the time of my life: Massachusetts House Candidate Tisei Could ...

Richard Tisei could become the first openly gay Republican elected to serve in Congress, but according to a profile in The Hill, he is more interested in framing himself as part of the centrist wing of the party than as a trailblazer. “Overall, I consider myself a ‘live and let live Republican’ — the government should get out of your bedroom, off your back and out of your wallet,” he told The Hill when asked about the historic nature of his campaign. “That’s a pretty traditional Northeastern Republican philosophy. We’ve always had a pretty strong libertarian flavor in our politics up here.” Tisei said that in his home district, being gay is a “non-issue,” but noted his profile as a pro-gay-marriage, pro-abortion-rights Republican could help him knock off eight-term Rep. John Tierney (D-Massachusetts), whose campaign has been tarnished by his in-laws’ legal troubles. The 6th congressional district, just north of Boston, gave President Obama 57 percent of its vote in 2008 but broke for Sen. Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) in 2010. If elected, Tisei would be the first Republican House member to represent the state since 1997. Despite his not fitting the typical GOP profile, House Republicans are high on Tisei, who served in the statehouse for more than two decades and was the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010. Tisei has raised just shy of $50,000 from House Republicans, including donations from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin). Boehner also hosted a fundraiser for Tisei and New Hampshire’s two Republican representatives about a month ago. Tisei said he would “work really well with [GOP] leadership” if he won but promised to break with them on social issues. He called the Defense of Marriage Act, which congressional Republicans are fighting to uphold in court, “unconstitutional,” saying there would never be “true equality” as long as the law stands. He said he has “no problem” with government funding of Planned Parenthood, and would have voted against Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Missouri.) amendment that would have repealed the Obama administration’s requirement that some religious-affiliated institutions pay for their employees’ contraception. But on economic issues, Tisei sounds much more like a traditional Republican. “America is in a lot of trouble when it comes to debt, this whole idea that free enterprise is a bad thing,” he said. “I’ll line up closely with leadership on a lot of those issues.” He supports repealing Democrats’ healthcare law and blasted Tierney for voting to uphold the part of the law that creates a tax for medical devices, saying that he “put party first” with the vote because there are many medical-device suppliers in the district. While he hasn’t committed to backing House Republicans’ plan to overhaul Medicare — commonly known as the “Ryan Plan” — he’s praised Ryan for his ideas. While Tisei defended the healthcare reform law he helped pass in Massachusetts, which has a number of similarities to the law passed nationally by Democrats, he called that bill a “work in progress” and said it should not have served as a national model. “Gov. Romney is basically right — the goal in our country should be to get everyone insured and the role of the federal government, rather than push a ‘one size fits all’ solution, should be to provide incentives for every state to innovate,” he said, adding that he would push to repeal most of the bill but leave intact the portions that allow requirements for coverage of pre-existing conditions and allowing people to stay on their parents’ healthcare plans until age 26. The family issues roiling the Tierney camp involve his wife and brothers-in-law, who took part in an illegal online gambling operation one of them alleged in late June that Tierney knew all about. The congressman issued a fiery response, pointing out in an early-July press conference that that same relative had claimed until a week earlier that he was innocent. Tisei has hammered Tierney on the issue. “Most people don’t believe his explanations that he didn’t know anything — they’re so farfetched,” Tisei said. “People were giving him the benefit of the doubt, but once [one of] his two brothers-in-law came out and said he did know everything, for a lot of people, he lost a lot of his credibility. A lot of people question whether he can be an effective congressman.” Tisei has called on Tierney’s wife to return the more than $200,000 she received from her brother for taking care of his personal tax returns and helping to take care of his children. Tierney’s campaign pointed The Hill to the July press conference when asked about Tisei’s remarks. Tierney’s campaign also blasted Tisei for wanting to repeal the national healthcare law, for calling the extension of the payroll tax cut “gimmicky” and for refusing to disown the Ryan Plan. “He knows he can’t win on the issues," said Tierney spokesman Grant Herring.

More than 10,000 gay and lesbian couples were issued marriage licenses in New York State in the year since same sex marriage was legalized. The New York Times reports that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Tuesday that at least 7,184 same sex couples had been issued licenses in New York City since July 24, 2011, when the state’s Marriage Equality Act took effect. In the rest of the state, as of July 16, at least 3,424 same sex couples had received licenses, according to the State Health Department. The actual numbers, though, are probably higher, since people are not required to report their gender on marriage license applications. Bloomberg noted the anniversary of the Marriage Equality Act at a news conference outside the city clerk’s office in Lower Manhattan, where he was joined by several gay lawmakers: the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, whose wedding in May was attended by the mayor and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo; Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell of Manhattan, who married in New York City in January; and City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who plans to marry on Saturday. The mayor said the city had become a destination for same sex weddings, benefiting the economy. Of the same sex couples who were issued marriage licenses here, he said, 35-percent lived outside the Middle Atlantic States and 7-percent lived outside the United States. “New York has always been a great place to get married,” he said. “Now that we’ve achieved marriage equality, more and more couples from around the country and around the world are coming here to get hitched.” Even as he celebrated a year of same sex marriages in New York, Bloomberg said there was still work to be done in achieving equality, citing in particular the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which means that same sex marriages are not recognized by the federal government. He said, “Speaker Christine Quinn believes that government should bestow upon her marriage license all the rights and privileges that come with any other marriage license, and I could not agree more.” Bloomberg called Quinn, a likely candidate to succeed him, “one of the strongest leaders” in the push for same sex marriage. She returned the compliment, calling Mr. Bloomberg “by far the best mayor the LGBT community has ever had in the city’s history.” During the news conference, Rich Lamb, a reporter for WCBS radio, started to ask a question about same sex divorce. The mayor cut him off, saying it was “much too early to tell” what the rate of divorce would be among same sex couples. When Lamb persisted, Quinn took the microphone. “Let’s just reflect, Rich, you are the Debbie Downer of this news conference,” she said.

Sally Ride, the first American women to fly in space, died Monday of complications related to pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. As I posted, her obituary outed her, naming her partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy, a professor emerita of school psychology at San Diego State University. She and Ride wrote several books together, and O’Shaughnessy was also chief operating officer and executive vice president of Ride's company, Sally Ride Science, where girls receive encouragement to learn about engineering, math, science and technology. When she became the first woman in space, she was married to astronaut Steve Hawley. They divorced in 1987. He said in a statement on Monday, “Sally was a very private person who found herself a very public persona. It was a role in which she was never fully comfortable. I was privileged to be a part of her life and be in a position to support her as she became the first American woman to fly in space.” Suzi Parker, writing in The Washington Post, argues that Ride never wanted to be a gay icon, but to live a world where she was celebrated for her accomplishments, not her sexual orientation.

Tuesday, Ryan Murphy dismissed calls for a boycott of his new television show about gay adoption, saying members of the conservative group behind the protest would probably like the program if only they watched it. Ryan also revealed that one of the characters in The New Normal was portrayed as a member of One Million Moms - the small but vocal group that last week claimed the TV comedy was harmful and damaging to U.S. culture. The New Normal, which does not make its debut until September, is a comedy about a gay couple involved in a surrogate adoption. It echoes themes seen in ABC's popular, Emmy-winning comedy Modern Family, which also features a gay couple with an adopted daughter. Murphy, whose musical comedy TV show Glee has made headlines for taking on topics such as teen pregnancy, disability and bullying, noted that The New Normal also deals with other types of relationships outside the bounds of the one gay couple, including single mothers and dating among older people. "I have obviously been through this before. I wasn't surprised," Murphy told TV critics at a gathering in Beverly Hills about the comments by One Million Moms. "I think everyone has a right to protest, but I am always surprised when people take a position before they have seen the show. I think they would love it because they (One Million Moms) are in it. I think the show is about tolerance and a discussion of tolerance...I think if they watched it, they would like it," he said. One Million Moms on its website last week called for advertisers to boycott The New Normal, accusing broadcaster NBC of "using public airwaves to continue to subject families to the decay of morals and values, and the sanctity of marriage in attempting to redefine marriage. These things are harmful to our society, and this program is damaging to our culture." NBC on Tuesday threw its support behind the show. NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke said the comedy was Murphy's "love letter to families." Salke added that the title was not intended to portray gay adoption as "a more ‘normal' family than everybody else. It's just meant to...bring a family show to the public that captures the zeitgeist, and what's going on in the country right now and being more inclusive." Reuters reports that Murphy said the TV show was "loosely based" on his own life as a gay man investigating adoption with his partner. But he said he expected the most controversial character to be that of the caustic and small-minded Nana, played by Ellen Barkin. Nana is a member of One Million Moms, and her attitudes will be discussed in the show, he said. Actor Justin Bartha, who plays one-half of the gay couple, said the show "talks about love and real issues in a non-trite way that is really entertaining." Bartha compared Murphy to "a modern day Oscar Wilde" for his effect on U.S. pop culture through TV shows such as Glee, Nip/Tuck and Popular. The New Normal will make its debut on NBC on September 11.

Speaking of Glee, the series is introducing two new characters this season – Jacob Artist will play Puck’s younger half-brother, and the very cute Dean Geyer will appear as Rachel’s new love interest. The Hollywood Reporter interviews both newcomers.

Tuesday afternoon, in Aurora, Colorado, Christian Bale, the star of the last three Batman movies, visited victims injured in the mass shooting that took place during an advance midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. According to The Denver Post, hospital interim president Bill Voloch said Bale spent about 2½ hours at the hospital, where he met with five people being treated for their injuries. Two others came from Swedish Medical Center to meet Bale, who stars as Batman/Bruce Wayne. "The patients were really happy to meet Bale," Voloch said. "They are obviously big fans of his movies. They wanted to see Batman and were really pleased to see Bale." Bale and his wife, Sibi Blazic, also met with a number of doctors, Aurora police officers and emergency medical technicians who were first responders when James Eagan Holmes allegedly killed 12 people and injured 58 others at Century Aurora 16 theater early Friday. Bale spent about 10 minutes with each person. "It was good for the patients," Voloch said. "We hope it was therapeutic for them, and all the staff really appreciated him coming."

Justin Bieber goes to the movies but not before turning into Batman.

Ryan Gosling and his bulging biceps hit the gym.

Source:

http://aguynamedbrian.blogspot.com/2012/07/massachusetts-house-candidate-tisei.html

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