No, wrong!

Ellen discusses gay marriage with McCain

Jezebel, where I first saw this, did not seem to have a problem with Ellen’s interview with McCain:

John McCain appeared on Ellen today, where he must’ve realized that he would be facing questions about his stance on legalizing gay marriage posed by an actual gay person that America adores. Ellen, who plans to get married to her girlfriend Portia de Rossi this summer, was firm without being too — oh, hell, I’ll just say it — Rosie O’Donnell-ish. McCain, of course, was not persuaded by her points, but he wished her “every happiness.”

I disagree and not respectfully either. It’s the old ‘separate but equal’ thing that the Supreme Court struck down however many decades ago. I think Ellen allowed herself to be disarmed by McCain (he works the same magic with much of the media). We “respectfully disagree” is actually horse-shit. McCain is wrong and Ellen should have not only told him that, she should not have given him an out with the “walk me down the aisle” line. I am really disappointed with Ellen in that exchange. If this is the price you pay to be seen on mainstream tv, I think it’s too much of a price for her to pay. Not worth it.

Let me tell you why this is important and why such encounters must not be cost-free for McCain like this one was.

John McCain is not a maverick, nor is he a moderate. He is an orthodox Republican. Just check his voting record. He is a right-wing ideologue who subscribes to a whole host of policy positions that are highly injurious to progressive causes.

But he masks this with a genial manner and a highly solicitous posture to the media, which help him win moderates and independents. He is so successful at this that even his right-wing friends often don’t see him as one of them. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to fall for that.

And every time someone like Ellen allows McCain to waltz through her studio scot-free (McCain was on your set to do business, Ellen! He was not there on a social call), we lose another opportunity to pin him down on what he truly believes.

Remember, the next President of the United States, the office McCain is running for, will make appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. George W. Bush, another genial Republican candidate, “a uniter, not a divider,” gave us the John Roberts court, with Samuel Alito riding side-saddle.