Sweet! The New Hampshire legislature upheld same sex marriage by a hefty margin.
A memorable photo of NOM's Brian Brown crying after the vote is below, for your enjoyment, but I wanted to being up two particular pieces of Brown's BS (har har) about this particular vote.
On Monday, Brian Brown appeared on Thomas Roberts' MSNBC show, and said the following:
"The people of New Hampshire did not want same sex marriage. Again, this was bought and paid for by a lot of [out-of-state special interest] money, and the fact is that many of those legislators who voted for [same sex marriage two years ago] are now out of office. The people voted in the ballot box and had a historic change there where the Republicans took over. 119 legislators were booted out, and they were booted out because they took it upon themselves to redefine marriage. This bill will allow the people to have a vote through a referendum and will right this great wrong that was put on New Hampshire, not coming from the people, but again coming from out of state interest groups who tried to buy and pay for same sex marriage in New Hampshire."
I could use this moment to point out the irony that NOM is an "out of state interest" which pours money into all sorts of campaigns in order to influence individual elections, state referenda, legislation, and so forth. If it is OK for one special interest group to do their thing, it is OK for their opposition, too.
However, what I find really telling is the second half of NOM's press release, issued a few hours after the vote:
"The only time gay marriage activists are able to win is when they can bypass the people and get activist judges or legislators to do their bidding, usually after plying them with large campaign contributions.
This is a sad day for New Hampshire families who in 2010 had elected what they thought was a solid pro-marriage majority. They were once again let down by politicians who promised them one thing and then left them at the altar when the vote was on the line. These legislators will be held accountable."
Take a moment to enjoy the abject silliness of calling a legislator an activist [**face palm**]... OK, all set?
So, which is it, Brian? Was it the Democratic majority a few years back that accepted "large campaign contributions" from out of state interests? Or was it the current Republican majority being "plied" with same?
Let us walk through several permutations here... Watch closely, now:
1. Brian is wrong on both counts, or is misinformed, or is lying: in both instances, legislators voted as they felt their constituents wanted, and same sex marriage just wasn't all that important an issue to them, "out of state interest money" or not. His interpretation of the 119 seats changing hands in the most recent NH elections actually had very little to do with same sex marriage.
2. Brian is correct about the Democrats but not the Republicans: the Dems voted in favor of it two years ago because they were "bought and paid for"; the Republicans voted for it this week because... Well, for some reason not tied to money, right? In Brian's world, Republicans are on his side, by and large, so this must be a real shock to him. More importantly, it is always easier (and more preferable) to accuse your opponents of being for sale in office.
3. Brian is correct about the Republicans but not the Democrats: the Dems voted for same sex marriage a couple years back because that is what Democrats do; the Republicans voted for it this week because... Well, for some reason not tied to money, right? See #2.
4. Can he possibly be correct about both [insert a "having it both ways" joke here]? Is it possible that the money interests won both votes, one from a Democratic majority, the other from a 70%+ Republican majority? If so, some clever bugger has finally figured out the magic formula that would compel any legislature, regardless of party makeup, to enact same sex marriage legislation. Highly unlikely.
The common element here is the constituency. If marriage truly were the issue, this vote would at least have been much closer than 211-116. Remember, he claimed a causal relationship between the marriage issue and the election in which a third of the NH legislature seats switched due to voters "booting" out the same sex marriage supporters. Since the results were essentially the same, Brian is therefore wrong about same sex marriage being a major issue for NH voters. They just don't seem to care about it.
Keep in mind that he made two claims: he tied the previous election results to the issue of same sex marriage, AND implied that "out of state interest money" was the main driver two years ago. So... what does that mean for all those Republicans who voted to uphold same sex marriage this week? Are they ALSO "activist" legislators taking "out of state interest money" while being "plied" with large campaign contributions after taking a seat from a Democratic predecessor who had been "booted out" because they, too, did exactly the same things two years ago in voting for same sex marriage equality?
We are seeing what will hopefully be a string of rebukes of Brian Brown, NOM, and all their cohorts. Their problem is that they have won so frequently (at least with the popular referenda) that they aren't prepared to cushion their talking points in case they lose. Sure sure, judicial "activism" still has some tread on the tires, and of course you can always hypocritically blame "out of state interests" for exerting inappropriate influence.
The real challenge is ensuring that you aren't also using those same insulting, hypocritical, dumbass labels for your own friends, especially not the friends you helped get elected before.
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