Had I been there, I would’ve had your back. I grew up in Arkansas, and Clinton’s presence as a Dem leader who encouraged his party to gain influence by ideologically parroting the then-majority was a reason I didn’t become involved in politics till my mid-20s. He does nothing for me, intellecutally, and that’s why I was surprised to not only see his name as a NN09 keynoter, but to see the fawning over him on Twitter. Has he ever owned up to NAFTA?

I’m with you Lane. I really have good feelings about Bill Clinton in general….as a president. He was one of the best presidents to ever serve, in the context of presidents. In the context of progressive leadership he left quite a bit to be desired. I tweeted right along with you that Netroots Nation should be dominated by those people most contributing to the new public discourse and who understand how it works best. Clinton isn’t that, nor were a large number of the speakers up there. Aside from Chuck Rocha and the cool mayor guy, whose name I forget, the other people were mainly trying to tell progressive Netroots people why we’re important and what we’ve done. We don’t need a summary of our success and we don’t need a pander. I really felt that Howard Dean would have been a better Day One speaker if a political insider had to be chosen. At least he was a part of the Netroots evolution.

Clinton is sort of an anti-Netroots kind of leader, for all his gifts. He was DLC and he repealed Glass-Steagal, oversaw media deregulation, and passed NAFTA. Not progressive favorites. When you add DADT and DOMA to the mix it really seems like an odd choice. Again, good president in the context of presidents, but if we’re a collection of grassroots activists driving the bus of the new public discourse, there has to be a sense of it in our choice of keynote addresses.

I’m with you, as always.

Shame on the people of the audience for their reaction.

Good for you for having “Cojones” and shouting out concerns about DODT and DOMA out their. I was arrested once demonstrating against welfare reform back during Clinton’s re-election. He is king of a cool dude. I am loosing interest in Obama’s administration. It seems that he spends to much time kissing up and making consensus with Republicans that want him lynch, while the vast majority of the people that supported him are left ignored.

I’m with you, Lane, and, frankly, impressed anew with Clinton’s usual openness in answering questions of all sorts(!)

But I’m woefully out-of-touch these days due to circumstances beyond my control if I am to stay sane, sigh.

Please, everyone, follow the convention of writing out the whole name of acronyms, and THEN resorting to the shortened form.

So I’m an idiot. Please, what is DOMA? Thank you.

*retires to stool in corner and readjusts dunce cap*

Heh. But Clinton put it back on you. Nice job of blaming victims. /s

C’mon eCAHN. Call me a schmuck. I’m beyond caring what I’m called. I just want to understand. Help! dammit.

Good on ya, Lane. I am somewhat surprised at the reaction from the audience. If you had yelled out some nonsense I could see it but DADT and DOMA are valid issues for progressives. Mayhaps your action will spur some of the more reticent among the audience to stand up for what they believe.

Domestic Marriage Act.

I was reflecting on Clinton’s stupid defensive response, not on the questioner.

If I’d been there I’d have shouted out about renditions, bombing civilians, and paving the way for W. Also about turning the Tresury over to Wall St.

THANK YOU! Amen! Both do indeed cry out for answers and, more importantly, action.

[Dear Dragon: u have no idea how close i wuz to ring-dinging the mod’s alarm buttons; appreciate the “save” more than i can tell you. you’re a gentleman, a gentle man, and a scholar, sir. *tips hat in appreciation*]

Defense of Marriage Act

Thanks for the correction. I kept thinking I had it wrong but couldn’t come up with Defense.

Yes, thanks. I caught that, and fully understand the frustration now, as well as your own wish-list of questions. I wish you were there personally to ask them, via shout-out or whatever it takes. ;->

Your interruption was fine. I wouldn’t have been so approving if everyone had done the same thing, negating the whole talk. I also thought President Clinton’s answers were fine, reminding me of the complexity and nuances involved in public policy. He could have gone on with just a quip, but decided to answer at length. I don’t agree with your casual shrug at his historical review of the situation. If you recalled it all, and it’s complexity, not everyone did.

Thanks all, and for the link, twolf1. I’m embarrassed. I just KNEW I knew what it wuz. gee golly whiz. some of my best friends…..

Good on you, Lane.

Lane,

That was truly courageous. Last year, I didn’t yell a question to Pelosi, but I did wave my pocket Constitution at her the entire hour she was at the podium, when, again, there was no Q&A.

NN live on cspan2.

thanks! fumbling with remote and newly scrambled set of channels as we speak ;->

I’m off. Be well, everyone.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Great job Lane and as a gay man I thank you for standing up for our rights. In the 80’s when people were ignoring the AIDS crisis becuase it was impacting the gay community, ACT UP took a stand and made a difference.

I’m not surprised at the audiences reaction though. Just as you felt the need to express yourself, some felt the need to express themselves. I hope that’s the case anyway, and that it had nothing to do with the issue you were raising.

KayinMaine at #3

“Shame on the people in the audience for their reaction.”

I was thinking similar.

Funny how wedded some folks can be to similar opinions and yet, in the heat of “whatever heat they might be in,” blinded to the feelings and logical arguments of others. [h/t due to M.A.S.H’s Col. Potter, I believe]

Let’s hope cool heads prevail and Net Roots Nation bears some fruit. I personally am thrilled the likes of one Jane Hamsher are there. Any other prominent Lake dwellers there, may i presume?

clinton is not the hero to me he once was, as I learned what he did (or didn’t do) regarding the fairness doctrine, deregulation and of course foreign trade the more I understood he did more harm then good.

still would like to meet the man to see if he gives penance against those political decisions

Hold on a sec, it appeared in the video that Clinton did agree with you and said that he is against it. What more did you want?

Good for you, Lane. As we suffer from the Munich-beer-hall-putsch “debate” on healthcare reform that’s going on in the townhalls, the least we can do is insist that when someone speaks to a convention of the people who are unspinnably doing the most to exercise AND protect the right of free speech, the least we can do is insist on some reasonably civil give-and-take.

And, in that vein, the Brits are getting tired of the bullshit from the American right about how bad their system is. It helps:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..9uc2RlZmVu

Breathtaking stuff. Did anyone there notice how there is nowhere but up when driving out of Pittsburgh?

From what I see around the blogs, there’s a segment of those on the left who would like to issue of marriage equity go away. With the referendum in Maine coming up, it will be very telling to see what kind of support we get from the blogs and activists in general.

If they are successful in limiting my rights, your rights are next.

“I wouldn’t have yelled from the audience and interrupted if we weren’t being held as a captive audience.”

WTF?????

Did the other 1500 people in the audience who were there voluntarily feel the same way? The people who told you to sit down and shut up were NOT all homophobes, dude.

Thanks Lane..you moved Clinton to discussing that. No telling if he would have otherwise, and it needed to be asked, and we needed to know the logic behind his thinking at the time and what he thinks now. There is a great deal of sadness about Clinton because he realizes how his hands were tied, that being the “most powerful man in the world” as POTUS is said to be, doesn’t really mean getting to enact all the changes you’d like (which we’re thankful for when it’s Bush as president!)

Precisely!

What’s this crap about how “we” failed to “support” him?

The people of the United States have NO POWER WHATSOEVER!
This is a nation of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations. And said corporations are international in scope. The U.S. is just one (shrinking) “market.”

There is no difference whatsoever between DADT and the “previous policy.” It had nothing to do with “implimentation.” Clinton’s reference to the stop-loss followed hy shit-canning of Gulf War I misses one point — Michaelangleo Signorelli’s outing of Pete Williams, undersecretary to Cheney.

It was Pete who stood before the cameras night after night explain to the steno pool who call themselves “journalists” what was going on. Thanks to the succesful campaigns of a gay rights movement for which neither he nor Cheney has any respect Pete’s job was safe. Not that of the soldiers. So what happened? Pete was moved to NBC — which is owned by the greatest purveyor of Weapons of Mass Destruction the world has ever known.

General Electric.

I wonder if Pet and his boyfriend and Andrew Sukllivan and his husband still have that summer share on Fire Island (another fact Michelanelo Signorelli outed.)

Bill Clinton is too low for the dogs to bite.

What more do we want? Are you serious?

Clinton’s words aren’t worth the air they’re printed on.

Thanks for bringing NN09 back to where it belongs — in the hands of those who want to participate rather than be led. Being spoken “to” instead of “with” seems an anathema to the basic principles of Netroots.

Don’t mind the people who booed — it was a lesson! Even some progressives want to be told what to think.

“No Questions” doesn’t stop the press when they want their story. Your actions were in the best traditions of the 4th Estate AND democracy.

Hudson asked why doesnt Clinton ‘call for a repeal of dont ask dont tell and DOMA’. Clinton then went on to say that he agreed with Hudson , specifically saying that he was against it, in effect saying that it should be repealed which is just what Hudson asked. Clinton is not in office anymore and no matter what he does, good or bad, could be viewed as a distraction from the current administrations attempt at health care.

I think after this health care thing is over no matter what happens, everything else will be somewhat smaller in comparison to this health reform debate. At that time the administration can then focus on the card check issue and DADT and other issues that are important to us. Well hopefully!

Oh I love this bit about how we’re “a distraction from health care” — as if LGBT rights and health care are separate issues.

Do the letters A.I.D.S. mean anything to you?

Lane, I disagree with what you did. Yes, you care passionately about these issue, but that doesn’t give you the right to do what you did. It was rude
and disrespectful of the guest speaker and the other folks in the audience.
I wonder how you would have felt, if someone on the other side of the issues you are so passionate about, had disrupted a speaker you happened to agree with?
Right or Left, disrupting public forums to push your personal agenda is a bad business.

Jane has a post upstairs…

Lane:

I have read your post but have so far been able to only stand watching the first half minute or so of the video. I was immediately and extremely angered by not only the ‘good little soldiers’ reaction of the people in attendance, but by Bill Clinton’s professional ability to insult you and to play into that ‘good little soldier’ mind set that he is accustomed to being surrounded by. I felt bad for you that you, if even for a moment, felt shamed. I hope I’ve misread your expression and body language but that is how it appeared to me on the video.

I’m so pleased that you regained your courage and wrote this post. Your post not only puts in perspective the courage that you had to speak out at that time, but it puts into perspective just who it is that should feel shame. That would not be you. It would be those in the audience who were so adoring of an “idol” and so meek that they’d fail to recognize the difference between asking about “Death Panels” as opposed to asking about a legitimate concern that supposedly a majority of those in attendance were concerned about. That being, of course, when will DOMA be repealed.

I thank you not only for your courage and the specific question, but I thank you in general for reminding people that ‘Speak Truth To Power’ is not just some cute slogan, it is something that one either does or does not do. You did it.

These battles for the right to fulfil the American premises of freedom and liberty are won by winning the small fights and moving the bigger battle forward in measured gains.

Americans do not know the width of what many of us take for granted today because it was just simply granted–it often was not just granted. Labor rights and protections,womens rights/right to vote,abolition of slavery/granting full and actual citizenship to African Americans all came from taking the fight forward. Some of these fights still continue. Must continue.

Gays in America have always been here–it was a revelation for me to learn Walt Whitman was gay. Never learned that in high school!

Being American and gay for those of us who had to find our way without much in way of societal permission or acceptance was always and often still remains a matter of personal and individual willingness to refuse to just take what society may grant–society granted us DADT–we will have to force it back and finish it off as gays. It is certain far too many in the Pentagon have some peculiar religous overtones in thinking which must first be addressed–then take out DADT.

DADT will go the way of Jim Crow and women being segregated by reason of being women.

But these small battles must be fought–no matter what the crowd around us prefers we do or more on point not do.

President Obama clearly is not being a profile in courage is so many ways as President. He did not appoint a Special Prosecutor in his first week as President to clean out the manure of the Bush/Cheney WH. Did not stop American warmaking in Iraq and Afghanistan within first 60 days. Plainly is not being an American champion for Single Payer so far. Or an American champion for gays on taking down DADT within the power he has as President–seems to like defending torturers however well enough. Dan Choi surely was a damn good reason to pull down DADT. Barack breathes the air of freedom because others before him did not and fought for that freedom.

He should know this–where are the profiles in courage President Obama?

I meant Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, not DOMA. Goes without saying but I didn’t want to leave it unsaid anyway.

It’s interesting to see how Clinton demonized Lane by comparing him to the right wing nut jobs and suggesting that he go join them. As we saw, there was a single person not a group, and gays and lesbians barely have the support of Democrats, let alone have some well-funded cordinated action plan to get their plan across.

By Lane taking the focus off the big dog and his bigger ego, he had no choice but to tear Lane down and say he’s the same as the hateful, and dangerous breed that are a true threat to the rights of the people.

AIDS is a very serious disease that ANYONE can get and should be a primary focus in the health care reform. People with this disease should get adequate, affordable health care no matter who they got this disease from. But we can get both issues resolved, even though i know many people in the LGBT community want this done yesterday and i totally understand that.

I sincerely hope so. I am 62 years old, HIV-, and 3/4s of the people who have meant the most to me in this life are dead.

I thought it was great that you stood up and ‘yelled out” I thought it changed the tone of CLintons talk from a scripted keynote to a more honest discussion and I was really interested in hearing what Clinton had to say on both subjects and see him get “angry” while explaining how it all came down back them.

I’m reminded of Amy Goodman’s interview of Bill C. when he called her show to exhort listeners to get out and vote. Amy used the opportunity to press Bill to answer questions no other journalists had dared to ask. Bill responded defensively, and angrily accused her of being rude.

As for Bill’s comment likening Lane’s shout-out to the astroturf teabaggers, the town hall meetings are nothing more than staged propaganda sessions for our representatives. We have only the promise of a democracy. Agitating for democracy is a moral imperative. I take inspiration from you, Lane.

As uncomfortable as it made the audience (and a lot of that is the result of the recent coverage of town hall meetings), I thought the incident to be one of the two events of the past decade that shows that democracy is still alive. The first was Harry Taylor asking an embarrassing question of George W. Bush at a well-screened town hall meeting in Charlotte, NC. This is the second. I am proud of what you did, and I am proud that Clinton departed from his prepared speech and dealt with the issue.

And what is easily forgotten is that the fate of an executive order removing the sanctions on gays in the military was the first shot of the Gingrich Revolution. A whole bunch of executive orders was the first item on Clinton’s agenda; gays in the military was one of those orders and it was drafted to completely remove restrictions. Prior to 1993, the working assumption in Washington was that it would be a matter of course and that Clinton would enter the honeymoon period of his presidency. The response of the uniformed military and the Congress was immediate, swift, but Clinton succeeded in salvaging half a loaf. He was blindsided, pure and simple. Unfortunately, the Clinton White House staff did not grasp how vicious the Republican assault was going to become after that. There never was a honeymoon period in the Clinton presidency; it was an eight-year Republican shitstorm, aided and abetted by a media that we did not grasp at the time was so politically compromised.

Just wanted to review that history in a through the windshield instead of through the rearview mirror mode for some of you younger ones who have come to political consciousness since those times.

Speaking out is part of democracy but interrupting speeches and yelling isn’t necessarily the best response especially when a former President is speaking. Regardless of the justness of the cause we owe it to people to show a modicum of respect.

He did not “salvage half a loaf.” He sold the bakery!

I remember maybe every Netroots Nation should have a controversy!

RE: The immediate response shocked me at the time and still does. Those surrounding me yelled at me, booed, and told me to sit down. One elderly lady even told me to leave. While I was among the supposed most progressive audience in the country, they sought to silence someone asking a former President to speak out on behalf of repealing two laws that TOOK AWAY RIGHTS OF A MINORITY. I was shocked.

Much of our problem is that we continue to believe that this audience is in fact the “most progressive” in the country. We continue to look the other way when there are bashings in SF, Boston, NYC, Vancouver, SD and elsewhere and make sweeping generalizations about homophobia in entire states, regions and (rural) communities (and communities of color) when a homophobic slur gets thrown in Peoria, Wasilla or by a former black mayor of DC. We throw stones at those who invoke religion as an explanation for their opposition to same-sex marriage yet give our President a pass when he makes the same argument. Our most powerful allies lie in places we least expect yet we continue to give “progressives” – men and women who have so much to lose if their words and behavior ever reflected their deep seated thoughts and attitudes – the benefit of the doubt. Just because those not in the “progressive” audience at #nn are transparent about their feelings doesn’t mean that they are any less willing to support the movement.

Passing strange that the focus of your ire would be Bill Clinton. He did more for gay rights than any POTUS before or since. And, he payed one hell of a political price for doing so.
The fact is he went as far as the country would allow him to.

There you go looking in the rearview mirror again; he admitted as much last night.

Obnoxious behavior isn’t going to promote the progressive agenda. Your pet issue and sense of self-importance are not sufficient reasons for hijacking the presentation of the former president (who damaged his early presidency by courageously talking about gay rights). Sit down and STFU.

Cloudy:

Labeling someone else’ behavior as:

Obnoxious behavior

And then a few words later writing:

Sit down and STFU.

Comes off to me as blindly self absorbed and self righteous.

He did nothing.

You see a “rearview mirror” I see a windshield.

I’ll be happy to supply you with a reading list about the history of the gay rights movement if you’re interested.

It’s not a pet issue, it’s a basic human rights issue. Says this ardently heterosexual married man. Good job, Lane. Piss off, Cloudy.

A four word comment on a blog strikes you that way, but interrupting the former president is honorable, maybe even heroic. Nice sense of proportion.

The keynote address at any meeting is supposed to be organized around the ideas of the conference: “Here’s where we are, we came from there, and we need to do this, that and the other thing to get to where we want to be.” They are not always set up with Q & A sessions, and they aren’t necessarily supposed to be democracy-in-action.

A large group of people came to hear what the Big Dog had to say about things, and the Big Dog had pretty free rein to talk about what he wanted to talk about. They didn’t come to hear a heckler yelling out questions from the audience. Doing so was rude and inconsiderate of the rest of the audience. It was rude and inconsiderate towards Clinton too, but he’s a big boy and he can take care of himself.

This is precisely the sort of gathering where we should want to distinguish ourselves from the bat-guano crazy loonies in the Birther/Deather crowds. Heckling Clinton from the audience just handed ammunition to idiots like Beck, Hannity & Limbaugh. (sounds like a really awful law firm, doesn’t it?)

Now, should Clinton have addressed the issues of DOMA and DADT? Absolutely, they are important civil rights matters. Both of those things happened on his watch and he should tell us how he feels about them. We shouldn’t have to ask him to tell us. If he doesn’t want to talk about them, then that’s his privilege. He was invited to speak.

Thank you, T Lane Hudson, you did absolutely the right thing. Big Dog had no intention of speaking about his major policy failures, which involved denying a primary Democratic party constitutency our civil rights. Since he called for a vigourous debate, you gave him one.

Challenging our leaders in a two-way interaction is what this new paradigm is all about, and you did it correctly. Continuing to heckle, personal insults, repeated nonsense — these are the mark of a Town Hall Teabagger. You did this the right way, with a respectful question to a speaker who wasn’t going to talk about a major progressive issue.

I vote YES.

This is precisely the sort of gathering where we should want to distinguish ourselves from the bat-guano crazy loonies in the Birther/Deather crowds.

People shouting out questions about the president not being a citizen, and people shouting out ignorant questions about how the president is going to kill grandma is not the same as asking about when in the hell our legitimate concern for abhorrent legislation that not only results in human rights violations but is dangerous legislation for the military is going to be finally addressed and overturned. There is a ‘distinguishable’ difference between what Lane did and what a mob of dipsticks steeped in authoritarianism have been doing day after day.

Not a pet issue, but the civil rights issue of our time.

You owe the poster an apology for that one, sport.

A four word comment on a blog…

Can I take that to mean that you would have been too cowardly to have yelled “Sit down and STFU” then if you had the chance to do so at the event?

“Damned Offensive Marriage Act.” There, fixed it for ya. (:>

Maybe there’s a difference, but it’s not a ‘distinguishable difference.’ It’s the behavior itself that is contemptible. The behavior says, “I’m more important than all the rest of you out there. My issue has to be addressed immediately”

So sorry, but you’re not. None of us are. You are no more important than anyone else, and you owe the rest of the audience basic courtesy.

Teddy, I love you, man. I hope you know that.

But I think you’re wrong on this one. I hate slippery slope arguments, but in this case the teabagger/birther/deather crew have shown us where that path leads. I don’t like it.

Exactly. The main problem is a lack of respect. The same lack of respect we’re discussing with regards to the health care folks.

I’d recommend reading Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Why We Can’t Wait.” Courtesy is a virtue, but it’s not the only virtue.

Well said and I couldn’t agree more.

When I was being pummelled while being gay bashed I was being forced by violence against who I am as a person to sit down and STFU. It didn’t work then and it’s not going to work now.

Are you referring to the Letter from the Birmingham Jail?

Cellar47 – I don’t know how old you are. I, myself, am 53. I was “there” when DADT was implemented. I remember the debate and rhetoric that went before it. I remember how HORRIFIED the conservatives and christians were at even the thought of DADT.

Because, you see, prior to DADT it was not allowed, no how, no way – for a homosexual individual to join the Military. Yes, it was “Half a loaf”. It wasn’t fair to the gay communities – but it was more than they had prior. Previous to this, a man who acted effeminate, or a woman who was forceful, independent and determined – REGARDLESS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION – would be forbidden to serve their country.

Change, reform, growth, equality, fairness – these don’t come overnight. Lincoln, the 16th President was NOT followed by Obama as 17th, or even the 27th or 37th. Those of us with vision to see the possiblities don’t always live to see reality of those dreams (Dr. King). But it still remains important to speak up for them and share them.

I’m not sure I agree that a keynote speech is necessarily the place to speak up, however. It seems rude.

Good on ya, Lane. (A virtual pat on the back)

While I completely understand that Bill Clinton’s charisma is something to behold, the simple fact is Bill Clinton is a neo-liberal and has never been a progressive. Never will be. The fact he opened NN just goes to show how eager some “progressives” are to be co-opted. The intolerant people in the audience proved that.

He talked about a new progressive era and how America has changed.

Really. No thanks to Bill, by the way. He’s right that America has changed, but to say it’s been even remotely positive (outside of forums like this and the good work that emanates from them), is lunacy. Well, it’s not lunacy if the one making the remark is a neo-liberal. I mean, he certainly did change America when he gleefully signed Gramm-Leach-Bliley. He also changed America when he gleefully signed NAFTA and it’s noxious Chapter 11. He also changed America when he gleefully signed the Telecom Act of ‘96. You already mentioned all the great change that came from DADT.

Thanks for all that great change, Bill! Rather than call you on it, we’ll just sit here and gleefully gobble up your bullshit!

Translation: “SHUT UP FAG!”

It was no different whatsoever from “prior.”

Do you know anything about gay history at all? I sincerely doubt it. Straights almost never do (Kathy Griffin being the Sterling Exception That Proves the Rule.)

Want more? Here it is!

Yes – Letter from Birmingham Jail was included in the book titled Why We Can’t Wait.

Right on Lane !

It’s supposed to be Principles ! Not Personalities !

Good job, Lane! It takes guts to speak up to a former President, all the while surrounded by individuals who believe respect for formalities is more important than taking a principled stand.

Allowing no questions was B.S., IMHO. It would be like allowing Clinton a guest post at FDL, but closing all comments.

Democratic norms in this country have fallen to an all time low. It’s the opposite of the town hall meeting situation, where democratic participation is allowed, but then is manipulated by powerful forces to domineer the situation.

Well sport, civil rights issue of “our time” though it may be, it is not the human rights issue of our time (as implied in a previous comment) nor is it the largest issue Bill Clinton’s been working on. Rude, spoiled brat behavior, especially to one of the “good guys” is not the way to advance the issue.

I’m asking if that’s the specific part of the book you’re referring to. I recall a cogent discussion of time in the Letter. My reading list is swamped right now, and even though I like reading King at this point I only want the cogent part.

If the discussion of virtues you’re referring to is in the Letter, I’ll reread that — it’s the sort of that holds up well to periodic reading and it’s been a while since I read it. If it’s the whole book, sorry, I’m not interested at this point in time.

You are correct of course, that courtesy is not the only virtue. But courtesy is an important virtue, particularly when you are dealing with people sympathetic to your cause. And even acts of discourtesy (like the lunch counter sit-in, or Rosa Parks’ sitting in the front of the bus in Selma) can and should be done courteously and respectfully.

The rules are what are being opposed directly, those who support and enforce the rules are being opposed indirectly.

“not the human rights issue of our time”? Gee I guess those Iraq Death Squads (real ones, not Fig Newtons of Sarah Palin’s imagination) killing gays and lesbians even as I post are just nothing to the “my-shit-don’t-stink” likes of you.

I haven’t read the Letter in a long time either and was inspired to find it and do so. I may have been thinking of this passage:

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom…”

Don’t be so assertive, the gay people still waiting for equality are told. Don’t “flaunt” who you are. Don’t kiss in public, because it’s gross (unless it’s two young women, in which case it’s hot). Be polite. Don’t interrupt the former president who broke his promises and sold you down the figurative river. Don’t ask him a question when it’s the only chance you may ever get. Respect the wishes of the audience members who don’t care about your rights and who will be bored or annoyed if said rights get discussed for a few minutes. STFU.

Just my opinion but I think MLK would back Lane 100%.

nor is it the largest issue Bill Clinton’s been working on.

That reads much like those who are always crying, “Leave Obama alone” whenever we criticize him for his failure on constitutional and civil liberties issues. Because, you know, he has all this work to do and this agenda to get passed and all. And, you know, we can’t expect him to take a chance on pissing off the Republicans and other Wingers, as if there were some way that that could be avoided.

You continue to call the poster names. Which we don’t condone around here.

Great job, Lane – you done good.

Those in the hall who shushed you – and those here who criticize you – might want to take a good look in their mirrors. Their inner authoritarian is showing: and it’s very, very ugly.

I’m not more devoted to order than justice, but to everything there is a season. One of the things that King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference did brilliantly was to pick their battles. Gay rights activists would do well to follow that practice.

I’m not saying don’t be assertive, I’m saying be assertive in the right place. There is a place for street theater of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence variety. There was even a place for the Stonewall Riots: the police had become so egregiously oppressive in their tactics that there wasn’t much choice.

Accosting the former president ‘who sold you down the river’ (that is not my read of the history, without Clinton I think things would have been much worse) was a chump’s move. What was gained? A lot of heat and precious little light. A whole bunch of people sympathetic to your cause (like me) are angry because his actions harmed all of us and all our causes. Clinton should not have suggested that Lane go to a Health Care Town Hall, because Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh don’t need to have ideas given to them. If they just make stuff up, that’s refutable. But this is on tape — now we have to play the nuance game. And those guys don’t get nuance at all.

What was to be gained by the action? Precious little. Clinton is no longer a policy-maker. He is influential to some degree, but it’s unclear to me how much weight he carries in Obama-world. Clinton’s influence is probably greater among the grass-roots than it is in official Washington, and way higher there than in the various State capitals. So I ask again, what was the upside in this outburst?

Pick your battles. Pick battles that you can win, battles where the potential gains are at least equal the costs. Then make damned sure that you’re ready and that you win them.

If you want the opinion of a straight guy, your next important battle is in in Maine. Defeating the citizen repeal vote on gay marriage is very important. The battle after that is in California. Repealing that odious Proposition 8 is also tremendously important. But make sure you’re ready when you decide to engage the battle: I guarantee that the Catholic hierarchy and the LDS forces will be ready. You can’t afford to lose that one. If your stuff isn’t in a pile and ready to go for 2010, wait for 2012. If you lose the repeal initiative, you will have lost it for a generation.

The is a time and purpose for everything. The problem with Lane Hudson isn’t in what he said, the problem lies in where and when he said it. If his purpose was to alienate supporters not directly involved in his cause while rallying the base, then he achieved his purpose admirably. But I don’t think any of us ought to be taking plays out of the Michael Steele playbook. Do you?

” One of the things that King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference did brilliantly was to pick their battles. Gay rights activists would do well to follow that practice”

One of the things you would do well to remember is that King’s second-in-command was an openly gay man named Bayard Rustin.

“I’m not saying don’t be assertive, I’m saying be assertive in the right place.”

Translation: “You’re too uppity!”

“without Clinton I think things would have been much worse”

Worse than AIDS?

Translation: “He was a much nicer torturer than the one they had before because he did it with a smile.”

“What was to be gained by the action?”

The issue is now being talked about all over the net.

“If you want the opinion of a straight guy, your next important battle is in in Maine. Defeating the citizen repeal vote on gay marriage is very important.”

The most important battle is getting more gays and lesbians to come out, and making the world safe for gay and lesbian teenagers.

“The problem with Lane Hudson isn’t in what he said, the problem lies in where and when he said it. If his purpose was to alienate supporters not directly involved in his cause while rallying the base, then he achieved his purpose admirably. But I don’t think any of us ought to be taking plays out of the Michael Steele playbook. Do you?”

He was talking it out of the Larry Kramer playbook.

Those who were “alientated” by Lane’s actions aren’t supporters and never were.

“to everything there is a season” — BargainCounter

“who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a more convenient season.” — MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail

“If you want the opinion of a straight guy”

Incidentally, for whatever significance it has, I’m devoutly straight. I’m interested in your opinion, which is why I engaged with you, but your orientation and gender are not the reasons.

Huh?

Would you say to a woman, would you like advice from a guy about your reproductive rights and how to go about protecting them?

Nice job Lane. Mass adulation is not what netroots is about. Anyone who stood in the way of Clinton’s celebrity-stroking (no Q & A?) to find answers to a question such as this is embracing the most basic traditions of democracy.

If you do that again I might suggest composing yourself a bit, to me you came off frantic, I know it’s a tough thing to do but if you are going to do something like that you should do it as close to perfect as possible. Yeah you had to be loud but you were so emotional and on edge when he ask you to sit down you looked like you were about to lose it. Hee hee your finger wagging and head movement are classic. I gotta say, man Clinton is one smooth mofo, he didn’t miss a beat..Christ I wish he was president today, at least part of him. He could be in a shit storm and come out not smelling. That said it was good that it was done.

I don’t know if I would be shocked to see people trying to silence me if I did what you did, but I would definitely not let that stop me or make me feel bad for what I’d done.

I think you did a good thing by shouting out to force a discussion, since it appeared to you by that point that there would really be no other way. If you hadn’t done it, none of the progress that was made would’ve happened.

I’m glad of the outcome, and I’m sorry that so many people couldn’t see it at the time, and apparently still can’t.

If I were there that day, I would’ve clapped for you. :)