Kennedy cramming hate crimes into defense bill

More at Source: Kennedy cramming hate crimes into defense bill
'Shameless attempt to push homosexual agenda ... by exploiting soldiers'


Sen. Edward Kennedy's "hate crimes" plan – feared by Christian leaders as a way to censor biblical condemnations of homosexuality – has been proposed as an amendment to a defense spending bill, a maneuver opponents are calling "shameless" and "manipulative."
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The White House already has suggested the proposal is uneeded and a veto would be in order if it is approved. But Kennedy has proposed inserting it into the defense appropriations plan, which Bush wants to pass.
"The maneuver is one clearly calculated to put the president in the position of ending up vetoing a defense appropriation," Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel told WND.
Joe Glover of the Family Policy Network said the move is "shockingly manipulative."
"It is a shameless attempt to push the homosexual agenda on the American people by exploiting American soldiers who are currently in harm's way around the world," he said.

Granted, I think that Bush needs to pull out of the Middle East & let them blow each other up while we secure our own nation, but Bush is going to need at least some money to be able to pull that off. But by sticking new legislation that would enhance "hate crimes" into a bill that concerns National Defense, just to get Bush to veto it, is totally uncalled for...Time to whip out the 'ol fax machine & tell my representatives to get Kennedy's initiatives out of that Bill (& keep "pullout" conditions in) before it goes to Bush.

How dare Kennedy want to make it a crime to kill gays? It's not like gays are people that should be covered by the law! Except for the laws that make them 3rd class citizens...

I think you missed the point...Making it a crime to kill gays wasn't what he really wanted; It's already illegal to kill anybody, so why emphasis the point by specifying "sexual orientation" as an additional motive to kill somebody? Assault is still assault, homicide/murder is still homicide/murder (yes, there are definitive legal definitions that seperate between homicide & murder), but the motives of the accused need to be examined in court, not by legislation.

The point is that Kennedy is inserting unrelated clauses into legislation proposals for political reasons. It doesn't matter that he tried to combine "hate crime" with war-related legislation...An unethical politician will still try to combine unrelated items into the same legislation, in hopes of getting a specific result. It's the political equivilant of (you or) me mixing ice cream & mayonaise in the same bowl to eat for lunch...
It's an old political manuever & Kennedy's not the first to use it...Sad to say, he's probably not going to be the last to use it.

Personally I disagree with ALL hate crime legislation.

When push comes to shove, it really is thought policing. There really isn't more to say than that.

I agree that hate crimes should stay out of legislation too, for the simple reason that hate crimes are based upon motivations to commit crimes & motivations are up to the courts to investigate.

But the first link in the text-body of the article I sourced links to a secondary article that confirms that Bush would veto hate crime legislation anyway...That's why Kennedy inserted it into a defense appropriation, because Kennedy knows that Bush would veto the whole thing because of that.

I agree that we do need to support our boys in uniform, but so far most of the war money has been used to build infrastructures & such...The military is already stretched thin & under-equipped/supplied/manned.
IMO, it's a war for the wrong reasons & we need to get out anyway, but our boys still need support, even for a withdrawl that Bush will fight against, right up until he's left with no choice.

The main point of this whole thread & article-link is to point out one of the shady tricks that unethical politicians use to advance their own agendas, even against the will of The People.

I think your supposition belies your point in a way, considering I've seen nothing yet that would indicate that Kennedy "for sure" is really attempting to put Bush in a compromised position (not that he needs Kennedy's help).

Perhaps he is and perhaps he isn't. Motivations are mostly hard to judge unless they are spoken by the person themselves.

Kennedy strikes me as the type of guy who would put it in there because he knows Bush needs the money.

That seems as reasonable as putting it in there in hopes of a veto. I could be wrong.

According to the original article, Kennedy knew in advance that a Bill with "hate crimes" inserted will be vetoed by Bush...So it seems to be Kennedy's intention in the first place. I don't think I could explain Kennedy's motivation for him to have the appropriations Bill shot down, but it seems pretty obvious that it was his intention to do so.

[edit on 19-7-2007 by MidnightDStroyer]

If you know that a bill is going to be vetoed by putting the piece in why do it. It doesn't help solve any problems and just wastes time and money.

I wonder...

If Ted hated Mary Jo Kopechne?

That's right... A Kennedy can't commit a crime (or at least not be held responsible).

Gratuitous Monkeys, not just for a shameless smear campaign anymore...