Completely agree Whoopi!

After some were outraged at the announcement that homophobic gospel singer Donnie McClurkin would be joining pro-gay Barack Obama on his presidential candidacy tour, Barack has gone into overdrive to defend his choice and defend his stance on gay issues.

Things got worse after some gays decided they were going to protest at one of the tour stops.

Today he talked to the Advocate to set the record straight. He says:

[...]we viewed this simply as an opportunity to have a gospel concert as part of our overall outreach, and since he was singing at a concert along with a number of other artists, as opposed to being a spokesperson for us, probably it didn’t undergo the same kind of vet that someone who was serving as a surrogate for me might have.

Read the entire interview here.

I personally think it’s a lot of hoopla over nothing. As long as Barack plans to continue his support for the gay community, who cares?

Though I will say this Donnie McClurkin guy rubs me the wrong way. I mean I love that “we fall down but we get up” song as much as the next person but to not only claim that you got turned gay because an uncle raped you but then to say you willed yourself straight is just ridiculous.

Makes me wanna sing “We are gay, but we turn straight”.

Whatever, I love Barack.

Okay not in real life–but in his new movie Wedding Wars he plays one. He’s a gay wedding planner planning his brother’s wedding–which if of course ironic because he can’t get married himself. It’s a TV movie that will air on A&E, and anyone who lives in New York City knows the ads have been everywhere.

He sat down with The Advocate last month to discuss the film and his views on gay rights.

John Stamos and I have a mutual friend who does penis tricks. By “penis tricks,” I am referring to this particular acquaintance’s habit of dropping his pants at parties and forming his privates into various unexpected and admittedly impressive shapes. “Have you seen the Hamburger?” Stamos asks me as we stroll through the sprawl of the Warner Bros. back lot. I nod, and Stamos immediately shoots me a grin conveying that thanks to our mutual pal and his unlikely talent, we’re now friends as well.

For a moment I’m awed by Stamos’s nonchalance—as if discussing penis tricks is the most ordinary thing in the world. But after spending the next hour with him, his ease doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Here’s the thing about John Stamos: He’s completely, refreshingly open-minded, the kind of guy who is nonjudgmental about things like the public display of a penis, the kind of guy who has no reservations about taking on the role of a likable gay rights activist—despite being an actor best known for marrying a supermodel and making all the girls (and boys) swoon.

“John’s incredibly charming,” says Jim Fall, who directed Stamos in Wedding Wars [premiering Monday, December 11, at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific], “which makes him the perfect conduit for the message of this movie.” A family comedy that manages to tackle the issue of same-sex marriage with light humor and a deft touch, the A&E feature stars Stamos as Shel, a wedding planner who impulsively decides to fight for his own right to marry after his brother—played by Grey’s Anatomy’s “McSteamy,” Eric Dane—becomes engaged to the daughter of a conservative governor.

“I didn’t want to make just another ‘gay’ movie,” explains Fall, whose debut feature was the gay indie Trick—and who married his boyfriend on the Wedding Wars set in Halifax, Canada. “I wanted to make a point and really say something, but subtly. I wanted to show both sides without vilifying anyone. I wanted to win people over with comedy—and who better to help with that than someone who has been coming into their living rooms for years now?”

It’s a savvy strategy. Take Full House’s sweet, hapless Uncle Jesse and General Hospital’s brooding, darkly handsome Blackie, and combine and transform the popular characters into a likable, smart, authentic gay man. Because of Stamos, Middle America will start watching and—fingers crossed—won’t be able to stop.

Former Full House costar Bob Saget, for one, will be watching. “I love John like he’s the sister I never had. Truly, he’s one of my best friends and has always, always been there for me,” Saget says. As for Stamos taking on such a role, Saget has no concerns. “He’s such a good actor. When researching his part for ER, he not only hung out in a lot of emergency rooms, but he literally performed four illegal surgeries. The patients didn’t even mind. They felt safe with him ’cause he was Jesse from Full House. He did two heart bypasses, one hip replacement, and a colonoscopy on a man named Gerald.”

Fall says he never worried whether Stamos would have to “play gay” in order to be believed: “I remember in rehearsals he was telling some story with such enthusiasm and energy, and I said, ‘That’s it—that’s Shel!’ ” There’s this light inside of John, and all he had to do was turn it on, and there was the character.”

That “light”—a luminescent, infectious likability—has kept Stamos in the game for over two decades. It’s carried him through those teen-dream General Hospital days and the eternal flame of Full House syndication; seen him through a “tabloid-perfect” marriage and subsequent divorce with model-actress Rebecca Romijn; powered him past the short-lived Jake in Progress; and landed him a hot new on-screen life on ER.

With Wedding Wars, Stamos may be adding “gay icon” to his résumé. “John was always the first choice for the role,” says producer Neil Meron. “He’s been one of my best friends for years, and we were always wondering when we would be able to work together. This was the perfect chance.”

That Stamos, the giddy pretty boy with a heart of gold, would completely reinvent himself—with parts like Shel and a raunchy revamp of Cabaret’s Master of Ceremonies—might come as quite a surprise to his longtime devotees. One can imagine Full House fans watching with mouths agape as Uncle Jesse passionately kisses another man. But this is how the renowned gay producing team of Craig Zadan and Meron operate: with a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down.

And in the end, Shel and the emcee aren’t actually that different from Stamos himself: All are tolerant and exploratory gentlemen who have seen enough of life not to be flustered by two men necking or a guy pressing his penis into something that resembles a hamburger.

I sat down with Stamos after a day on the set of ER to discuss all the dirt we have been so curious about.

Gotta love Miss Barbra Streisand.

She had a concert here in NYC last night (which I unfortunately couldn’t attend due to lack of funds ) and apparently some people didn’t like a portion of her show where she pokes fun at our lovely President George W. Bush.

According to the Washington Post:

The most riveting moment of Barbra Streisand’s Madison Square Garden concert was one of the only unscripted ones.

Streisand endured jeers as she interjected a political skit into Monday night’s show, exchanging zingers with a celebrity impersonator playing George Bush as a bumbling idiot.

Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it went on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing.

“Come on, be polite!” the well-known liberal implored. But one heckler wouldn’t let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.

“Shut the (expletive) up!” Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. “Shut up if you can’t take a joke!”

With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered — no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.

No one fucks with Babs. Bitches.

The Dixie Chicks have a new documentary coming out soon about the aftermath of lead singer Natalie Maines‘ statements about Bush during a concert in London.

The reviews have been stellar and the trailer is great. I can’t wait to see the movie. It’s amazing how 12 words could make someone want to shoot you dead. -shakes head-..America.

Watch the trailer.

It hits limited theaters on October 27th.

The one and only Rosie O’Donnell created a video to the tune of Pink’s Dear Mr. President, and posted it on her website.

God, I can’t wait until Rosie gets on “The View” and kills conservative idiot Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Dude, how did you even get ON “The View“? You didn’t even win “Survivor“. Pfft.

Pink is thrilled by the response to her anti-Bush song Dear Mr. President, because it has inspired fans to take up the cause.

The song, which features on her new album I’m Not Dead, includes lyrics lambasting George Bush: “Dear Mr President/What do you feel when you see all the homeless in the street/Do you pray at night before you go to sleep.”

It is unlikely to be approved for release as a single in the US, but Pink is more satisfied by the response it has provoked among civil liberties campaigners and fans, many of whom have created their own videos to accompany it for online broadcaster Youtube.

Pink says, “I’ve been crying my eyes out watching the videos on Youtube (online broadcaster) - that song has a life of its own now. The Civil Liberties Union has now got involved because a 10-year-old was banned from performing it at her elementary school.

President Bush signed legislation giving $500 million to faith-based programs to promote and strengthen opposite-sex marriage, a provision that’s part of the deficit reduction bill passed by Congress.

How this reduced the deficit is anybody’s guess. Bush himself noted, “It allows faith-based groups that provide social services to receive federal funding without changing the way they hire,” Bush noted at the White House signing ceremony.

Translation: We’re giving money to groups that specifically discriminate in their hiring process.

Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Wade Horn said that the financial windfall is not intended to specifically oppose same-sex marriage, although the President is a major supporter of a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage in the Constitution.

Accidentally shooting a lawyer is never a good idea, especially one who’s known for being something of a pistol himself. But Harry M. Whittington, the irascible, 78-year-old attorney from Austin who wound up on the wrong end of the Vice President’s quail-hunting gun on Saturday, is a longtime supporter of President Bush and longtime friends with White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, with whom he helped build the once-moribund Texas Republican Party into today’s powerhouse. And he is said by friends to be taking his wounds with good humor.

Whittington, a wealthy real-estate investor, is well-known in the Texas capital for a six-year dispute with the city over a downtown block owned by his family that was taken by the city for use as a parking garage. Just two weeks ago, he won his third legal victory in the case, a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court.

A Mr. Fix-It who has taken over troubled state agencies for several governors, including George W. Bush, he is often the first to arrive – by 5:30 or 6 a.m. — in the workout room of the West Austin club he helped found. After getting both his undergraduate and law degree from University of Texas, Whittington eventually became very active in Texas Republican circles, serving once as the only Republican on the board of the Texas Department of Corrections, now the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, and also doing a stint as chairman of the Texas Public Finance Authority Board.’He’s very tough,’ James R. Huffines, chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, and a 25-year friend of Whittington, told TIME. ‘He’s a real tenacious competitor in everything he does. I hate to use this pun, but he really is a straight shooter in all sense of the word, with a real sense of right and wrong for the taxpayers.’

The White House did not announce the incident, but confirmed it when the Corpus Christi Caller-Times asked about it more than 12 hours after the 5:30 p.m. Saturday incident. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan can expect to be peppered with questions about that decision on Monday. Whittington was listed in stable condition. ‘He seems in good spirits. He’s talking and conversing,’ said Yvonne Wheeler, a spokeswoman for Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christ-Memorial. ‘His condition is really looking good. They’re just taking every precautionary measure. Recovery looks very positive.’

For his part, Cheney visited Whittington in the intensive care unit of the hospital on Sunday night and said through an aide afterward, ‘I was pleased to see that Harry’s doing well. He’s in good spirits.’

The Vice President flew down to Texas on Friday after working at the White House, his office said. He remained there Sunday but did not hunt, his office said, before flying back to Washington on Sunday night. He is scheduled to join Bush on Monday afternoon when he takes questions from reporters in the Oval Office, following a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. White House aides can be expected to say that the Vice President did not shoot Whittington, which suggests a bullet, but rather sprayed him with birdshot, a type of ammunition made up of tiny pieces of lead or steel.

It was Whittington who Bush turned to, as Texas governor in 1999, to take over the Texas Funeral Service Commission after the regulatory agency’s executive director alleged that she had been fired for investigating a company headed by a financial supporter of the governor. Whittington assured the Dallas Morning News at the time that he would keep politics out of the board’s work. ‘There is no Republican or Democratic way to bury anybody,’ he said. Presiding over his first meeting, Whittington said, ‘If any agency needs divine guidance, it’s this one.’ The state settled a lawsuit by the former executive director in 2001, and Whittington’s term as head ends next year.

Whittington, who donated $1,000 to Bush’s first presidential campaign and $2,000 to his reelection, is married to Merce Whittington, who also has been active in Republican politics; they have several children, including two daughters who still live in Austin. In a profile of Whittington last year, the Austin American-Statesman described him as being old-fashioned enough that he did not have a computer or bill by the hour. Luckily for Dick Cheney, that seems to extend to his being able to laugh off being accidentally shot at by the Vice President. For a lawyer, even a Republican, that’s no easy feat.

Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock in Baltimore ruled that Maryland’s law banning same-sex marriage is discriminatory and “cannot withstand constitutional challenge,” thus throwing open the possibility of a bruising legislative battle over a constitutional amendment. Will we be rushing to the altar in Maryland?

Actually, no. Murdock immediately stayed her decision and the attorney general’s office has voiced plans for an appeal. Lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Gita Deane, left, and Lisa Polyak, right, are savoring their victory nonetheless.

The judge’s decision thrilled the 19 gay men and lesbians who challenged a 1973 state statute defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.