I checked outside and the moon isn’t completely full yet, so we can’t blame that. I fully expected that Howard Dean, Democratic Party Chair, would be wearing a FuManchu beard and a sparkly sash (like Kirk and Spock did) when he entered a weird alternative universe where he appeared on the 700 Club and said that the Democratic platform says that marriage is between a man and a woman.

If you have real player on your machine, you can watch Howard, Howard Dean on the 700 Club, The comment starts at 4:05. Here’s the evidence of what we wish was a mass hallucination.

Update:
Since many of you have e-mailed to tell me that the video is slow or doesn’t come up on the 700 Club’s web site, I have now added the clip both in video and audio only formats here. I have also included the full interview video, in both video and audio only formats at the end of this post.

Video (Run time: 0:00:52)

Audio (Run time: 0:0:42)
[audio:http://www.dougdobbins.com/wp-content/audio/deanclip.mp3]

From Howard Dean: Democrats Have Much in Common with Evangelicals

“The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s what it says.”

But on page 42 of Strong at Home, Respected in the World..The 2004 Democratic National
Platform for America. It says the following:

We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush’s divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a “Federal Marriage Amendment.” Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.

It is the only page where the word marriage is used in the platfrom. The platform is 43 pages in length.

You can get your own copy in PDF format here

While I applaud Howard’s efforts to reach out to peple of faith, to gain credibility with this group you need to be precise and his words and actions don’t accunately reflect the 2004 party platform. The platform says that the definition of marriage is a state level decision not “marriage is between a man and a woman.” To be able to move forward on difficult issues like this and abortion, we must be precise, open and honest in our discussion so that we can move beyond retoric and find common ground when possible.

Full Interview:

Video (Run time: 0:19:58)

Audio (Run time: 0:19:58)
[audio:http://www.dougdobbins.com/wp-content/audio/deanfull.mp3]

Technorati Tags: Howard Dean, 700 Club, Federal Marriage Amendment, Gay Marriage, Democratic Party