I'm voting Republican

[Guest]

Who said I was trying to be non-divisive?

Unity is a romantic concoction of collective socialists. I pride myself on my opinions- or perhaps you believe I should... fall in line?

No, I was just thinking that the rhetoric you spewed, aside from being incredibly juvenile, was ostentatiously ignorant.

 

[DesertPirate]

No one agrees with everyone on all issues. That's what make the USA great....


Ummmm. if I become your 4th dauther, doesn't that mean we can't have sloppy wet kisses too? (at least to me it does)

On gun cotrol....I wouldn;t be here now if guns were banned.

That could be a problem with the kisses
We just have to be good friends!

 

[Msub33]

I disagree.

Wonderful! Now would be the time to back up your opinion with a logical argument.

 

[DesertPirate]

I'm voting Republican.

When I first saw this I had to check outside, hell hadn't frozen over yet

Cloudy you almost scared me.

 

[Guest]

Wonderful! Now would be the time to back up your opinion with a logical argument.

When you present logic, so shall I.

 

[Guest]

When I first saw this I had to check outside, hell hadn't frozen over yet

Cloudy you almost scared me.

You know better, DP.

 

[Boxlicker101]

As I have done every election since I turned 21 in 1960, I am voting Republican. As I have done since 1960, I am also voting Democrat. Barring the unexpected, I will vote for John McCain for president. I also expect to vote for the Democratic challenger to the incumbent Republican congressman. I believe there is no senatorial election this year. As for the local races, I will wait and examine my voters' handbook before deciding.

 

[Msub33]

When you present logic, so shall I.

Ok, let us start from the beginning.

Republicans wanted to stop the spread of slavery, whereas Democrats felt otherwise. Here is a list of the history of the Democratic party on racism:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011033

"I hold that the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding states between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good--a positive good."
--Sen. John C. Calhoun (D., S.C.), 1837
Vice President, 1825-32
His statue stands in the U.S. Capitol.

If blacks were given the right to vote, that would "place every splay-footed, bandy-shanked, hump-backed, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, woolly-headed, ebon-colored Negro in the country upon an equality with the poor white man."
--Rep. Andrew Johnson, (D., Tenn.), 1844
President, 1865-69

"Resolved, That the Democratic Party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1852

Blacks are "a subordinate and inferior class of beings who had been subjugated by the dominant race."
--Chief Justice Roger Taney, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1856
Appointed Attorney General by Andrew Jackson in 1831
Appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Andrew Jackson in 1833
Appointed to the Supreme Court by Andrew Jackson in 1836

"Resolved, That claiming fellowship with, and desiring the co-operation of all who regard the preservation of the Union under the Constitution as the paramount issue--and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms concerning domestic slavery, which seek to embroil the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in the Territories; and whose avowed purposes, if consummated, must end in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the 'slavery question' upon which the great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservatism of the Union--NON-INTERFERENCE BY CONGRESS WITH SLAVERY IN STATE AND TERRITORY, OR IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA" (emphasis in original).
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1856

"I hold that a Negro is not and never ought to be a citizen of the United States. I hold that this government was made on the white basis; made by the white men, for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and should be administered by white men and none others."
--Sen. Stephen A. Douglas (D., Ill.), 1858
Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, 1860

"Resolved, That the enactments of the State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1860

"The Almighty has fixed the distinction of the races; the Almighty has made the black man inferior, and, sir, by no legislation, by no military power, can you wipe out this distinction."
--Rep. Fernando Wood (D., N.Y.), 1865
Mayor of New York City, 1855-58, 1860-62

"My fellow citizens, I have said that the contest before us was one for the restoration of our government; it is also one for the restoration of our race. It is to prevent the people of our race from being exiled from their homes--exiled from the government which they formed and created for themselves and for their children, and to prevent them from being driven out of the country or trodden under foot by an inferior and barbarous race."
--Francis P. Blair Jr., accepting the Democratic nomination for Vice President, 1868
Democratic Senator from Missouri, 1869-72
His statue stands in the U.S. Capitol.

"Instead of restoring the Union, it [the Republican Party] has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten states, in time of profound peace, to military despotism and Negro supremacy."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1868

"While the tendency of the white race is upward, the tendency of the colored race is downward."
--Sen. Thomas Hendricks (D., Ind.), 1869
Democratic nominee for Vice President, 1876
Vice President, 1885

"We, the delegates of the Democratic party of the United States . . . demand such modification of the treaty with the Chinese Empire, or such legislation within constitutional limitations, as shall prevent further importation or immigration of the Mongolian race."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1876

"No more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and that even carefully guarded."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1880

"American civilization demands that against the immigration or importation of Mongolians to these shores our gates be closed."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1884

"We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the Chinese exclusion law, and its application to the same classes of all Asiatic races."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1900

"The repeal of the fifteenth amendment, one of the greatest blunders and therefore one of the greatest crimes in political history, is a consummation to be devoutly wished for."
--Rep. John Sharpe Williams (D., Miss.), 1903
House Minority Leader, 1903-08

"Republicanism means Negro equality, while the Democratic Party means that the white man is supreme. That is why we Southerners are all Democrats."
--Sen. Ben Tillman (D., S.C.), 1906
Chairman, Committee on Naval Affairs, 1913-19

"We are opposed to the admission of Asiatic immigrants who can not be amalgamated with our population, or whose presence among us would raise a race issue and involve us in diplomatic controversies with Oriental powers."
--Platform of the Democratic Party, 1908

"I am opposed to the practice of having colored policemen in the District [of Columbia]. It is a source of danger by constantly engendering racial friction, and is offensive to thousands of Southern white people who make their homes here."
--Sen. Hoke Smith (D., Ga.), 1912
Appointed Secretary of the Interior by Grover Cleveland in 1893

"The South is serious with regard to its attitude to the Negro in politics. The South understands this subject, and its policy is unalterable and uncompromising. We desire no concessions. We seek no sops. We grasp no shadows on this subject. We take no risks. We abhor a Northern policy of catering to the Negro in politics just as we abhor a Northern policy of social equality."
--Josephus Daniels, editor, Raleigh News & Observer, 1912
Appointed Secretary of the Navy by Woodrow Wilson in 1913
Appointed Ambassador to Mexico by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933
USS Josephus Daniels named for him by the Johnson Administration in 1965

"The Negro as a race, in all the ages of the world, has never shown sustained power of self-development. He is not endowed with the creative faculty. . . . He has never created for himself any civilization. . . . He has never had any civilization except that which has been inculcated by a superior race. And it is a lamentable fact that his civilization lasts only so long as he is in the hands of the white man who inculcates it. When left to himself he has universally gone back to the barbarism of the jungle."
--Sen. James Vardaman (D., Miss.), 1914
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, 1913-19

"This is a white man's country, and will always remain a white man's country."
--Rep. James F. Byrnes (D., S.C.), 1919
Appointed to the Supreme Court by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941
Appointed Secretary of State by Harry S. Truman in 1945

"Slavery among the whites was an improvement over independence in Africa. The very progress that the blacks have made, when--and only when--brought into contact with the whites, ought to be a sufficient argument in support of white supremacy--it ought to be sufficient to convince even the blacks themselves."
--William Jennings Bryan, 1923
Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, 1896, 1900 and 1908
Appointed Secretary of State by Woodrow Wilson in 1913
His statue stands in the U.S. Capitol.

"Anyone who has traveled to the Far East knows that the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood produces, in nine cases out of ten, the most unfortunate results. . . . The argument works both ways. I know a great many cultivated, highly educated and delightful Japanese. They have all told me that they would feel the same repugnance and objection to have thousands of Americans settle in Japan and intermarry with the Japanese as I would feel in having large numbers of Japanese coming over here and intermarry with the American population. In this question, then, of Japanese exclusion from the United States it is necessary only to advance the true reason--the undesirability of mixing the blood of the two peoples. . . . The Japanese people and the American people are both opposed to intermarriage of the two races--there can be no quarrel there."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1925
President, 1933-45

"This passport which you have given me is a symbol to me of the passport which you have given me before. I do not feel that it would be out of place to state to you here on this occasion that I know that without the support of the members of this organization I would not have been called, even by my enemies, the 'Junior Senator from Alabama.' "
--Hugo Black, accepting a life membership in the Ku Klux Klan upon his election to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from Alabama, 1926
Appointed to the Supreme Court by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937

"Mr. President, the crime of lynching . . . is not of sufficient importance to justify this legislation."
--Sen. Claude Pepper (D., Fla.), 1938
Spoken while engaged in a six-hour speech against the antilynching bill

"I am a former Kleagle [recruiter] of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County. . . . The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the union."
--Robert C. Byrd, 1946
Democratic Senator from West Virginia, 1959-present
Senate Majority Leader, 1977-80 and 1987-88
Senate President Pro Tempore, 1989-95, 2001-03, 2007-present
His portrait stands in the U.S. Capitol.

President Truman's civil rights program "is a farce and a sham--an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I have voted against the so-called poll tax repeal bill. . .. I have voted against the so-called anti-lynching bill."
--Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson (D., Texas), 1948
U.S. Senator, 1949-61
Senate Majority Leader, 1955-61
President, 1963-69

"There is no warrant for the curious notion that Christianity favors the involuntary commingling of the races in social institutions. Although He knew both Jews and Samaritans and the relations existing between them, Christ did not advocate that courts or legislative bodies should compel them to mix socially against their will."
--Sen. Sam Ervin (D., N.C.), 1955
Chairman, Committee on Government Operations, 1971-75

"The decline and fall of the Roman empire came after years of intermarriage with other races. Spain was toppled as a world power as a result of the amalgamation of the races. . . . Certainly history shows that nations composed of a mongrel race lose their strength and become weak, lazy and indifferent."
--Herman E. Talmadge, 1955
Democratic Senator from Georgia, 1957-81
Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, 1971-81


"These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."
--Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D., Texas), 1957


"I have never seen very many white people who felt they were being imposed upon or being subjected to any second-class citizenship if they were directed to a waiting room or to any other public facility to wait or to eat with other white people. Only the Negroes, of all the races which are in this land, publicly proclaim they are being mistreated, imposed upon, and declared second-class citizens because they must go to public facilities with members of their own race."
--Sen. Richard B. Russell Jr. (D., Ga.), 1961
The Russell Senate Office Building is named for him.


"I did not lie awake at night worrying about the problems of Negroes."
--Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, 1961
Kennedy later authorized wiretapping the phones and bugging the hotel rooms of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


"I'm not going to use the federal government's authority deliberately to circumvent the natural inclination of people to live in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods. . . . I have nothing against a community that's made up of people who are Polish or Czechoslovakian or French-Canadian or blacks who are trying to maintain the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods."
--Jimmy Carter, 1976
President, 1977-81
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2002


"The Confederate Memorial has had a special place in my life for many years. . . . There were many, many times that I found myself drawn to this deeply inspiring memorial, to contemplate the sacrifices of others, several of whom were my ancestors, whose enormous suffering and collective gallantry are to this day still misunderstood by most Americans."
--James Webb, 1990
Now a Democratic Senator from Virginia


"Everybody likes to go to Geneva. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva."
--Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D., S.C.) 1993
Chairman, Commerce Committee, 1987-95 and 2001-03
Candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, 1984


"I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia [Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan recruiter] that he would have been a great senator at any moment. . . . He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this nation."
--Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), 2004
Chairman, Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, 2008


"You cannot go into a Dunkin' Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent."


"My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything [but] a Northeastern liberal state."


"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American [Barack Obama] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."


"There's less than 1% of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4% or 5% that is, are minorities. What is it in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with."
Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., (D., Del.), 2006-07
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, 1987-95
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations
Candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, 2008

 

[Elianna]

Ok, let us start from the beginning.

OMG!!!!

HELLO THE POST WAS FUNNY. It was funny because it was OVER THE TOP. You know, like a really bad stereotype. Don't be so sensitive.

Maybe that's the problem with the world these days, we can't laugh at ourselves. Laughter is an amazing medicine.

 

[Msub33]

OMG!!!!

HELLO THE POST WAS FUNNY. It was funny because it was OVER THE TOP. You know, like a really bad stereotype. Don't be so sensitive.

Maybe that's the problem with the world these days, we can't laugh at ourselves. Laughter is an amazing medicine.

I laugh a lot... at the expense of liberals.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Did you say this when right-wing talk show hosts first appeared? Did you say this when Fox News came up with its slanted "fair and balanced" propaganda? Did you say this when the Swift Boat veterans tried to throw mud on Kerry? How about the rumors that Obama was Islamic and a terrorist? I could go on and on, but really, the Republican Party is reaping what it's sowed.

Shouting ENOUGH! comes across to me as the pot calling the kettle black...unless you've shouted "ENOUGH" each and every time your own party has done this--and done this in ways far worse, viciously, appallingly for eight years than this video.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but it sounds to me like you're creating a double standard here. I mean, I'd love it if both parties would be civil and honest and I don't think most Americans want more of this shit. But it takes two to stop it, and Republicans hardly showed restraint or a willingness to do so in the last election.

NOW, suddenly, they want everyone to play nice? Really?

Democrats have been shouting "enough" for 8 years. Tell me you were shouting with them and I'll pat you on the back. Tell me you only now decided that you're tired of all this...and I'll laugh at you, abet sadly.

Darlin, it seems you do not know me. Which is OK.

I have been through all spectrums of political affiliations.

And shouting "Enough" for 8 years? Been there done that during the Clinton administration. And what's so odd, I did the same during the Reagan admin (but I was young and niave....but still have issues )

What get's my goat is whaen folks say that I CAN'T feel this way or that way because of my political affiliation.

Please don't try to paint folks into a box beause they associate with a politcal party.

Do you REALLY believe that all folks who are republican are racsists...are war mongerers...are homophobes...are looking out for themselves and fuck everyone else?

I've been on both sides of the fence....and the grass isn't greener either which way.

Who knows.....as time goes on I may jump the fence once again.

But no matter what side I land on....I will always grow tired of the hatred that "those" have for "those others"


So...ENOUGH.

 

[TE999]

Darlin, it seems you do not know me. Which is OK.

I have been through all spectrums of political affiliations.

And shouting "Enough" for 8 years? Been there done that during the Clinton administration. And what's so odd, I did the same during the Reagan admin (but I was young and niave....but still have issues )

What get's my goat is whaen folks say that I CAN'T feel this way or that way because of my political affiliation.

Please don't try to paint folks into a box beause they associate with a politcal party.

Do you REALLY believe that all folks who are republican are racsists...are war mongerers...are homophobes...are looking out for themselves and fuck everyone else?

I've been on both sides of the fence....and the grass isn't greener either which way.

Who knows.....as time goes on I may jump the fence once again.

But no matter what side I land on....I will always grow tired of the hatred that "those" have for "those others"


So...ENOUGH.

The marriage proposal is still on the table.

Just don't tell you-know-who.

 

[cloudy]

Ok, let us start from the beginning.

Republicans wanted to stop the spread of slavery, whereas Democrats felt otherwise. Here is a list of the history of the Democratic party on racism:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011033

Oh, please. Whatever. The ONLY reason that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation was that it was the politically expedient thing to do. He had nothing against slavery personally.

We've already heard it all, darlin'. Spewed at us with more hatred and vitriol than you can probably muster (and more ellipses, too), and we still laugh.

Stick around. We'll laugh some more.

 

[Guest]

Oh, please. Whatever. The ONLY reason that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation was that it was the politically expedient thing to do. He had nothing against slavery personally.

We've already heard it all, darlin'. Spewed at us with more hatred and vitriol than you can probably muster (and more ellipses, too), and we still laugh.

Stick around. We'll laugh some more.

Agreed. Not worth the time to argue.

We're still under the gun tornado-wise, anyway.

 

[Msub33]

Oh, please. Whatever. The ONLY reason that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation was that it was the politically expedient thing to do. He had nothing against slavery personally.

We've already heard it all, darlin'. Spewed at us with more hatred and vitriol than you can probably muster (and more ellipses, too), and we still laugh.

Stick around. We'll laugh some more.

Ha, but what you don't understand is that the history of Conservative stretches back from the Republican party to the Whigs, which were the heir to Whigs of Britain.

Remember? It was Edmund Burke, the first modern conservative, and a bunch of bible beaters that stopped the slave trade and they were a part of the "old whigs."

Despite the fact that I was pointing out the policy differences between parties, and not inviduals, it probably hasn't dawned on you that Lincoln was staunchly opposed to slavery from the beginning when he made the "Peoria Speech." Attempting to put the man who made the Emancipation Proclamation into the same category of racists and slave owners is foolish to say the least.

But nevertheless... people still try to do it.

 

[cloudy]

Ha, but what you don't understand is that the history of Conservative stretches back from the Republican party to the Whigs, which were the heir to Whigs of Britain.

Remember? It was Edmund Burke, the first modern conservative, and a bunch of bible beaters that stopped the slave trade and they were a part of the "old whigs."

Despite the fact that I was pointing out the policy differences between parties, and not inviduals, it probably hasn't dawned on you that Lincoln was staunchly opposed to slavery from the beginning when he made the "Peoria Speech." Attempting to put the man who made the Emancipation Proclamation into the same category of racists and slave owners is foolish to say the least.

But nevertheless... people still try to do it.

I despise Lincoln, so you're making no points with me. He authorized the largest mass hanging in US history: 39 Sioux men who were trying to feed their families.

The man was a snake.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Oh, please. Whatever. The ONLY reason that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation was that it was the politically expedient thing to do. He had nothing against slavery personally.

We've already heard it all, darlin'. Spewed at us with more hatred and vitriol than you can probably muster (and more ellipses, too), and we still laugh.

Stick around. We'll laugh some more.

Actually Lincoln personally abhored slavery and campaigned against its spread, and he said so many times in his writing and his public discourse. At the same time, he believed the institution was not contrary to the Constitution.

I agree that the EP was largely a political maneuver, designed to keep any European nations, especially perfidious Albion, from coming openly to the aid of the Confederacy.

 

[Msub33]

I am just getting started folks. We could also start talking about the fabled "progressives" and how their idea of "progress" applied to the races too. Here are a few whoppers from Charles van Hise, a member of the Wisconsin progressives (Head of the University of Wisconsin) that Barack Obama claimed to be heir of after his victory in Iowa:

http://blog.fair-use.org/category/charles-r-van-hise/

We know enough about agriculture so that the agricultural production of the country could be doubled if the knowledge were applied. We know enough about disease so that if the knowledge were utilized, infectious and contagious diseases would be substantially destroyed in the United States within a score of years; we know enough about eugenics so that if the knowledge were applied, the defective classes would disappear within a generation. (quoted in Haller 1985, 76)

The progressives were the ones who passed the Jim Crow laws....

 

[Msub33]

I despise Lincoln, so you're making no points with me. He authorized the largest mass hanging in US history: 39 Sioux men who were trying to feed their families.

The man was a snake.

So you are trying to defend the Dakota, after they killed over 800 white settlers and displaced over 40,000? And you are mad because Lincoln decided to defend his people?

You are digressing, however. This debate is about Republicans and Democrats.

 

[Msub33]

Actually Lincoln personally abhored slavery and campaigned against its spread, and he said so many times in his writing and his public discourse. At the same time, he believed the institution was not contrary to the Constitution.

I agree that the EP was largely a political maneuver, designed to keep any European nations, especially perfidious Albion, from coming openly to the aid of the Confederacy.

Someone who knows history- kudos.

 

[Misty_Morning]

So you are trying to defend the Dakota, after they killed over 800 white settlers and displaced over 40,000? And you are mad because Lincoln decided to defend his people?

You are digressing, however. This debate is about Republicans and Democrats.

Oh.


*Takes a seat to watch the fireworks.*

 

[FatDino]

Oh.


*Takes a seat to watch the fireworks.*

Hey, want a beer?

 

[Guest]

Oh.


*Takes a seat to watch the fireworks.*

I adore you, Misty.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I adore you, Misty.

Hey, republican...democrat...we all like a good show.

*puts on PPG*

 

[3113]

Please don't try to paint folks into a box beause they associate with a politcal party.

Do you REALLY believe that all folks who are republican are racsists...are war mongerers...are homophobes...are looking out for themselves and fuck everyone else?

No. I believe that the party you belong to is war mongering and in bed with homophobes and anti-abortionists. And that they want to put in president after president who are war-mongering, homophobic anti-abortionists--and who want to do away with science too. Isn't that what they've got in the White House now? A President who doesn't believe in evolution?

In short, you can righteous tell me not to put you into a box...but truth is, I'm not putting you in a box. I'm putting your political party into a box. It's a box they've built around themselves with their associations, how their majority has voted, their election tactics, and the platforms that their representatives have maintained.

Oh, and the man they put in the White House for two terms.

If you, personally, are not like that, hooray. But you're telling me that you're a card-carrying, money donating member of a party that has put someone into the White House that is all that. And yet you're preaching to me that I shouldn't put you in the same box?

I'd quit being a democrat instantly if they put anyone in the White House who didn't believe in Evolution, let alone did any of the other things Bush had done in his first four years. So, forgive me if I honestly don't see how it is that you can say, "Don't blame me!" Even if you didn't vote for Bush, you've kept him and his supporters in power for 8 years. So how it is that your hands are clean?

Do take up T999's offer of marriage. Thanks to Republican scare tactics bringing out the homophobia, it's doubtful that either party is going to admit that they approve of gay marriage.