Stand for Something

It was Digby's last comment about John Edwards that strikes me:

Edwards was good on Iran today and good for him.


(He was not so good on gay marriage, however, for reasons I just can't fathom. He's not fooling anyobody on either side of the fence. Might as well take a stand.)

I think we'll be saying this a lot for the next year or so: stand for something. Don't weasel out trying to appease two sides to an issue. And like Digby, I just don't get it. Edwards is clearly trying to tap into disaffected voters with a true populist message, to people who believe government has a clear role in our lives--a role having to do with the general welfare of all. To those same people the government has no role in telling us how to live, love, and worship. So Edwards, like all those people that try to have it both ways on a real civil liberty and rights issue, is on the wrong side of history. Remember this exchange from Hardball (via Media Matters)?

MATTHEWS: Should there be -- should gay marriage be allowed?

McCAIN: I think -- I think that gay marriage should be allowed if there's a ceremony kind of thing, if you want to call it that. I don't have any problem with that. But I do believe in preserving the sanctity of a union between man and woman.

[...]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Don McDowell (ph), I'm the chairman of the Iowa State College Republicans, and since this is Iowa and Iowa State University and the next Congress will be taking up the farm bill, what sort of provisions do you see in terms of renewable energy, as well as subsidies in the next farm bill?

McCAIN: Well Don, thank you for your magnificent work. You're a great American, being chairman of the College Republicans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

McCAIN: I -- on the issue of the farm bill, we're going to re-authorize it. I am against some subsidies. Don't think ethanol needs a subsidy. I think we ought to make sure that the people who need subsidies, the most, which are the small farmers, not the big agro-businesses, not the big huge farms that get millions of dollars. So I think we ought to look at an area of need, as opposed to size and I think that some of that has to be looked at very carefully.

Could I just mention one other thing? On the issue of the gay marriage, I believe that if people want to have private ceremonies, that's fine. I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.

At which point MCain was roundly booed. McCain made the follow-up at the urging of a staffer who whispered into his ear that he should "clarify" his position. The look he gave the staffer could have killed. But this is what happens when you are on the wrong side of the issue and try have it both ways.