Misleading Article of the Day: AMERICAblog's "Howard Dean pulls out of DNC gay fundraiser"

I'll be nice and change the original title from "Dumb" to "Misleading". But here's the story.

The former chair of the Democratic party now has a "scheduling conflict" for a fundraiser on behalf of the organization he used to run. Dean is one of the four top names on the invite - he's throwing the event, and now even he's not going.



It's interesting that the very heterosexual Howard Dean is willing to take a stronger stand for civil rights than our own gay elected representatives, Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis. That Howard Dean is willing to take a stronger stand for the gay community

So where did Howard Dean say he's boycotting the event? Where is his article stating the crimes of democracy? There is not article, but there is a statement.

A Dean spokeswoman, Karen Finney, stressed that Dean's move was a scheduling conflict due to a "family commitment."

That's his statement. That's the deal. So why would you trick us into thinking Howard dropped out for other reasons?

He said it's a family commitment, then it's a family commitment. Stop creating storylines that don't exist. This ain't Days of Our Lives! Stop playing, John or AMERICAblog or whoever.

I'm telling you, the theme of this mess is Misconceptions, Misinformation and Assumptions.

Source

How to make the best of the DNC Gay Boycott

Ok, if you look at the pic above, you will see the gay leaders who are not going to the DNC fundraiser. In my opinion, the DNC boycott isn't the best idea. However, I think there are things to make best of this mess or issue.

• Send other LGBT leaders in the place of the ones who are not going. We need as many voices as possible at this fundraiser. Let's face it, our needs run deeper than DADT and DOMA. We still have a community suffering with AIDS and lack of healthcare. There are LGBT teens living in the streets, doing any and everything to survive and there's still places where our youth are not protected from bullying. We need folks to push as many of our issues as possible. Also with different voices at the table, there are more opportunities to really see the diversity and resilience of our community. The more the merrier.

• If these folks are not tending the dinner, then they should design a plan to make the DNC do more. I'm sorry, but not going to the event ain't all that. The DNC is still going to get their fund raising on. So to make this boycott more effective these leaders should plan to engage in dialogue with DNC, hold them accountable and produce some action steps for addressing our civil rights.

• We need to hear from these leaders. We have heard or read about their reasons why they are not going, but I feel they need to tie it into a real strong purpose. A collective voice could make this boycott more credible versus an opportunistic reaction.

• Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not convinced the boycott is making that big of a wave. It's causing a stir, but as I said before, the DNC will make their money. So these leaders should not claim victory yet, there could be more in store.

I'm still iffy about this, but we will see if this was the best move or not.