Monday, November 15, 2010

A Shifting Opinion

At first, Cindy McCain seemed to be a strong advocate of the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), a policy many of you may have heard of, as she has been featured in a celebrity-heavy video proclaiming that the government's failure to repeal DADT has only encouraged citizens, particularly teens, to view gay peers as "second class citizens". While this opinion opposes that of her husband, John McCain, Cindy McCain and her daughter have been advocating for gay marriage rights for quite some time, even condemning California's Prop 8.

However, about a day after the video was posted, Cindy McCain goes on Twitter to say that she "stand[s] by [her] husband's stance", meaning that she agrees with his support of DADT, completely contradicting the message sent across through the video.

Since Cindy McCain has shown support for the LGBT community in general, I have formed the opinion that she tweeted her support for her husband only to somehow solidify his political power, and that she still does believe in promoting LGBT rights. It was extremely rash to go and tape herself on the video while knowing the script ahead of time and then turn back on that opinion. Everyone should always stand by his or her opinion, and change it only for good reason.

To see the video, see this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhFZ7qjrw5U

4 comments:

Chris Chan said...

I'd agree. I don't think she should have dramatically changed her opinion so quickly. It looks hypocritical and nobody is going to ever believe you. However, we can't be quick to judge that she did it only to solidify her husband's political power. Maybe something did change her mind, we don't know yet. Of course, I'm not saying this is the case but we should listen to why she changed her mind first before thinking she only did it for her husband's political power.

michelleyu said...

I think we're taking this the wrong way. The full tweet states "I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband's stance on DADT".

She probably meant that although she believes in equal gay rights she does not believe in repealing DADT, which is her husband's stance. And I mean, her opinion is understandable because at a closer glimpse, the repeal of DADT could possibly be detrimental to gay soldiers in the army as they could be subject to ridicule by their peers as well as a myriad of other consequences. Just because you support gay rights doesn't mean you necessarily support repealing DADT as well and I think that's the big misunderstanding over this issue.

Andrea Chau said...

I also think that Cindy McCain still does, as Melody said, "believe in promoting LGBT rights." I find it strange and a bit unsettling that her actions with the NOH8 and her tweet could be so different. Some politicians try to be vague in their stance, but McCain's lack of congruency is just contradictory. In McCain's case, the inconsistency tarnishes her and makes her stances questionable. The only justification for McCain I can think of is that she may have meant to say something along the lines of her respecting John McCain's stance on DADT, rather than "support," but I'm not sure how probable it is for a politician to make a poor diction choice on such a widely used, widely read website like Twitter.

Laura Nguyen said...

I agree that Mrs.McCain should have made clearer statements on what rights she does or does not support for the LGBT when she publicly announced them, but I also feel that she believed it was more important to support her husband's choices at a time when support for the current administration is falling. However, the statement that she "stands by her husband's stance" could have different meanings. She could still believe in repealing DADT but would continue to publicly support her husband even if she personally doesn't totally agree with his stance.