I’ve got two questions for Howard Dean

1. Why are you misrepresenting the Democratic Party platform to pander to religious homobigots on The 700 Club?

2. Why are you even on The 700 Club?!

Egads. Is this the best idea the DNC has? Try to win totally unwinnable votes from an audience that still doesn’t consider Pat Robertson a fucking lunatic? Well, I certainly hope that the zero votes you’ll get from that maneuver make up for the votes from the LGBT community and their supporters you’ll lose over it.

Seriously, what is the fucking point of going on The 700 Club to mutter some bullshit like, “The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says,” which, by the way, isn’t even true? The 2004 platform says:

We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a 'Federal Marriage Amendment.' Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.

If that message doesn’t play to The 700 Club audience, then maybe you shouldn’t bother trying to court their bloody votes! Honestly, what’s next? Going to a Klan meeting to try to drum up support by denigrating civil rights? Fuck.

Eleven (I think) anti-gay marriage initiatives are coming to state ballots in the upcoming midterm elections. How do the Dems plan to fight those if the DNC chair is out undermining the very principles on which they must be fought? I guess the answer is, they don’t.

Pam has more.

UPDATE: Dean has issued a clarification:

I misstated the Democratic Party's platform, which does not say that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman, but says the Party is committed to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and leaves the issue to the states to decide. The Democratic Party remains committed to equal protection under the law for all Americans. How we achieve that goal continues to be the subject of a contentious debate, but our Party continues to oppose constitutional amendments that seek to short circuit the debate on how to achieve equality for all Americans.

Great. So, let me see if I understand this. The Dems are "committed to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation" but leaves marriage equality up to the states, many of whom want to perpetuate marriage discrimination. The Dems "oppose constitutional amendments," but only the federal ones, is that it? State constitutional amendments to perpetuate inequality are just A-OK? If I've got that right, you've got no business claiming the Party is committed to full inclusion or equal protection under the law. End of story.