We have to do the right thing (NPR on civil unions and Dean)

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That is what Howard Dean said to nervous Vermont State Senate leaders when they tried to get him to form a commission to study civil unions to let them off the hook. This is according to David Moats who quite literally wrote the book on civil unions in Vermont.

http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=02/05/2004

The link above is from Thursday Feb 5 Fresh Air. It is close to 30 minutes in length. Some highlights.

Around 4 minutes in he tells us that the chair of the House Judiciary Committee said that he could only get 35 votes for marriage while he needed 76. Might that be why Dean went for civil unions instead? At around 7 1/2 minutes in we learn that 16 house members and 2 senators lost their seats. The story of one of those senators is awesome. It is from 13 minutes in to around 18 minutes in that we really discuss Dean. From his immediate press conference where he supports domestic partnership (which later were civil unions) and expressed discomfort of marriage. To his telling the nervous Senate they had to do it. To his closed signing with the immediate explanation of why it was private and why it was signed.

I figured some truth on this would be nice.

The man is David Moats. The book is Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage. The paper he works for is the Rutland Herald and he won a Pulitzer prize for his coverage.

On edit

Please note that Fresh Air doesn't do transcripts and any trascription errors by me are just that errors. I am not great at trascribing spoken words and am not being dishonest here.

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I know it is long but I hope someone is listening.

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the other one is the dupe honest

[NashVegas]

3. Great Interview

People in Vermont had to fight really hard for this.

Not an issue for politicians of the faint-hearted variety.

[KaraokeKarlton]

4. You have no idea just how ugly the battle got here

If Dean was able to overcome that battle, there is NOTHING Bush could throw at him that he wouldn't be able to overcome. Dean is the one who Democrats need to nominate. Kerry can't handle that kind of fight. Dean has proven he has what it takes.

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5. Not directly

but trust me on this I have a very good idea.

[KaraokeKarlton]

7. Well, multiply how bad you guess it was by at least 10

National figures from the religious right were up here, gay bashers were targeting our school children trying to teach them to hate, death threats were plentiful and harassment was common. And the sign wars...oh the sign wars here in anti-signage Vermont. You couldn't watch television, listen to the radio or read the paper without hearing hatred. It made you want to keep your kids home, stock up on survival supplies and just hunker down at home. Ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life.

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8. I can well imagine

Trust me I have heard much of it. Though 24/7 and billboards would be pretty vile.

[KaraokeKarlton]

9. There was no escaping it

The second you made even remote contact with the outside world, you were bombarded with it all. It was just horrible.

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10. would have been middle school all over again

yikes.

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6. kick

[progressivebydesign]

11. Dean is a brave, compassionate man.

We need more of them in office. This story really illustrates the disfunction with our media and popular thinking. Dean went out on a limb politically for this, did the right thing.. risking his entire political career in an ugly chapter of Vermont history. Yet.. he makes a goofy happy speech to his supporters, it's played out of context, and it has (in many people's eyes) tainted his political career forever. How screwed up is that? The man should be lauded, not despised.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

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