this is the most progressive president that we ve ever had. that s a low bar, then. if somebody sells president, all of the other things that i ve talked about are going to go away. wow, welcome back to hardball. that was dan defending the president this morning at the net root nation s conference. the president has been criticized by progressives, some, for not pushing hard enough with gay rights issues and reform. are they asking for too much? a great topic that is going to continue for months. the daily beast, michelle goldberg and steve. welcome back, steve. let s go to this whole question of the issue of the gay rights issue. michelle, i do know that the president was very good on don t ask, don t tell. it s gone and off the books. it s great it s gone. he s saying stop enforcing it, it s unconstitutional. and there always was a civil
this is the most progressive president that we ve ever had. that s a low bar, then. if someone else is president, all of the other things that i ve talked about are going to go away. wow, welcome back to hardball. that was dan defending the president this morning at the net root nation s conference. the president has been criticized by progressives, some, for not pushing hard enough with gay rights issues and reform. are they asking for too much? a great topic that is going to continue for months. the daily beast, michelle goldberg and steve. welcome back, steve. let s go to this whole question of the issue of the gay rights issue. michelle, i do know that the president was very good on don t ask, don t tell. it s gone and off the books. it s great it s gone. he s saying stop enforcing it, it s unconstitutional.
7%, 8% of the african-american community vote republican because of the gay marriage issue, not the gay rights issue. i think they were masterful in using of course i m going to disagree with you. they were masterful in using it as a wedge issue for energizing their base and pulling over some socially conservative groups. but i think sort of softening of this issue is taking away its effect to use as a cultural wedge issue, hopefully for sometime to come. actions cause reactions in our politics. since the don t ask don t tell was repealed, you do see among social conservative groups a lot of criticism, a lot of pressure on lawmaker, and a lot of fund-raising activities. will you see because of this quote/unquote defeat for them on this issue, will they try to make it a bigger issue? you may see it among some groups. it is not going tonight daily diet of republicans and republican campaigns. and i think, you know, i think this is sort of monumental because it is sort of what
primary concern with the appeal is the potential disruption to cohesion that may be caused by dig can t change in period of extended combat operations. despite that defense secretary gates and others, admiral mullen said to study this, get a study in december, we were for it. there is still a lot of pushback at pentagon. a lot of splits on this. what is important about the vote here is it was not a vote on substance. not as if the administration calculated incorrectly. it didn t want a bill. it wanted an issue. that is why the three items authorizing defense, the gay rights issue and the dream act. on immigration. the reason that they oppose it not because they oppose all the elements but they want a vote on each separately. susan collins opposed it.
primary concern with the appeal is the potential disruption to cohesion that may be caused by dig can t change in period of extended combat operations. despite that defense secretary gates and others, admiral mullen said to study this, get a study in december, we were for it. there is still a lot of pushback at pentagon. a lot of splits on this. what is important about the vote here is it was not a vote on substance. not as if the administration calculated incorrectly. it didn t want a bill. it wanted an issue. that is why the three items authorizing defense, the gay rights issue and the dream act. on immigration. the reason that they oppose it not because they oppose all the elements but they want a vote on each separately.