Winding Down to the Weekend

I should have more to say about the grand HRC-LOGO presidential candidates' forum that was aired last night, I'm sure I should. The wee problems are that (1) I didn't watch it yet, although I read the rehash this morning, and (2) none of it was overly surprising except for Bill Richardson's inexplicable biff of what should have been the easiest question of the night.

Activists were even more frustrated with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who when asked whether people are born gay or choose to be, said, "It's a choice" and later explained, "I'm not a scientist."

Weirdly, Richardson probably has the best LGBT-friendly legislative record of any of the candidates who were there. Yawn. Next.

Obama, Clinton, and Edwards stuck resolutely to their positions of supporting separate-but-equal civil unions rather than full marriage equality, although Hillary continued to spout the states' rights bullshit mantra that means CUs can never be equal under federal law. Obama admonished us to be patient; after all, CUs were unheard of a generation ago and are supposed to be our best hope for g r a d u a l l y inching toward the full equality prize.

I'm torn there. It's just as easy to argue for CUs as a necessary stepping stone as it is to argue that they'll become a roadblock. I can hear the detractors on the uber-religious right already. Give 'em an inch and they'll still shriek for a mile. No? How about they got their state recognition, so pushing the feds proves it's just about the money and not love after all, the selfish bastards. Next!

Kucinich said all the right things. Unfortunately, he has approximately a snowball's chance in Phoenix of coming in any higher than... 5th? in the primary.

So the weekend's here, almost. I am off to some college friends' annual end-of-summer soiree in the Republican stronghold of Gilbert, AZ tomorrow, where I hope to drink enough cheap beer that I won't notice the crap falling out of their conservative neighbors' mouths. Samples from last year:

Neighbor 1: Yes, the new airline security rules are annoying, but it's better than the alternative.
Neighbors 2-6: (nodding sagely) Mmm hmmmm.

Other neighbor: I don't wanna go to Disneyland and have to explain to the kids why those two ladies are kissing or why the guys in hot pants are grabbing each others' asses.
Other neighbor 2: (shaking head sagely) Tsk.

My friends are very slightly on the conservative side of the middle, but still reliably vote Democratic. What are they doing in Gilbert? We don't talk about that much. Anyway. The gym beckons and the cold beer is hopping up and down behind the gym, waving its hands madly to get my attention. Allez cuisine!