Rock the fuck on, Hills

Via Melissa McEwan (as per usual), Clinton chats with the Philadelphia Gay News, where she said stuff like:

Even states that have civil unions, domestic partnerships or even marriage laws are running into roadblocks with the federal government when it comes to federal benefits and privileges. …And we will try to eliminate all of that discrimination. I think we will have a good argument, ironically, because I think we can say, look, the states are making determinations about extending rights to same-sex couples in various forms and the federal government should recognize that and should extend the same access to federal benefits across the board. I will very much work to achieve that.

She also talked about how LGBT kids are at risk, and how she wishes to make global gay rights a part of foreign policy.

And, I agree with Shakes – this is the part that got me:

At the end of the interview, PGN asked her if she would still speak with them if she becomes the Democratic nominee. Hillary replied: “Absolutely, and I’ll speak to you as president.”

Rock the FUCK on. But as usual, I have complete faith in the American people to dismiss a wonderful candidate for bullshit reasons, only to have their great candidate SwiftBoated in the final moments, and oh, hello President McCain.

(Oh, and btw, this is the sort of example that crops up that illustrates why it drives me UP THE WALL when Hillary gets painted with the brush of Bill’s stuff, such as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, because she was married to him when he enacted it, and people start screeching that if she wants to claim that she has political experience in Washington she has to take responsibility for everything he did. Like, I’m sorry this has to be spelled out, but… they are different people. I remember when I was dating a So-Called Liberal White Dude and he went on some rant about what a fabulous idea it would be if Canada made military service compulsory because it would, like, “engender patriotism” or some such bullshit, and I was all, “Um, no, compulsory military service goes against the basic tenets of a free democracy based on the rights of the individual as it compels citizens to sacrifice their bodily integrity for the state against their will” and he was all “Switzerland and Israel are democracies and THEY do it!” and I was all “Well, Switzerland was a politically neutral state surrounded by nations that were incessantly warring around their borders and Israel is a Jewish state surrounded by rabid anti-Zionists, so they’re sort of special circumstances and are not the norm in any way”, and he was all “WELL I THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA BECAUSE PEOPLE TAKE THEIR FREEDOM FOR GRANTED” and I was all “WELL THAT’S FABULOUS EXCEPT THAT GOVERNMENTS CAN’T TAKE PEOPLE’S FREEDOMS AWAY FROM THEM JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT GODDAMN GRATEFUL ENOUGH, WE ARE NOT FASCISTS NOR COMMUNISTS!” and, anyway, my point is that two adults can disagree on certain policy matters, though ultimately the guy who’s wearing the “I’m President, Ask Me How!” pin is the one who gets to make the final policy decisions – but it doesn’t mean that he didn’t discuss it with her, or talk to her about how he managed to get the policies past Congress, etc. Therefore I don’t find it at all hard to accept both that Hillary claims experience as the First Lady, but that she didn’t agree with everything her husband did, because I believe in two things: 1) women have independent agency, and that 2) not only did she get a front-row seat, and did more in the role of First Lady than all before her (or since), but I also value so-called “soft” diplomacy – the kind that First Ladies engage in – as an integral part of the political process and not to be dismissed just because women do it.

But maybe that’s just me.)

PS: “Barack Obama and John McCain declined to be interviewed.”