John McCain sat down with the New York Times the other day for a wide-ranging interview that covered quite a bit of ground. The NYT brought up a culture-war subject that we haven’t heard too much about lately.
Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?
McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.
Q: Even if the alternative is the kid staying in an orphanage, or not having parents.
McCain: I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents.
Q: But your concern would be that the couple should [be] a traditional couple–
McCain: Yes.
Now we’ve known for a while that when it comes to opposition to gay rights, McCain is pretty extreme. He not only campaigned in support of an Arizona anti-gay measure a couple of years ago, McCain is even on record opposing civil unions at the state level. Hell, McCain is so far out there, he’d even remove well-trained U.S. troops from the military — in the midst of two wars, when the Armed Forces are severely stretched — if they’re gay, calling them an “intolerable risk.”
But to say that a child would be better off in an orphanage than a stable household with gay parents is surprisingly callous. It’s not even premised on reality — McCain said “we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family.” It’s not clear who “we” are, but the evidence actually points in the opposite direction.
Today, the McCain campaign reversed course, arguing that McCain didn’t mean what he said.
Jill Hazelbaker, McCain’s director of communications, emailed Andrew Sullivan directly:
“McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue. He was not endorsing any federal legislation.
“McCain’s expressed his personal preference for children to be raised by a mother and a father wherever possible. However, as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes. McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative.”
Well, yes, I suppose McCain “could have been clearer,” given that what he said, and what Hazelbaker described as his policy, are completely different.
In reality, my suspicion is that McCain simply doesn’t know what he thinks. The Times brought up a topic that he doesn’t frequently consider, heard the word “gay,” and reflexively expressed his opposition.
I’m glad McCain’s position on July 15 is better than McCain’s position on July 13, but I’d be even happier if he could get the basics right the first time.
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Thinkin’s fer libruls.
Latency obviously. I’ll be the Cong cornhole’d him so many times that he got to like it a bit too much.
Watch out fer Teh Gay!
This is not an abusive comment!
I know the MsM loves McCain and keep shilling for him, but does Crooks have to constantly post negative on him, even with a non news post like this one? I hate him too, and of course he is against gay adoption. That is not news or out of character for even a Republican “maverick”.
I guess my point is that we KNOW who he is, but we don’t really know Obama. Obama has been saying and doing stuff for the past few weeks that are freaking this Democrat out!!
I would like to see Crooks try to hold Obama’s feet to the fire more than lampoon the already ridiculous McCain!
Just my opinion! Thanks for the means to express it.
Wow! Wonder what the Vice President thinks about that view. What say, Dick?
BobDobbs @ 2:
What an offensive thing to say. I hate McCain but jeez that was bad.
Maybe Doug and Wendie Whiner could adopt.
Leadership @ 6:
Yeah, a smidge over the top :-)
Remember Reslug idiots only care about the unborn babies and then once they’re born they ignore them.
Leadership @ 4:
1. Find some positives.
2. I think C&L was somewhat perturbed about Obama’s about-face on FISA, and I do not recall them being overly shy about expressing their feelings regarding that.
McCain Opposes Gay Adoption of Highways
ysbaddaden @ 7:
Even worse, how about all of the foster homes where kids go and are abused. Maybe they could go here - http://ap.google.com/article/A.....wD91UJOV0B
McC*nt clearly thinks it’s still 1953. His views are far removed from today’s reality.
He’s a joke. A stumbling, decaying fossil who’s “still learning to get on the Internet.”
Go back to the home, Grandpa. Your time has come….and definitely gone.
Mmmmmmm, nice breeze from McCaint’s latest flip-flop….
Leadership @ 4:
Obama is a centrist, which in today’s twisted frame is located just to the right of center. I’ve got it through my thick leftist skull that I’m probably gonna like Obama as much as I liked Clinton, which isn’t much. But I wouldn’t like McCain at all; he just bleeding scares the shite out of me.
I think that McCain’s negative points need to be stressed as many times in as many places as possible between now and Nov IMOHO
Ricky Bones @ 8:
I think its more like a lot over the top. Is the site-moniter asleep? That’s got to be against the commenting policy. No offense intended to the SM’s.
How about shortening the title of the post to: “McCain doesn’t know what to think.”
More apropos.
What is the problem here? I adopted a couple gay guys a while ago. They are really useful around the house and are wonderful at parties. How could anyone be against adopting gays?
Mickxotic @ 15:
Exactly how I’m feeling.
JudyLou @ 14:
Hey c’mon, why is the NYT even asking this kind of question? Don’t they know we’re at war?
I think we should just start calling him “Thong” McCain. Because he’s walking such a tight line on every issue that sometimes he gets caught in the middle of things. ;)
I think Catholic Priests should be allowed to adopt their altar boys.
Mickxotic @ 15:
Both parents? The question was about gay couples, right?
These people piss me off. They call themselves pro-life, but they’ll let a kid sit in an orphanage before they let gay people have even the smallest acceptance. They’re supposed to be “strong on military matters” but “don’t let that gay translator touch anything! He might be contagious.”
What an asshole.
We hates McCain, we hates it!
LibertyLover @ 21:
Especially those wedgie issues.
McCain simply doesn’t know what he thinks
But he knows what his religious right-wing bigotted base thinks. And that’s who he was consciously and with forethought appealing to with his first answer.
With the second answer, he’s simply cravenly trying to have it both ways (as he has throughout this campaign).
LibertyLover @ 21:
Ha-ha!
He has to watch out for the wedgie issues.
No, don’t tell me, not another flip flop from McCain. Damn, it’s difficult keeping track of what McCain stands for. He’s for it then he’s against it… I’m getting dizzy trying to follow him.
If McCain gets elected president, he will be 76 years old at the end of his first term. I’m not sure McCain has the energy to be president. All the presidents age considerably during their time in office. Even the boy Bush got old looking and all he did while in office is cover his ass.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 26:
Missed it by that much. Well played, young elephant.
Cats r Flyfishn @ 29:
See comment at 21…
Cats r Flyfishn @ 29:
He cleared a lot of brush. And he roughed up Angela Merkel. Those are both pretty grueling.
And now the Bush lot are talking to Iran ……… how long till the cries of “flip flopping” and “appeasement” are completely not heard used against the same people that make up that crap ……….. I dare say Bush is going to say that he’s wanted to talk to them all along and it’s the democratically controlled congress that is stopping him ……..
In another “policy reasessment” today, John McCain said that he would support gay marriage as long as all children resultant of these unions would be put up for adoption by “normal” families.
Young Elephant and Old Billy… you are too funny!
Documenting McSame’s flip-flops is important, and I encourage C&L to continue.
Just remember, McSame is Bush on steroids. The country won’t survive another 4 years under the ‘thuglicans — there simply won’t be anything left for them to mortgage/steal/give to the wealthy.
And regarding the vulgar remark: grow up! What do you think they did to McSongbird to get him to give up the names of the
Green Bay PackersPittsburgh Steelers? Oh wait… we’ll find out when it becomes the official policy of this nation and that will happen if McSame wins!He was against gay adoption before he was for it.
I’m all in favor of adopting gay children…. and straight ones, too. I mean, there’s really no need to discriminate.
Whose the agent of intolerance now?
“Both” parents would be “two parents.” Are not a gay couple “both” parents? McCain is a dinasour.
That’s pure shit. McC*nt would gladly kill gay soldiers in illegal and unwinnable wars just as much as he would support killing straight soldiers.
BTW, why do the reich wingnuts want to save gay soldiers from dieing in wars of agression so badly? Do they have a homo-military fetish they need to support? Why aren’t gay people good enough to die useless meaningless deaths just like straight people?
Cats r Flyfishn @ 29:
When he could find it.
What about “snowflakes?” These “unborn babies” don’t need just homes, they need wombs to gestate in. Would McCain allow them to degrade in viability rather than give them a chance at life in a loving Gay home?
J² @ 36:
You mean this old man McCain is Bush on steroids? LOL McCain moves so slow and looks so tired I’d hate to see what he is like without the steroids.
Jo @ 42:
With both hands.
LibertyLover @ 35:
It’s been a really long time since I’ve been called young in any context so I’ll take it.
Way OT but I’ve just gotten back from a long hiatus to the north woods of Wisconsin where the news was pretty much all Brett Farve all the time and I had no computer access at all. It’s good to be back among my own kind.
I think an adopted child would have better luck in a gay household than in a household run by a drug addicted wench… Cindy McCain for instance.
Mickxotic @ 15: