I know I’m going on about the gay marriage thing in New York, and I promise I’ll move on to something else soon, but frankly the wailing and the gnashing of teeth is too much fun not to revel in it for a while.
Over at Kathryn’s No-Fun House, Rick Frothy Mix Santorum is going all out on his firm belief in the power of the Federal government and the President to overturn states’ rights:
Unlike others in this race, I believe it is the role of the president to weigh in when states try to redefine the meaning of marriage. Marriage is defined in the federal law as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife; any state that redefines marriage is wreaking havoc not only with the definitions of the federal law and the majority of states, but, even more importantly, with the single most important and time-tested institution of every successful society.
… that is, of course, unless the issue is healthcare or abortion in which case the Federal government should just back the fuck off.
Santorum continued to pummel Obama, accusing the president of being “fixated on accumulating power in Washington” and believing “government’s role is to control … rights.” Insisting that the federal health-care law that Obama backs was the ultimate representation of this agenda, Santorum ripped into it. “Obamacare is a game-changer,” said Santorum to the cheering crowd. He insisted the measure will “cede your freedom” to Washington and accuses the Obama administration of looking to make Americans “addicted to government.”
Ricky is at least slightly less mad (and that’s saying something) than Snake-Eyes Bachmann whose years of practice at believing all those internally inconsistent bible verses at the same time is coming in handy right now.
But news anchor Chris Wallace, during Fox News Sunday, asked her the obvious question: “If you support states’ rights, why do you also support a constitutional amendment which would prevent any state from recognizing same-sex marriage?”
“That’s entirely consistent,” said Bachmann. “The states, under the 10th amendment, have the right to pass any law they like.” And federal legislators, she said, have the right to submit amendments to the federal constitution. She droned on a bit about how she’d prefer the issue be decided through ballot measures but how it will almost certainly end up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and she’s against “activist” judges.
Sister Kathryn of the Neglected Womb is busy moving the goal posts because, don’t you know, having rules decided by elected legislatures is now grossly unfair and the only way real way to decide such matters is by a referendum or, even better, by slicing open a goose and reading its entrails:
But even in New York, there was reason for Democrats to believe that this was their safest bet, that putting it to the voters wouldn’t have worked out for gay-marriage advocates.
Pollster John McLaughlin, who is based in his native New York, raises the question: “If they had brought the gay marriage bill to a public referendum, I don’t think it would have passed.” He continues:
No state has ever passed it via referendum. Even California saw Proposition 8 fail. The fact that Governor Cuomo pushed it through without a referendum, which would have taken two consecutive years for the legislature to authorize, just shows that he and his allies were concerned that it wouldn’t pass — especially if it faced a two-year public debate. Gay marriage often over-polls its approval levels. People sense the media is pro-gay-marriage and either say they are for it or undecided, when they are not. Prop 8 failed due to majority African American, Latino, and Asian American opposition. A New York referendum would have been very important. Now we’ll never know.
My favorite response to Catty Kathy’s intellectual incoherence is that of the very shrill Adam Serwer over at Prospect Blogs:
So instead tyranny simply becomes the passage of laws that “contradict the common good,” as defined by Kathryn Jean-Lopez. But of course she bears no ill-will towards the imposition of such laws onto the few by the many, as long as such laws are consistent with her own views. Where democracy “fails” in the sense that her preferred result is not achieved, the will of the one or the few–in this case the dwindling minority in favor of interfering with the individual rights of same-sex couples–does not provoke objection.
Tyranny is thus redefined, not as mob rule or even the use of the state to enforce the views of the minority upon the populace, but as “stuff I don’t like.” Jean-Lopez seeks not an antidote for tyranny–tyranny is the objective. The disease she wishes to cure is democracy, which is what makes her analogy to North Korea all the more pathetic.
Pathetic and Kathryn Jean Lopez. Who would ever have thought we’d see all those words in the same paragraph?
[Image: Waiting – Daniel Ridgway Knight (1839-1924)]
SiubhanDuinne
Gosh, you know, I can’t even read the word “Santorum” now without giggling.
Memes is awesome.
Linda Featheringill
Democracy is a bitch when it doesn’t go your way, isn’t it? [And wonderful when it does!]
What’s this quote about democracy being the worst form of government except for all the rest? Or something close to that.
tkogrumpy
Very nicely done.
Anya
K-Lo is still single because along with her shitty personality, she has an ugly face. Also, too, I am not sure, but I think she might be too fond of fatty food.
srv
Freedom is messy.
Sarah, couldn’t you dispatch one of your harem of toy boys or girls to put K-Lo in a compromising position? She so needs something rammed down her throat.
Eduardo
Do not, again, do not stop writing about gay marriage. After New York I just can’t get enough of it. And K-Lo never ceases to amuse me. Don’t stop!!!!
bryanD
This is so funny. The New York gay marriage bill passes in a most polite and democratic way and Sarah Proud and Tall is going all werewolf.
Free hat!
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
LOLZ
Even the wingers at Man-on-Dog’s rally are cheering for ACA!
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
I think Giuliani has that tattooed on his ass.
Jules
The American people should never be allowed to vote on the rights of other Americans.
gbear
At some point Lopez is going to realize that it’s all passed her by. She may be able to sit there with her ‘integrity’ intact, but everyone else is going to have had all the fun.
That will be a very long and sad day for Kathryn Jean.
Valdivia
@ Mike Kay 9
LOL, bad visual to have, but funny nonetheless
gbear
Has K-Lo discovered boxed wine yet?
Darkrose
If only.
Idiot.
Exurban Mom
@8: Sure, Giuliani has tested the institution of marriage three times so far…
I much prefer The Impressive Clergyman’s take on the sacrament: “Mawaidge…mawaidge is what bwings us togewer today… Mawiadge, the bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffim a dweam… … Ven wuv, twoo wuv, wiw fowwow you fowever…So tweasure your wuv…”
Beeb
Prop. 8 failed? Why didn’t anyone tell me? And why have I been giving money to Equality California to challenge it? I feel like such a fool.
[ETA: Darkrose, I believe I owe you a Coke.]
Las Vegas Jesus
Yes.
MoeLarryAndJesus
K-Lo is single because she is saving herself for Barry Manilow. She took a vow that she would be his and his only when she was 12, and unlike godless liberals she takes her vows seriously.
Plus she’s a werewolf.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
Wingers love “family values” because they have so many families.
CaseyL
I can totally see K-Lo as a werewolf on True Blood: one of the self-hating kind, who wants desperately to be a True Christian and can’t, who kills everyone in sight because they’re witnesses to her damnation.
cthulhu
Yeah, it does make you wonder the worth of the opinion of a pollster who can’t get the effect of Prop 8 right. I am for going back with a referendum vote in CA for 2012 despite the generally good progress the legal challenge has had if only to take away this argument from NOM etc. If the legal route has to restart in WA with CA having marriage equality via public support then so be it.
Comrade Kevin
To “pummel” someone, you have to land at least one punch.
PeakVT
I think Giuliani has that tattooed on his ass.
He should have had it tattooed on his wife’s ass.
Son of Prog
Maybe it’s time to start looking for a wife, K-Lo. And no, before you lurch forward to your keyboard, I’m not a lesbian trying to force myself or my views on you (hence the “Son” part of my handle). What? Why, yes, I am taken… my girlfriend is in Canada right now…
Slightly unrelated: whenever I try to leave witty comments on NRO, they seem to get stuck in moderator purgatory, I wonder why that is.
CatHairEverywhere
What Beeb said.
Prop 8 banned gay marriage. That’s why it was called Prop Hate. That “pollster” is a maroon.
The legislature made it legal for a while, then prop 8 outlawed it, now it’s been challenged in court. I had some good friends get married during the time in which it was legal, and they lived in limbo for a while facing the real possibility that they would be forcibly divorced. (they weren’t) We still have the joke going that their marriage makes the hubs and I feel less married in our hetero way.
J Edgar
Sister Kathryn of the Neglected Womb is busy moving the goal posts
Just “busy”? When I see K-Lo on TV with her grit, determination, and post-concussion stare, I see someone truly born to move the goal posts.
Also, it keeps my mind off that “still single” stuff.
Alison
K-Lo is still single because that’s what God wants for anyone K-Lo might wish to marry.
He is, after all, merciful and all that, doncha know…
Ron
So now all these believers in a “republican form of government” are arguing that we should deal with marriage equality via direct democracy. That’s pretty amazing.
opie jeanne
@Darkrose 14: Exactly.
What we don’t know is whether Prop 8 would have passed if so much freakin’ outside money hadn’t been poured into California, primarily from Utah.
They’re all for States Rights as long as outside money is allowed to swing the vote their way.
frouglas
McLaughlin’s error highlights one of the issues with Prop 8… the way it was worded, it seems like a lot of people maybe didn’t know what they were voting for by saying “yes” to 8…
here’s hoping it stays overturned though
Singularity
Also, Prop 8 appeared on the ballot during a very low turnout election, when the most motivated voters were those who were opposed to gay marriage. If the Mormons had the balls to put it on the ballot during a Presidential election cycle, it would have failed handily.
Comrade Kevin
Actually, that is not correct.
The legislature passed legalization of marriage equality more than once, but the Governator vetoed the bills, even after claiming he was for it.
The California Supreme Court ruled that a ban on it violated that state’s Constitution, which is what made it legal.
Prop 8 overturned the CA Supreme Court’s decision.
Calouste
@Comrade Kevin:
Prop 8 didn’t overturn the Supreme Court’s decision, it amended the Constitution
Calouste
FTFY.
SRW1
Dear Ms Jean-Lopez,
I would like you to marry Jesus and take a vow of silence.
God
Bulworth
Sounds like more of that less government I keep hearing about..
Bulworth
Because every single act of any state legislature is automatically and always submitted for approval to a public referendum…
cthulhu
Singularity:
Actually, no. It was November 2008 when, in theory, we had a maximized youth vote. There are many analyses of what went wrong (early polling in the summer showed Prop 8 going down to defeat), but in my opinion, it was that the Prop 8 people scared enough low information voters using the specter of kids being taught about homosexuality in school. I know that this worked for some of my otherwise liberal friends with families. They have since mostly wised up. The possible referendum in 2012 would likely have wording similar to the content of the NY law, reaffirming what is already the case: that religious organizations would have the right to not perform/host gay marriage ceremonies. Current polling suggests that such an approach would almost certainly pass.
Susan of Texas
K-Lo can’t marry–who would wash Derbyshire’s cheerleader costumes? Replenish Jonah’s snack jar? Polish Mark Steyn’s collection of African fertility art? Sew little nun costumes for Barbie?
David W. Fenton
The John McLaughlin quote about a potential referendum in NYS is laughable not just for getting Prop. 8 backwards, but because NYS has no referendum or initiative provisions at all:
http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i&r.htm
I find it quite interesting that the quotation from McLaughlin that Lopez provides doesn’t show up anywhere in Google before she posted it. What is the source? When was it said/written? Did McLaughlin actually say it? If so, and he’s a NYS pollster, it’s pretty shabby, given that he would have to know that there is no referendum/initiative provision in NYS.