Considering that half the objections to Obama and/or his policies aren’t true, what does it matter if something comes along that is true?
In this case, a California constitutional amendment that was opposed by a Republican governor and which the Republican attorney general declared was unconstitutional was overturned by a Republican-appointed judge.
The fact that we all think the Republicans will be able to use this as a cudgel against Democrats is really quite sad.
In a SANE world it would be pointed out that the judge is a republican appointee and that Obama and the Democrats had absolutely nothing to do with this.
Then people would also figure out the rampant hypocrisy of the term “activist judge”.
Then mom and dad would buy me a pony.
-Joe
Nitpick, Attorney-General Jerry Brown is a Democrat. In fact he’s the Democratic candidate for CA Governor. Will his not defending Prop 8 in court cost him the governorship, or will the same electorate that approved Prop 8 “reward” him with the governorship? Or will voters just not care?
So he is. My mistake - I assumed the Attorney General was appointed.
Oh, I think Prop 8 will not affect how people think of Governor Moonbeam in the least. He always smiles and never frowns.
That is to say, he’s been around a while, and people formed their opinion on him a long time ago. Soon he will be pres-i-dent. You might remember the last one that state sent…
It makes me a bad person that I want Prop 8 to be overturned and to make Democrats look bad, right? I’d settle for Prop 8 being overturned, but both would make me happier.
The anti-gay bigots were already polling Republican. Getting them to vote is the issue.
Yeah, but don’t forget Pelosi fought hard against Judge Walkers appointment. That’s got to count for something.
Oh wait…
It will slightly motivate the Republican base but as they are already pretty motivated I doubt it will make much a difference on that end.
However I think it does nothing for the Democrat’s base as it serves as a reminder if you want progressive change you need to go it on your own because the Democrats will not lift a finger to help.
Gay marriage is the kind of issue that has hurt the Democrats since the 1960s. I am not necessarily opposed to it, but I would like for it to be settled by elected officials rather than by judges.
That same thing could have been said about Democratic support for Civil Rights for blacks until about the mid-1970’s. In fact, when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he remarked that this would mean that no Democrat would be elected president for 20 years. (He was off a few years. The next democratic President was 16 years later; Jimmy Carter, a southern Democrat.) And this racial bias has turned the southern states into nearly solid republican territory for most of the time since then.
But in the end it has helped the Democratic Party – black voters have been one of the most solid elements of the democratic coalition since they were able to vote. And the same is coming true with GLBT voters – they notice the difference in the parties, and are also becoming a pretty solid democratic voting block.
Even if it hadn’t helped the party, it was still the right thing to do. Gay rights in general and gay marriage in particular are also the right thing to do.
I only make it 12 years.
LBJ said it in 1964, when he signed the Civil Rights Act. Carter was elected in 1980, 16 years later.
LBJ was re-elected (over Goldwater) later that year, and did serve until 1968. But I think in saying “another” he meant an other – some democrat other than himself being elected as President. At the time he said it, he was pretty confident about his re-election.
Are they? Cite? I know there are a lot of homocons. Gay people, like straight people, come from everywhere – every region, social class, religious background, ethnic/racial background – all the things that shape people’s political views and their perceptions of their political interests. The only thing they all have in common is that they’re all gay; the only political interests they all have in common are those touching on gay rights. Is support for gay rights, by itself, really enough to secure the allegiance of most of them?
I believe what LBJ said was, “We [the Democrats] have just lost the South for a generation.” And it came to pass that masses of conservative white Southern Democrats migrated to the GOP – many of them by way of George Wallace’ American Independent Party – and the southern states are now Red or Purple.
But, that generation now is past. I do not believe those who made that conversion, when they die, are going to be fully replaced by a commensurate number of younger white Southerners. Their form of conservatism has become a generational-culture characteristic.
No, Carter was voted out of office in 1980. He came in in 1976.
Assuming that you’re correct, the question then becomes whether the Democratic Party can hold on to the black voters it won when it lost all those white voters.
The usual answer to that is, “Where else are they going to go?” And it’s the usual answer because it makes sense.
It’s one of those situations where black voters might not agree with the Democratic party, but the Republican party has so many issues with racism and xenophobia that it’s pretty hard for them to court minority voters. One side is for gay marriage; the other side says a black president is a Kenyan Manchurian candidate. Most of us will put up with disagreements. It’s harder to put up with someone who labels us as “other” or “less.”