Two great legislative speeches in about two months! (Here’s the other one, from Colorado State Sen. Mike Johnston.)
Maurice Williamson (Photo credit: nznationalparty)
My faith in humanity’s ability to invent rhetoric to cause us to rise to an occasion is in danger of being restored.
Here’s New Zealand Member of Parliament Maurice Williamson, National-Pakuranga, making a case for a national law recognizing gay marriage (on April 17, 2013, I think):
The bill to recognize marriage between homosexual partners passed, 77-44.
New Zealand’s National Party is described as “center-right,” or like a U.S. Republican. Can you imagine any member of the GOP in the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate having both the guts and the wit to make this speech?
Pakuranga is also leading the polls as the most humorous name for a political district, potentially displacing Cleveland for the first time. It’s a Maori word, actually, with a beautiful definition, from Maori lore: “Battle of the Sunlight.”
Tip of the old scrub brush to correspondent Devona Wyant, for finding the thing and sending a link.
More:
- Kiwi MP fights ‘fires of hell’ (theage.com.au)
- Maurice Williamson and His ‘Gay Rainbow’ Speech Go Viral (medindia.net)
- New Zealand MP Delivers Hilarious, Uplifting Speech to Parliament About Gay Marriage: VIDEO (towleroad.com)
- MP’s ‘epic’ same-sex marriage speech praised (nzherald.co.nz)
- “Be Ye Not Afraid” New Zealand Parliament Legalizes Gay Marriage (thisweekinblackness.com)
- Just in case you think MP Williamson’s reference to the rain being a miracle was in jest: England hopes of beating Kiwis blunted by rain in Wellington (metro.co.uk)
- Gay marriage will soon be legal (bigpondnews.com)
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
In France tomorrow the second vote on gay marriage should pass despite the repeated turnout of radical right Catholics demonstrating in the street and following their supposed leader Jesus engaging in violence. Oops, I guess it is the Pope that is their real leader, even though I don’t remember Jesus saying anything about Popes, or gays for that matter.
An aside, for your “Play nice in the Bathtub”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBWXmKq4sGc
LikeLike
I’d love to replace Congresswoman Harpy – Insane Minnesota, with her predecessor Mark Kennedy.
He was conservative yes but he didn’t have his head stuck up his ….
LikeLike
Well said, James.
At the very best, there are still a few Republicans in the Senate who may be identified as closeted moderates (Susan Collins and Mark Kirk) or as sane, mainstream conservatives (Thad Cochran, John Hoeven, Lamar Alexander). The sane, mainstream conservative is the person who may never cross over and vote for a Democratic bill, but won’t be cowed into conspiracy theories or hate-filled invective of the sort were are hearing from the Teanderthals.
But if anyone in the GOP holds views that are actually centrist or moderate, they are certainly afraid to show it. Every once in awhile, I get a ray of hope from Chris Christie. But he’ll never win a GOP primary nomination. He believes in evolution, is on the record in support of the inaccurately named “Ground Zero Mosque” and he supports rape and incest exemptions for abortion.
I would love to go back to a time when there were Republicans like Wayne Morse, Clifford Case, Edward Brooke, Chuck Percy, Jack Javits, Howard Baker and Mark Hatfield. Hell, I think I’d settle for a Dick Lugar or Bob Dole. Pretty conservative guys. Just not douchebags.
Jim
LikeLike
Well, its a better sounding name then “NowThen” here in Minnesota.
And the Republicans get the label “center right” because 1: the media is too damn lazy and too in the back pocket of big businesses and right wingers and 2: the people are lazy and have been spoonfed right wing brainwashing since Reagan.
The Republican party is no more actually center right then I am the King of Norway.
LikeLike
How on Earth do the Republicans get the label of “centre right”? As far as you can directly compare politics, the National party is probably closer to the Dems.
Also, “Pakuranga” is a fairly typical electorate/place name in these parts – I don’t quite see what’s so funny. Here’s the full list for comparison.
LikeLike