Hillary Clinton Condemns Global Homophobia

On the eve of World AIDS Day Hillary Clinton yesterday addressed the criminalization of people with HIV and homosexuality in a press conference, after days of criticism of the Obama administration for not speaking out on Uganda's proposed law that would execute HIV-positive gay men:

“Obviously, our efforts are hampered whenever discrimination or marginalization of certain populations results in less effective outreach and treatment. So we will work not only to ensure access for all who need it but also to combat discrimination more broadly,” she said during a press conference in which officials also announced that the XIX International AIDS Conference, set for 2012, will be held in United States — the first time the conference has been held here since 1990. “We have to stand against any efforts to marginalize and criminalize and penalize members of the LGBT community worldwide.”

There was not a mention of Uganda specifically.Kerry Eleveld's story quotes an unnamed source close to the state department who says they're working through back channels and acknowledges that nonetheless there needs to be public condemnation and implies that it will come if things don't change. Kerry also discusses the concern regarding the administration's only comments on Uganda's plan thus far, from the president's global AIDS coordinator, Eric Goosby:

Clinton’s comments came on the heels of an interview with Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, that concerned many HIV/AIDS activists.

“My role is to be supportive and helpful to the patients who need these services. It is not to tell a country how to put forward their legislation,” Goosby said of Uganda last week during a Newsweek interview.

Many HIV/AIDS activists felt that Goosby’s comments signaled a certain tone-deafness by the Obama administration to the Ugandan issue. But one person who consults regularly with the Department of State said the agency has been heavily engaged with Ugandan officials regarding the fate of the legislation.

“They have been working for several weeks behind the scenes at a senior level within the department to determine what the actual facts are and what the likelihood is of this bill becoming law,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity...

...“They are trying to proceed in a way that gives them some private leverage but also acknowledges that Secretary Clinton has an obligation to speak out on human rights issues in her capacity as our top international diplomat,” said the source. “It's been a delicate effort with inconclusive results.”

This is good to hear, and I applaud Secretary Clinton for her general statements against homophobia. But, yes, we need loud and public condemnation specifically of Uganda and its policies. This cannot go publicly unchallenged.

Yet Another Suicidal Hillary Supporter

Yes, we've dealt with many of these people before, but tedious as it is we can't ignore them and must challenge them. This is a video clip of the call from Karen in Arizona from last week on the show, which many of you will remember. She called in to say that I don't let people -- specifically disgruntled and angry Hillary Clinton supporters -- have their say and vent their opinions. I reminded her that the primaries are over, and we now have a choice between only two candidates, and then I let her rant on anyway. The moment I finally jumped in, she accused me of cutting her off.

The clip begins at that point. As you can see, she is angry. I'm not sure what these people hope to accomplish beyond a childish tantrum. Some listeners and commenters here also seem to think I should be nicer to these people, but I think they really want me to legitimize their positions, and I'm not going to do that. They keep claiming they're either going to vote for McCain or write in Hillary's name. I'm sorry, but that's not a sane alternative, and I'm not going to coddle these people when they need to have sense shaken into them. And if that's not going to work for them then others who might be thinking of doing what they're doing need to hear these people challenged so that maybe they won't be as idiotic.

Everything is Sexist

John McCain's daughter Meghan was on Larry King tonight, saying that Sarah Palin, like Hillary Clinton, is a victim of sexism. Funny how they don't talk about Obama being a victim of racism, huh? Like at the Values Voters Summit over the weekend, by McCain supporters.

And today, Carly Fiorina, one of McCain's aides, called Tina Faye's hilarious portrayal of Palin on SNL "sexist" and "disrespectful."

Funny how she had nothing to say back when a woman asked McCain how he would "beat the bitch," Hillary Clinton.

Moving in on McBush, McCheney, McSame

The convention shifted into a more forceful event on Wednesday with Hillary giving over her delegates in the late afternoon, Bill Clinton's Big Speech, followed by John Kerry, who I thought really did an pretty damn good job in eviscerating McCain and his nasty attacks, and Joe Biden, who took on John McCain with a lot of vigor.

The excitement on the floor was unstoppable when the roll call was read, state by state, and then when it came to New York, Hillary Clinton handed her delegates to Obama. I saw Clinton delegates crying, but in tears of joy, roaring for Obama. This kind of event -- call it therapy or catharsis or whatever -- needed to happen.

When Obama was then officially made the nominee, there were more tears all across the hall, as history was made with the first African-American nominee of a major party. The healing process happened both ways: The Clintons went far toward regaining respect from a lot of the Obama supporters and others who believed they'd inflamed racial tensions with their tactics during the primaries. Bill Clinton put to rest all the doubts about his support of Obama, getting fully behind his candidacy in a masterful speech, and in the process he reminded Democrats why the all have loved him, even if many weren't happy with him in recent months. You have to hand it to the Clintons for creating anticipation and also knowing how to create more value for themselves: By putting out signals of doubt about Obama (subtly or not) they upped the value of everything they did last night and the night before, and thus maintained a position of power. Bill Clinton especially will be someone important on the campaign trail and to an Obama presidency.

I was not in the arena whenJohn Kerry spoke. I was at the CNN Grill (more on that later) and everyone took their eyes off the television screens when Kerry came up, going back to their Blackberries and Iphones. But that was about John Kerry's reputation as a dullard more than it was about the speech. I watched it again later, and he actually took some powerful swipes at McCain and did well all around. He zeroed in McCain's attacks on Obama's patriotism, and skewered McCain for the tactics, obviously remembering back to his own swift-boating. I think this was the best speech John Kerry has ever given (at least that I've seen or paid attention to).

Joe Biden had a lot to live up to in his speech, particularly following Bill Clinton, but I think for the most part he did the job expected of the VP running mate. It could have had a bit more style and sparkle, and we know Joe Biden can do that. Nonetheless, he hit hard on McCain -- with bullet points that people walk away with, like that fact that McCain voted with Bush 95% of the time -- and that was necessary. We also needed to hear more about him, and he (and his son Beau, the Delaware attorney general, who introduced him) did the that well too, offering up more of his personal story. People loved the stories about his dad, and his mom, who was in the arena. Obama's appearance after Biden's speech was a really great move -- taken from the '92 Clinton playbook, when Bill did the same thing -- and it was an emotional moment for him and Biden. I think the campaign did this, however, because there's been some lame criticism from Republicans of the move to the stadium for Obama's speech -- claiming it shows he is more a rock star than a leader -- and he wanted to reassure people that it was about giving access to a lot of supporters who worked for his campaign.

I went down on the floor as well as up to the Sirius skybox last night, and as I mentioned did some interviews that we'll play on the show today. Overall, I'd rate Wednesday as pretty high, and I think it played that way on TV too no matter what the pundits may or may not be saying. We now move into Invesco Field, and the Obama acceptance speech tonight. We'll be doing the show live from Invesco today in a skybox, during our usual time 2-6 EST (12-4 MST). And then I'll be doing live special coverage of Obama's speech on OutQ starting at 8 EST, as the convention is taking place. I'll do commentary as the various speakers come out, leading up to Obama's speech which should be at about 10 EST, and then we'll do some wrap up and take your calls as well, so listen in and call, as we'd like to get your thoughts.