(Also posted at www.loadedorygun.net, Oregon's progressive community.)
Last night I ran into Jeff Merkley at an event, and I was very pleased to be able to get a few minutes of his uninterrupted attention so I could ask him about two issues that I care a lot about: (a) marriage equality, and (b) reform of the Internal Revenue Code to tax capital gains at the same rate as wages.
In the interest of full disclosure, I told him upfront that I was supporting his primary opponent Steve Novick, but that I was also sincerely interested in his positions on those two issues specifically, yes or no.
I should say at this point that Jeff Merkley seems to be a true gentleman, bright, and a very nice guy. He didn't have to give me the time of day once I had identified myself as a Novick supporter, but he was very cordial. I had met him only once before, very briefly, more than a year ago, and there was no way he would have remembered me. He was just being kind, which I appreciated.
But after I told him I was a Novick supporter and asked him my two yes-or-no questions, what happened next was interesting. He locked those big brown puppylike eyes onto mine (also brown, somewhat smaller and less puppylike) and proceeded to tell me why in his view "those are not 'yes or no' issues."
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