O boy, I really don't want to do this. But since Hillary is being skewered for saying "I'm going to leave that to others to conclude" about the morality of homosexuality, it really is worth noting that her comment is subject to different interpretations. It's my best guess that she was not leaving the question of morality open. She was indicating her position and criticizing the question.
How can that be? Well, there are a couple of ways of seeing this is at least a reasonable interpretation. One way is to look at what Tapper, on his blog says she said:
Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said. "I'm very proud of the gays and lesbians I know who perform work that is essential to our country, who want to serve their country and I want make sure they can."
What she says following the "conclude" comment rules out the idea that she was leaving the question of morality unanswered. Unless, that is, you really think she was saying "Well, maybe they are immoral, but I am very proud of the gays and lesbians doing this splendid work."
It really is very odd to say "I am leaving that to others to conclude..." except for the fact that it is a very standard way of ridiculing a question, at least in some circles.
Let me put this indirectly. I got into an argument with someone recently who was maintaining that the French are extremely rude but the English are wonderfully polite. She is not the sort of person I normally chat with, since she is one of the wealthiest people in my city, a fact I mention because that gives you a clue about the kind of people she was seeing. And also because the people she was visiting were dealing with an extremely wealthy Texan.
Several days afterwards I recounted her opinion to an English friend of mine, who agrees with me on the idea that Brits can be very nasty indeed. "Well," he said, "it is very unlikely people were being nice; she just didn't understand them."
And here's the sort of situation in which you might be really ridiculed by a Brit, but also might not know it: You ask an inappropriate question and the response may well be, "I'll leave that to others to judge." Asking if Tony Blair is a toady, you might be told "Well, I'll leave that to others to decide; I am very proud of the fact that he is putting England in a world leadership position on the environment." This means: I am ignoring your asshole question and moving on to something worth discussing.
Could Hillary have picked that up? From all their Oxford educated friends? The elites in upper (but not too upper) Manhattan?
Well, it's plausible. I can't believe she was saying in effect, "Well, maybe they are immoral but I am proud of the gays and lesbians doing this splendid work ...," any more than the Brit would have been saing "Maybe Blair is a toady, but I am proud of him...."
No doubt the comment was inept, but I don't think it meant what it is taken as meaning.