, how can you even see those as equal?" I was a little less shaky, and the staffer was going from on-script annoyed to shirking and embarrassed. At this point the other two staffers (the third came in from smoking while I was driving) took over and apologized. One of them said it must have been a slip of the tongue, and said sorry.
The guy I had been talking to apologized. He said it was wrong, and wouldn't happen again. I thanked him for the apology, and left. But I can't help but think how many others have gotten the gay marriage/murder equation, and what went through this guy's mind to initially make this comparison in the first place!
WTF!
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