A Stitch in Haste

This time it's New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine:

Gov. Jon S. Corzine told legislative leaders on Thursday that he would prefer that New Jersey enact a civil unions law for gay couples rather than allow them to marry.

That prompted attacks from the state's leading gay-rights advocate, who said Mr. Corzine expressed support for same-sex marriage to a gay audience two weeks ago and had repeatedly done so during his 2000 primary campaign for the United States Senate.

Lie today, "clarify your position" tomorrow. Remind me again how Corzine is not "just another politician"?

Corzine, who bought his way first into the Senate and then into the Governor's Mansion, is not doing well politically, and has major egg on his face over the less-than-shoo-in re-election prospects of his patronage appointment, Bob Menendez, to replace him in the Senate.

So, as is typically the case with Democrats, lying to gays to buy their votes is no big deal — just be sure to "clarify your position" when your real constituency is actually listening.

Pathetic.

As for voters, being a gay Democrat is not much better than being a gay Republican. The proper course of action for a gay is to be a registered Independent, hopefully with small-l libertarian views.

The best way to combat the two-party system — and its double-edged "vicious Republicans / hypocritical Democrats" sword is simply by not being a part of it. A pox on both their houses.

More thoughts from Outright Libertarians.

A quick follow-up to this morning's post:

In Virginia, the court decision could not have come at a better time for Senator George Allen, a Republican whose campaign for re-election has been thrown off course by allegations he used racially insensitive remarks. The Virginia ballot includes a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Mr. Allen supports it; his Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, argues the ban is unnecessary.

Note that Webb does not support gay marriage; he just believes that a bigot amendment is "unnecessary." Gee, thanks. (Webb does say that he supports civil unions.)

In Tennessee, another state with a proposal to ban gay marriage, Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., a Democrat running for Senate, was sparring with Republicans over an advertisement in which the Republican National Committee asserts Mr. Ford supports gay marriage — an assertion Mr. Ford says is wrong. On Thursday, he responded with his own advertisement, calling the Republican ad "despicable, rotten lies."

Heaven forbid that people mistakenly think that a Democrat actually supports gay marriage, which would be a "despicable, rotten lie."

Feel free to add anecdotes from your local races in the comments.

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It's obviously too early to gauge whether the New Jersey ruling will really catalyze (in ways that Iraq, North Korea, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley or Bridges to Nowhere never could) a renewed interest among Red State Rednecks to actually, um, vote.

But in the meantime:

Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson, for example, held "Stand for the Family" rallies in three cities in September and October, drawing considerably smaller crowds than anticipated. The first rally, in Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, attracted 3,000 people to a 17,000-seat arena that Focus on the Family had predicted would be full.

The next two rallies, in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 3 and Nashville on Oct. 16, were moved from stadium-size venues to smaller auditoriums, and the tickets, which had been on sale for $7, were given away.

Apparently the "will of the majority" is to stay home and watch television. Go figure.

Another unfortunate case of confusing "Democratic" with "gay friendly" --

Phase 1:

Maryland's legislature is predominantly Democrat with a 33 to 14 advantage in the State Senate and 103 to 36 in the House. The leaders of both chambers are Democrats, as is the Governor.

Phase 2: ???

Phase 3:

In the end, Maryland legislators granted same-sex couples just a few new privileges, such as hospital visitation rights, before they adjourned last week.
...
Vic Basile, a former Human Rights Campaign executive director who lives in Baltimore, said that "it was pretty clear right from the beginning that marriage had zero chance of passing" the legislature this year.

Might I proffer, as I did in a comment left at the first link, a possible Phase 2:

Maryland is 23% Catholic, and also 18% Baptist.

Mystery solved.

Gay Democrats remain the political equivalent of styrofoam packing peanuts: you use them to get your merchandise to its destination -- then you throw them out.