Obama Gay Marriage Survey: Official Claims "Someone Else" Filled Out Approving 1996 Questionnaire

[t0dd]

Source: HuffingtonPost

In an interview conducted in front of an audience at the Netroots Nation blogger conference early Friday in Minneapolis, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer claimed a 1996 questionnaire favoring gay marriage, which bears Barack Obama's signature, was "actually filled out by someone else."

"If you actually go back and look, that questionnaire was actually filled out by someone else, not the President. There was a long debate about this in the campaign. ... This was litigated in the campaign," Pfeiffer said in an exchange with the Daily Kos' Kaili Joy Gray caught on video.

The questionnaire (http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/photospreadthumbs.php?APUB=wct&ADATE=2009-01-14&AGALLERY=obama">click here to view), originally published in the gay periodical Outlines, is marked by Obama's now-famous signature, and the handwriting appears strikingly similar to other, more recent examples.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/17/obama-official-claims-som_n_879280.html

[Tx4obama]

1. This WAS news during the 2008 campaign. Why is it news again? n/t

[MNBrewer]

3. Because NOW someone from the Administration said it's a forged document

and that Obama never really supported same-sex marriage equality. Which is it? Was he lying then? Is he lying now? Was he lying all the time? Is he constitutionally incapable of saying a truthful statement regarding same sex marriage?

[awoke_in_2003]

4. there is still a video on youtube...

where the candidate said that "marriage is between a man and a woman". He does not support marriage equality.

[MNBrewer]

5. And, it could be a lie.

So he's either a liar, or a bigot. (or both, I guess)

[awoke_in_2003]

6. yeah, that could be...

you never really know with most politicians. He has extended medicare benefits to include gay couples, but states have a right to not disallow that. If he leads the charge to eliminate DOMA and get gay marriage rights passed then I may change my tune. We are judged on actions, not words.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. That is not true according to the faith he claims.

The faith that he says teaches him to be opposed to equality for some minorities also says that it is not what goes in the mouth that can defile a person, but what comes out of their mouth, and also teaches that any form of lying or spin is forbidden 'let your yes be yes and your no be no, for anything other comes from evil' said the Christ character, who never said a word against GLBT people of any kind. So this thing he has of claiming some set of rules as a religion, that he does not have to follow at all, even the most basic elements, but others have to follow even the bits he adds in addition to the text is just a really, really dishonorable and dishonest way of going about things, and to blame it on some faith is just awful, as is the slandering of gay people.
He follows the words of Jesus like I am the Third Earl of Dexterhaven.

[peace4ever]

14. can they say with certitude?

:evilgrin:

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

12. Because of a probable lie that was told...

... by a Presidential SPOX, as noted below - AND - because it further underscores that a President that, in his campaign and election, I supported with time, money, and fervent belief, is a stunning disappointment - as this review supports even BEFORE Pfeiffer's major screw-up later in the day:

Connelly: Liberals have no love for Obama
By JOEL CONNELLY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Published 12:45 a.m., Friday, June 17, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS - Barack Obama is taking a verbal battering among activists who are an integral part of the president's political base. But attendees at Netroots Nation, the country's largest annual gathering of progressives, confesses that they really don't have any other political home to which they can go.

"We will get a choice between President Obama and our worst nightmare," said Lily Eskelsen, a longtime Utah teacher who now works for the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. Liberals are perpetually dissatisfied folk. But a larger enthusiasm gap, centered among Hispanic and young voters who rallied to Obama in 2008, poses problems for the president's re-election.

Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate, became a national symbol of the drive to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that drummed thousands of gays and lesbians out of the armed services. An emotional Choi gave his West Point ring to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid at last year's Netroots Nation gathering. Reid delivered it back to Choi in December after the Senate voted to repeal the policy.

On Thursday, Choi was handed a card on Obama's gay rights positions put out by Organizing For America - a vehicle of the president's re-election effort. Choi tore up the card and tossed it in the face of an Obama campaign worker. The Obama Justice Department is prosecuting Choi on felony charges for handcuffing himself to the White House fence to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Immigration reform and the Dream Act are other flashpoints. The Dream legislation would provide a path to citizenship to children of undocumented aliens who graduate from college or serve their country in the military.

- SNIP -

The administration is sending a high profile flack catcher to the Minnesota city on Friday. "A Conversation with White House Communication Director Dan Pfeiffer," kicks off Friday's program at Netroots Nation. It will very definitely be a two-way administration.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/Connelly-Liberals-have-no-love-for-Obama-1427999.php

... so Dan, just how did catching all that "flack" go for you?

[KittyWampus]

2. This crap again? It's hardly LBN.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. It is about an event that happend today.

The WH has already started to sputter and spin about it as well. So there is more breaking news about this very story.

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

10. Yes. This "crap" again....

... just wait a few days. Just in the last six hours, it's getting major coverage and scrutiny on all the major LGBT boards and forums. And it ain't pretty, at all.

As it sinks in that our "progressive" President has yet again - for far too many times to even enumerate at this point - pulled major wool over our eyes and now his SPOX at the net roots blew it in a truly major way by making the claim and lying in the manner in which he did, this will be a major issue and story by the new week.

I for one am very disappointed that it was pulled from LBN since it is a major story, that occurred within the last six hours, that shines a blazing light on another profound duplicity on the part of our "liberal" administration.

To wit, in less than six hours:

Senior White House aide: 1996 Obama gay marriage questionnaire is a fake, even though Obama signed it
http://www.americablog.com/2011/06/senior-white-house-aide-1996-obama-gay.html

White House issues bizarre non-denial of Pfeiffer's repudiation of marriage questionnaire
http://www.americablog.com/2011/06/white-house-issues-bizarre-non-denial.html

White House Communications Director Says Obama Didn't Fill Out 1996 Statement Supporting Same-Sex Marriage: VIDEO
http://www.towleroad.com/2011/06/obamaquestionnaire.html

NETROOTS: White House Rep Denies Obama "Filled Out" 1996 Marriage Pledge
This may be the biggest news to come out of Netroots.
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/06/netroots-white-house-rep-dan-pfieffer.html

Obama Gay Marriage Survey: Official Claims "Someone Else" Filled Out Approving 1996 Questionnaire
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/17/obama-official-claims-som_n_879280.html

[Octafish]

8. 'This was litigated in the campaign.'

Interesting vetting of an idea, there.

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

11. Thanks, T0dd...

... your original instinct was, indeed, appropriate and accurate. Google results for Breaking News at this hour:

http://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=obama+marriage+Questionnaire&ncl=dTG8_u6Xk29cN5MQp4R_NdK2pFeuM

All 105 related articles »

Marriage Questionnaire Author Stands by 1996 Obama Survey: “Obama Signed It”
Firedoglake - Teddy Partridge - ‎6 hours ago‎

White House Comm Dir: Obama Didn't Fill Out 1996 Marriage Survey Answer Metro Weekly - Chris Geidner - ‎55 minutes ago‎

Return of the questionnaires somebody else filled out
Politico (blog) - ‎7 hours ago‎

White House's Pfeiffer Draws Boos at Netroots Nation
Wall Street Journal (blog) - Danny Yadron - ‎7 hours ago‎

Aide Denies Obama Supported Marriage Equality
Advocate.com - ‎6 hours ago‎

Wait A Sec. If Obama Didn't Endorse Marriage Equality Back In 1996, Who Did?
Queerty - ‎7 hours ago‎

Netroots Nation: Pfeifferdammerung
Slate Magazine (blog) - David Weigel - ‎11 hours ago‎

... and on and on and on. But pay no heed, nothing to see here!

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

13. Updated} WH "Response" is Really No Response....

UPDATE: In a statement issued following Pfeiffer’s remarks, Windy City Times publisher Tracy Baim asserted that her newspaper stands by the reporting in 1996 on Obama’s questionnaire response.

“This is the first time a claim has been made that Obama did not complete the surveys himself, even though his signature is on the typed one sent to Outlines, and the IMPACT survey appears to be completed in his own writing,” the statement says.

According to the Windy City Times, the questionnaire response was faxed from the law firm for which Obama at the time. Additionally, Outlines newspaper subsequently reported that he backed gay marriage, something his campaign never denied in 1996.

“He would have had a very small campaign staff, so it was unlikely he had someone else complete the form,” the statement says. “In fact he went to the trouble of typing full answers when the form was actually able to be completed as a Q&A. Even if someone else completed the form, Obama signed it, and never denied subsequent reports of its content.”

UPDATE: The White House is backing off of the comments Pfeiffer made on Friday on Obama’s 1996 statement in support of same-sex marriage. Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, addressed the issue in a statement:

“Dan was not familiar with the history of the questionnaire that was brought up today, but the president’s views are clear,” Inouye said. “He has long supported equal rights and benefits for gay and lesbian couples and since taking office he has signed into law the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ signed into law the hate crimes bill, made the decision not to defend Section 3 of DOMA and expanded federal benefits for same sex partners of federal employees.”

Inouye didn’t respond to a further question from the Washington Blade to verify whether the White House believes the president in fact filled out the questionnaire in 1996.

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/06/17/netroots-pfeiffer-suggests-1996-obama-statement-supporting-marriage-equality-a-fake/

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

15. Update 2} SECOND Explanation (outrageous lie) from Obama ..

Sunday, June 19, 2011
NYT on Obama's evolving, and devolving, views on gay marriage, and a new excuse from the White House
by John Aravosis (DC) on 6/19/2011 05:30:00 PM

The latest explanation from the White House, for why President Obama filed out not one, but two, questionnaires in 1996 claiming he would support same-sex marriage, is that the future President, and constitutional scholar, didn't understand the difference between "civil unions" and "marriage" when he repeatedly stated that he was in favor of legal same-sex marriages.

I hope this gives folks some sense of why many in the gay community have become so frustrated with the President. There's a lack of seriousness in the way he treats our community far too often. It's almost as if he thinks we don't deserve a real, adult answer.

http://www.americablog.com/2011/06/nyt-on-obamas-evolving-and-devolving.html

Sunday, June 19, 2011
NYT on Obama’s evolving, and devolving, views on gay marriage - includes yet another excuse for past position in support of marriage equality
Posted by John Aravosis (DC) at 6/19/2011 02:53:00 AM

It seems the White House has a new explanation for the President's past support for gay marriage. You see, the President got confused. When Obama wrote in a letter to a gay newspaper that he supports same-sex marriage, he actually meant civil unions - because, apparently, "civil unions" sounds a lot like "marriage" if you say it really fast ten times in a row while you're drunk.

From the NYT:
And a review of Mr. Obama’s record, dating to when he first ran for public office, suggests that he may have been for same-sex marriage before he was against it.
In 1996, as a candidate for the State Senate in Illinois, Mr. Obama responded to a questionnaire from a gay newspaper. “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,” Mr. Obama wrote, “and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”
White House officials have said Mr. Obama was really referring to civil unions, which he does support.

He must have also gotten confused in the second questionnaire where he said the exact same thing about supporting gay marriage.

It's as if they're not even trying anymore to make the lies believable.

http://gay.americablog.com/2011/06/nyt-on-obamas-evolving-and-devolving.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19marriage.html?_r=2&hp