Archive for August, 2010
California Republican Governor candidate Meg Whitman discusses gay marriage around 5:15 in this Los Angeles television interview
Patterico raises the issue.
Republican Meg Whitman now has a wedge issue in the California governor’s race, if she chooses to use it.
She also has a more subtle but much stronger issue: the responsibility of elected officials to defend the people’s laws.
Here’s why. The Ninth Circuit’s briefing schedule calls for the last brief to be filed by Prop. 8 supporters on November 1, 2010. The court has ordered the parties to discuss whether the
proposition’s defenders have standing on their own, given that the Attorney General and the Governor failed to fight for the law in court.
But here’s the thing: come November, there will be a new Attorney General in California and perhaps more important, a new Governor. They will probably be sworn in before the appeals are decided. And the identity of the new Governor will probably decide whether California’s elected officials are going to join the appeal. (This assumes that procedural time limits don’t prevent them from joining an ongoing appeal by intervenor defendants. I dont know the answer to this question, but my educated guess is that there would be no procedural bar, as long as the appeal is still live.)
Our current Attorney General, Jerry Brown, refused to defend Prop. 8 and would continue this path as Governor. Meg Whitman, by contrast, was a Prop. 8 supporter. Presumably she would move to join the appeal if elected.
Since Meg Whitman campaigned for California Proposition 8 and presumably donated money to the cause, I would think this issue will raise itself sometime during the campaign. Moreover, Whitman is very close to LDS-Mormon former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and the California LDS community.
My bet is that Whitman uses targeted direct mail to the Pro-Proposition 8 Protect Marriage list shortly before the early voting/absentee voter ballot request time. Also, flyers will appear at many Christian, especially Roman Catholic and LDS churches during this time. Undoubtedly, there will be a sermon/homily or two.
So, the answer is yes.
Tags: Gay_Marriage, Proposition_8
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Gee, Chris, Zed has two more than the President.
I mean, even Nevada Senator and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is walking back from the New York City Ground Zero Mosque FLAP.
Now, Democrat New York Governor David Paterson is finally coming to the rescue?
New York Gov. David Paterson (D) will meet with the imam and developer of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero “later this week” to discuss the possibility of removing the mosque to an “alternate location”, according to Rep. Peter King (R).
King, an outspoken opponent of placing the mosque and Islamic cultural center so close to where terrorists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, learned about the meeting during a phone call with Paterson Tuesday morning.
A spokesman for Paterson confirmed that efforts to broker a solution are underway. “We are working with the developers on a staff level but there have not been any formal discussions between the governor and Imam or developer,” said spokesman Morgan Hook. “However, we expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future.”
Kind of ironic that David Paterson may be bailing out the President when Obama originally tried to force him out of a re-election race. But, Paterson is now out and Obama has some appointments at his disposal.
Pretty standard but you would never see Rudy Giuliani involved in such machinations, now would you?
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The Day By Day Archive Tags: David_Paterson
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A federal appeals court put same-sex weddings in California on hold indefinitely Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state's gay marriage ban.
The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trumps a lower court judge's order that would have allowed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday.
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Now, off to the appeal's process where SCOTUS will decide the issue.
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The majority leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, has weighed in on the Great Mosque Debate of 2010, becoming the highest-profile Democrat to call for the so-called Ground Zero Mosque to move to a new location at an unspecified distance away from ground zero. "The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, wrote in an e-mail today after Reid's Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, called on him to take a position. "Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else." Reid's office did not elaborate on why Reid feels this way, or on how large the mosque-free (or, Islamic-community-center-free) zone surrounding ground zero should be.
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And, the Left will have him for lunch….
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On Twitter, CNN's Ed Henry posts a statement from Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman:
"First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Sen Reid respects that but thinks .. mosque should be built someplace else"
Reid's statement comes hours after his GOP opponent Sharron Angle issued a statement saying that she supports constitutional right to build the mosque, but putting it so close to Ground Zero is disrespectful:
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Guess Harry can read the polls.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the come-from-behind GOP winner of the Iowa Caucuses in 2008, is the early choice of Hawkeye State Republicans again, a new poll shows.
The survey was conducted for the website TheIowaRepublican.com may be viewed as simply a matter of name recognition as much as it is a measure of true political support given the caucuses are eighteen months away and no Republican has yet to declare an intention to run for president.
Sill, the survey shows Huckabee has retained a significant number of supporters in the Hawkeye State, leading the field with 22 percent of support. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the runner-up in 2008, is second with 18 percent.
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Way too early…
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Democrats have a strong chance to lose the midterm elections without attempting to paint those who disagree with the president as bigots, or a full-throated defense of President Obama’s oh-so-measured and then remeasured and then adjusted and readjusted words. There’s no need for media commentators or Democrats to insist the majority of Americans are driven by hatred on this issue; they’re already doing so on Arizona’s immigration law, California’s gay-marriage law, the investigations of Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, the desire to see voter intimidation in Philadelphia prosecuted, and opposition to most Obama policies.
A national political fight conducted on the terms we have seen in the past few days — i.e., a knee-jerk denunciation of the majority of the American people as hateful and bigoted against Muslims — will lead to a chain reaction at home and abroad that will have one winner — the very extreme and violent jihadists we all can claim as our true enemy.
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Indeed
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Mark Murray writes: Earlier this morning, we wrote that President Obama on Saturday appeared to walk back his Friday-night comments on that mosque near Ground Zero. "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," he said. "I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding."
Greg Sargent argues that Obama's remarks weren't a walk-back.
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Well, did Obama?
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A conservative advocacy group Monday will kick off a huge ad campaign in 11 states and two dozen of the most competitive congressional races, slamming "wasteful federal spending."
The $4.1-million ad buy from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation does not mention individual candidates in the November election. The script attacks Washington policies, describing the economic stimulus program as a failure and declaring that "wasteful spending must stop."
The ads — part of a midterm election likely to be the most expensive on record — will run in 27 media markets through August. Democrats hold all but one of the 24 House seats in question, including 17 incumbents seeking reelection.
The television buys are in Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. Several of those, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri, also have tight Senate races.
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Almost Labor Day and the media campaigns to begin
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The Justice Department has informed former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) that the government has ended a six-year investigation of his ties to the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to DeLay's lead counsel in the matter, Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods.
The investigation lasted through two presidents and four attorneys general. Its demise provides a stark footnote to the lobbying scandals that helped Democrats regain the House majority they held for 40 years and lost in the Republican revolution of 1994, which eventually made the pugnacious DeLay one of Washington’s top power brokers.
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What kind of comeback will Tom Delay make?
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the stay, pending an expedited appeal of the Federal District Court Order that held Proposition 8 violated the United States Constitution.
Appellants’ motion for a stay of the district court’s order of August 4, 2010 pending appeal is GRANTED. The court sua sponte orders that this appeal be expedited pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 2. The provisions of Ninth Circuit Rule 31-2.2(a) (pertaining to grants of time extensions) shall not apply to this appeal. This appeal shall be calendared during the week of December6, 2010, at The James R. Browning Courthouse in San Francisco, California.
The previously established briefing schedule is vacated. The opening brief is now due September 17, 2010. The answering brief is due October 18, 2010. The reply brief is due November 1, 2010. In addition to any issues appellants wish to raise on appeal, appellants are directed to include in their opening brief a discussion of why this appeal should not be dismissed for lack of Article III standing. See Arizonans For Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 66 (1997).
Here is the order:
An interesting aside is the matter of standing – whether California Proposition 8 supporters have the right to appeal the decision.
There are two interesting aspects to this issue.
1. There will be an election in November of this year and both the California Attorney General and Governor WILL change. Both California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown oppose the stay and support the overturn of California Proposition 8. They both do have standing and a change in office by either Meg Whitman as Governor and Steve Cooley as Attorney General could change the standing issue – as one or both of them may very well flip on the issue.
2. Should the court of appeal agree with the district court that Proposition 8 proponents do NOT have standing to appeal, then they might very well decide that Proposition 8 proponents might not have been allowed to intervene in the trial court – and, thus vacate the entire trial. Hence, the case would have to be tried again.
In the meantime, there will be no further gay marriages in California, as the issue is played out in the political process.
Tags: Gay_Marriage, Proposition_8
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Carly Fiorina Supporters Outside Barbara Boxer Fundraiser
You think?
California Democrat Barbara Boxer has been charmed in her three previous runs for the Senate.
Her first race was in 1992, nicknamed the Year of the Woman, when female voters in California made their presence felt after the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Her re-election campaign six years later came as California’s economy sailed along and as voters felt more optimistic about the country’s direction than just about any other time in the last quarter century.
Her third Senate campaign took place as the ranks of Democrats soared in California and in the midst of growing anger and pessimism about the war in Iraq. Boxer was one of the war’s leading critics.
No politician wins three terms to the U.S. Senate without a strong resume and campaign presence, but it’s also clear that Boxer has run under favorable political conditions that bear little resemblance to what she faces this year.
One of the Senate’s most liberal members finds herself battling for a fourth term amid a struggling economy, a general anti-incumbent mood and persistent Republican criticism of government spending.
Another potential vulnerability for Boxer: Republican challenger Carly Fiorina is her first female challenger in a Senate race, muting a potential advantage in a state where women comprise the majority of the electorate.
Barbara Boxer is yesterday’s news.
Tags: Barbara Boxer, Carly Fiorina
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