Thursday, February 09, 2012

A Coven of Haters and Extremists Arrive for CPAC - Where Were They in the Prop 8 Trial?


As the Washington Post and many main stream news outlets are reporting, a coven of hate merchants and religious extremists have descended on Washington, D. C., for the annual CPAC gathering where the batshitery and far right extremism is off the charts. Barack Obama, gays, liberals of all types are under attack and hate and down right mean spiritedness seem to be the principal hallmarks. As is so often the case with the far right, one is left wondering whether there is anyone that they don't hate. With this week's ruling in Perry v. Brown, however, one has to ask where were these out spoken defenders of "traditional marriage" and "Judeao-Christian morality" when the defenders of Propostion 8 Needed credible witnesses. I suspect that the answer is very simple: they love to rant and spew lies to equally deranged audiences of Christofascists. When they have to testify under oath and the threat of a perjury conviction, they vanish from the scene. Alvin McEwen at Pam's House Blend looks at these self-styled cultural warriors who were missing in action when it came to testifying in the Proposition 8 trial. Here are some highlights:

In celebration of yesterday’s Appeals Court ruling against Proposition 8, I was going to write something uplifting about the perseverance of the lgbtq community. But I decided not to. For one, I am sure that there are so many others who are going to be dwelling on that subject. For another, based upon the reactions coming from the religious right, I feel that another direction is in order, i.e. a missive directed to Maggie Gallagher, the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, and all of those other folks whining about Tueday’s ruling.

Just where were these folks when the original trial was taking place last year? Why didn’t any of these folks testify as to why Prop 8 was needed? Remember, the pro-Prop 8 side could only find two witnesses and both did a poor job defending the law. One witness, David Blankenhorn, inadvertently made the case for the anti-Prop 8 side! Where were Gallagher, Brian Brown, Peter Sprigg, Tony Perkins, or any of these other folks who put so much work in getting the law passed?

All of this outrage after the fact is bogus. It’s a diversion and a pitiful one at that. It’s an attempt to obscure a basic fact. And that basic fact is that Proposition 8 was built with deliberate lies that Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins, Peter Sprigg, and the rest of those pushing it were too fearful to defend in court.

None of these people – not one – had the guts to stand up in court, take an oath, and attest to the veracity of the claims they made regarding what allegedly would happen should marriage equality become legal in California, because they knew that the lawyers attacking the law – David Boies and Ted Olson – would call them out and reveal their deception.

So, Maggie dearest and the rest of you folks, please stop whining. You are not fooling anyone. You dug this hole yourself, so you have no reason to cry out when the dirt comes in to bury you.

Nothing would have been more satisfying than seeing Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, Peter Sprigg, Tony Perkins, et al, testify under oath and be utterly demolished by Ted Olsen and David Boies. Other than hate and fear based religious beliefs, they have NOTHING to support their claims. We know that and they know that. Would that the simple minded and ignorant that they shake down time and time again for money would get the message.

No comments: