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Margie Christoffersen didn't make it very far into our conversation before she cracked. Chest heaving, tears streaming, she reached for her husband Wayne's hand and then mine, squeezing as if she'd never let go. "I've almost had a nervous breakdown. It's been the worst thing that's ever happened to me," she sobbed as curious patrons at a Farmers Market coffee shop looked on, wondering what calamity had visited this poor woman who's an honest 6 feet tall, with hair as blond as the sun. Well, Christoffersen was a manager at El Coyote, the Beverly Boulevard landmark restaurant that's always had...

According to the official Statement of the Vote released by the Secretary of State. Proposition 8 passed by a margin of 52.3% to 47.7%. Here are some additional facts: # Prop. 8 received 2,150,000 more votes than did Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was reelected in 2006 # Prop. 8 received nearly 2 million more votes than Dianne Feinstein did when she was reelected to the US Senate in 2006 # Prop. 8 received 250,000 more votes than did John Kerry when he carried California in 2004 # Prop. 8 received 45,000 more votes than did Barbara Boxer in her landslide...

Plouffe on the Rev. Wright controversy: "We failed as a campaign to do the proper research there. … We hadn't looked through every page of every sermon. … The ferocity of it took us by surprise, and I think the press could see we were taken by surprise." The initial round of videotape of Wright, he added was as bad as when Wright "went on his little media tour" thereafter. By the general election, however, "the public had digested Rev. Wright. I don't want to minimize it; it gave them some indigestion, but they'd digested it." Axelrod, after receiving a...

<p>Joe Wurzelbacher says he felt "dirty" after "seeing some of the things that take place" on the campaign trail.</p> <p>'Joe the Plumber' told conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday that he felt "dirty" after hitting the campaign trail with Republican presidential nominee John McCain and "seeing some of the things that take place," Politico reported.</p>

Marc Shaiman, the Tony Award-winning composer of the film and stage musical “Hairspray,” has done the country a major, if inadvertent, service. He has composed a brief musical piece against California Proposition 8 that takes only three minutes to reveal the ignorance and hate that pervades so much anti-Proposition 8 activism. This short musical, viewed more than 2 million times on the Internet, features major Hollywood talents playing (through song) two groups on a beach -- gay men and women in beach clothes and a stuffy formally dressed church group composed of whites and blacks. Its message begins with a...

Its like that old story, counting votes is like Sausage, you may enjoy eating it but under no circumstances do you want to see them made. The vote counting process in Minnesota is so frightening and embarrassing. Votes are found in cars, on Machines that were never counted, its a joke. Yesterday Franken's team announced that there were 133 votes missing, of course many of the people involved say that the people were double counted and there are no missing votes. Today they found missing votes (12) but they are not from the missing batch. Are the Keystone Kops running...

There would be no cure with W. in the White House I’ll organize my comments with reference to the distinctions I introduced yesterday, though the order will be different. Brand-name voting versus rational-analysis voting. What I think is that the Iraq War ruined President Bush’s brand and President Bush ruined the Republican brand. I think that’s what sank us in 2006 and 2008. Sure, there were scandals, there was rampant spending and government bloat, there was a charismatic Democratic nominee, and in the final weeks of the ’08 campaign there was a financial crisis that sealed John McCain’s fate. But...

Yes on Proposition 8 campaign today accused legislators of “grandstanding for the cameras” in an inappropriate and misguided publicity stunt designed to influence the California Supreme Court in the lead-up to the Court’s scheduled hearing on the validity of Proposition 8. “You’d think that these legislators would be focused on resolving the budget deficit or improving the economy. Instead, they seem more interested in grandstanding for the cameras and thumbing their noses at voters who enacted Proposition 8 by a nearly 600,000 vote margin,” said Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8. “Sadly, with an approval rating hovering...

“Same Sex Marriage” and Its Threat to Religious Liberty November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse Tactics used by gay marriage campaigners confirm believers’ worst fears. As wildfires blazed in California last week, anger at the outcome of the state’s referendum on marriage blazed across the country. After a hard-fought campaign over Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a clear majority of California voters endorsed it, and the gay marriage lobby was enraged. Now, as same sex marriage campaigners take the issue back to the courts, it is unclear what the...

Ever since a slim majority outlawed gay marriage in California, opponents have waged national protests and petitions, urging the judicial system to reconsider the results of the Nov. 4 referendum. (Proposition 8 overturned an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.) While the court weighs whether or not to get back into the fray, the civil unrest ignited by the ban shows no sign of abating. A national protest against Prop. 8 organized by JoinTheImpact.com is scheduled for today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to...

But it was the unheralded passage of another initiative that may make the most history and crimp Democrat hopes for a prolonged era of dominance. Proposition 11, which passed with the narrowest of margins (50.8 percent), could mark the most serious challenge to the political class by voters since the foiled term limit movement of the 1990s. It strikes at the core pillar of power: incumbency guaranteed through gerrymandered districts. Californians took away from their legislature the power to draw its own districts--a key element of nearly uninterrupted Democratic control since 1970. The task will now be handled by an...

More than 3,000 people, including longtime Mormon critic James Dobson of Focus on the Family, have signed an online petition thanking the LDS Church for its efforts on behalf of California's traditional marriage initiative known as Proposition 8. "Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and moral courage that so many members of your faith community displayed as part of this coalition effort -- as Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons and people of other faith communities all came together to fight this great battle for marriage," says the petition, which is addressed to LDS President Thomas...

Left to their own devices, most Americans can work these differences out in politics much as they do in their everyday lives, as untidy as these solutions may be. Unfortunately, when the courts short-circuit this process, they do three things corrosive to our politics. First, they act as dishonest referees, imposing one set of preferences over another. Second, they cheat the American people of an honest political contest, where candidates need to persuade the people of their views to put them into effect. Ed Whelan, a former Justice Department official who now runs the D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center,...

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported an important effect of the 2008 presidential campaign: For the first time, traffic at left-leaning political Web sites overtook traffic at right-leaning competitors. The Drudge Report and Free Republic had the largest number of unique visitors in September 2007, but in September 2008, that honor went to the Huffington Post. Political strategists have been analyzing the impact of the Internet on American political communication since at least the mid-1990s.

I was interested to see that in the recent election exercise in the USA, although the Democratic Party won the presidency, and increased its majority in the Senate and the Congress, it lost ballots in three States which would have redefined the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions. In Arizona, Proposition 102 won by 56 per cent to 44 per cent; in Florida, Amendment 2 passed by 62.4 per cent to 37.6 per cent and in California, Proposition 8 passed by 52.2 per cent to 47.8 per cent in a hard-fought contest. In California, campaigns for and against Proposition...

California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state. The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist. Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open...

Proposition 8 was an unsung victory for defenders of individual liberty. Wait, I know what many people will say to this. How can a measure that prevents gay couples from getting a marriage license be beneficial to the defense of individual liberty? It's because that vote represented a line drawn in the sand, even if a thin one, preventing the government from furthering its control over the institution. As it currently stands, there is nothing short of the problem of finding a pastor, priest or rabbi who is willing to perform the marriage rite that is stopping most gay couples...

Should there be boycotts, blacklists, firings or de facto shunning of those who supported Proposition 8? That's the issue consuming many in liberal Hollywood who fought to defeat the initiative banning same-sex marriage and are now reeling with recrimination and dismay. Meanwhile, activists continue to comb donor lists and employ the Internet to expose those who donated money to support the ban. Already out is Scott Eckern, director of the nonprofit California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, who resigned after a flurry of complaints from prominent theater artists, including "Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman, when word of his contribution to the Yes...

Just so we're clear, the ongoing gay rage after California's vote isn't about benefits. California's civil unions were materially indistinguishable from marriage. That state's Supreme Court said so when it ruled that this wasn't enough. Nor is it about having a family. Gay couples have those. Billboards around our town point this out. As one woman among the 200 protesters in downtown Milwaukee last weekend put it, "We want our family recognized." Which is to say it's not about gay people at all. It's about you. Their love isn't at issue. Your love for their love is. Employer benefits were...

The emotion and strong-feelings on both sides of Proposition 8 divided leaders in the African-American community on Friday night. At the annual NAACP Banquet in San Francisco some pastors chose to boycott because of another's stance on same-sex marriage. "Seizing our moment of triumph" was the NAACP celebratory theme for this major fundraiser, but conversation often still centered on Proposition 8 and Rev. Amos Brown's much publicized stance to support same-sex marriage civil rights. "Tonight our national president, Ben Jealous, will be here to show he stands with us. And for the state president Alice Huffman to be here, to...

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

Proposition 8: Governor Schwarzenegger Respect the Voter's Will If you are a California citizen, please act immediately to sign this petition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is urging the California Supreme Court to overthrow the results of the recent free and fair election which passed Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. His actions as governor in attempting to negate this vote are an insult to the voters of California and undermine the rule of law. We will deliver this letter with your signatures to his office as a means of saying that the voices of...

Fighting for the First AmericaThis analysis shows that of the 23 states with the smallest percentage of military population, only three were won by McCain (13%). Whereas, of the next 27 states with the largest percentage engaged in military service, 19 were won by McCain (70%). That is obviously not a coincidence.

There's been a lot of outrage from the No on Proposition 8 camp since California voters approved a ban on gay marriage. But until now, there has been less soul searching about what went wrong. But Terry Leftgoff, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Business Assn. of Santa Barbara, has a thoughtful piece on WeHo News looking at how the opposition to Proposition 8 fell short. It did, he says, on several levels: A mixed message, failing to respond to attacks from Yes on 8 forces, little black and Latino outreach. A snippet: The No on 8 campaign began by...

Although we too will welcome the day that Proposition 8 is consigned to history and the right to same-sex marriage is restored to Californians, we are sorry to see that the court agreed to take the cases directly, rather than letting this issue percolate up through the lower courts. We see no reason for the haste, despite the intensity of emotion roused by the measure's defeat.In fact, that very heatedness is a reason for the court to move slowly, allowing it to rule under cooler circumstances. Similarly, painful though it is to see Proposition 8 take effect, we agree with...

The California Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 on Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision. The court may hold a hearing on the lawsuits as early as March, a timetable that scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues. The court's action, taken during a closed conference, suggested that the court wants to resolve all of the legal issues surrounding Proposition 8, including the fate of existing gay marriages, in a...

Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue, the California Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the case of whether a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions was constitutional. The court, however, stopped short of suspending the ban, which California voters passed as Proposition 8 two weeks ago after an expensive and hard-fought campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO – California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules. The California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify Proposition 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that overruled the court's decision in May that legalized gay marriage. All three cases claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.read entire article here

RUSH: Today we start with Jerry in Phoenix. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: It's great talking with you, Rush. How are you today? RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: All right. Really fast, I noticed that the Democrats were saying how we should all be unified and -- and get away from the rancor (garbled) Bush, but I noticed that the gay activists in California, they lost. Why aren't they gracious? They've been all angry, full of rage and protesting and knocking off ladies' crosses. Well, why shouldn't we be like them? RUSH: Well, answer the...

RUSH: Now, if you missed the first hour, Chuck Hagel, the disgraced and retiring so-called Republican Senator from Nebraska, went to Johns Hopkins University to do a seminar to the enlightened students there on American politics, and he basically did a big cry session (crying) because he was criticized by me, the leader of the conservative movement. He said, "Limbaugh ought to run for office if it's so easy. Limbaugh does nothing but tear people down. Let Limbaugh run for office." Senator Hagel, as I have said countless times, I will not endure the pay cut to run for office....

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, Chuck Hagel, who has made the decision to retire from the United States Senate, a Republican Senator from Nebraska, has taken on the leader of the conservative movement. HAGEL: Every country out there has their know-nothing party. And of course we're much educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh and others. I wish those people would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership, and they have an answer for everything, and they'd be elected overwhelmingly if Rush would run for anything or any of those people. They love just...

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today said it is “profoundly gratified” that the California Supreme Court granted all their requests by agreeing to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure’s validity, granted their request to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest, denied the request of others to delay implementation of Proposition 8, and refused to allow outside groups to directly participate in the litigation. “This is a great day for the rule of law and the voters of California,”...

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

Youthful Election Postmortem by: Bethany Stotts, November 19, 2008 With two of every three young voters under 30 years old voting for Barack Obama, a great deal has been made of the 2008 youth vote in recent weeks. Leading progressives speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) recently concluded that this generation’s overwhelming support for Obama represents not only a “sea change” toward progressive ideology, but an opportunity to coopt these voters’ youthful energy on behalf of causes such as global warming and universal healthcare. The youth vote has historically voted similarly to other demographics within the overall American...

An article in The New York Times reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown has asked the state’s Supreme Court to rule on the legality of a voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “The central argument in the recently filed lawsuits is that Proposition 8 is a significant enough revision to the State Constitution to require approval by the legislature,” the article stated. It also noted that the passage of Proposition 8 “has prompted protests across the country.” Here’s what the paper that makes all the news fit its agenda forgot to mention:...

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight over Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage in California that voters approved Nov. 4. That's when the California Supreme Court could decide whether to review several lawsuits filed by Prop 8 opponents. The groups claim the ballot measure is unconstitutional. The court could also issue a stay on Prop 8 while it decides. That would allow same-sex marriages to resume until a final ruling is made on the lawsuits. Four Bay Area counties are the latest to join the legal fight to try to stop state Proposition 8. The Board...

Six months ago, California's highest court discarded its reputation for caution and ended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Now the moderately conservative state Supreme Court is being asked to take an even riskier step -- to overturn the November voter initiative that reinstated the marriage ban and possibly provoke a voter revolt that could eject one or more of the justices from the bench. The court is under intense pressure from all sides. Its first response to the challenges may come today, when the justices meet privately in a weekly conference to decide which cases to accept for review....

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among...

As reaction to the vote on Proposition 8 continues, reasonable people have a right to ask whether some of the tactics of same-sex marriage supporters will provoke another backlash. People are free to protest, but at best, or worst depending on how you see this volatile issue, gay-rights supporters who are engaging in some questionable tactics risk alienating people in the middle who may have been considering changing their positions. The positions of both sides are more than clear. Gay-rights advocates not only want California courts to toss out the Yes on 8 vote from the Nov. 4 election, but...

The California Supreme Court is being asked by Proposition 8 backers to do something extreme -– to overturn the will of voters who earlier this month banned gay marriage. It’s a choice fraught with potential political ramifications for the justices -- including threats of recall. “It is a time of lots of crocodiles in the bathtub,” said Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who has followed the court for decades. "Their oath requires them to ignore these kinds of political threats. But the threat of having to face a contested election is a significant one.”

Gay is the new black is one of the mottos of the movement to redefine marriage to include two people of the same sex. The likening of the movement for same-sex marriage to the black civil rights struggle is a primary argument of pro same-sex marriage groups. This comparison is a major part of the moral appeal of redefining marriage: Just as there were those who once believed that blacks and whites should not be allowed to be married, the argument goes, there are today equally bigoted individuals who believe that men should not be allowed to marry men and...

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today urged the California Supreme Court to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure's validity and have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest. Expressing confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold the validity of Proposition 8, the authors of the measure urged the Supreme Court to deny requests to stay implementation of Proposition 8 pending resolution of the legal issues. In calling for the Supreme Court to take original jurisdiction of three challenges to...

If someone had told me last year that, come the fall of 2008, I would be praying for John McCain to become the next President Of The United States, I would have had three words for him – seek psychiatric help. (McCain is my kind of Republican the way “rap” is my kind of music.) But, in the last four months of the campaign, that’s exactly what I was doing – praying for a McCain victory -- – not because McCain is so good (any resemblance between the Arizona Senator and a conservative is purely coincidental), but because I would...

Commenter "scottinoc" wrote on Free Republic: On the discussion of why there aren't "enough" African American coaches in college football, Chris Fowler discussed the lure of big money NFL contracts for black assistant coaches, etc, then the discussion naturally gravitated to the racism angle, "behind the scenes". "Among those behind-the-scenes financial backers of big universities, there may not be...you know...that many people who voted for Obama..." Sheesh, now I can't even watch ESPN college football gameday without being told that I'm racist for not voting for Obama. Thanks, Chris. Look in the mirror. And look at your own network and...

Political protests are one thing, but when old-fashioned bullying techniques that prompt fear of safety are used, activists have crossed a line. There is a difference between respectful dissent and advocacy for one's civil rights and demanding public endorsement of what many still consider "unnatural sexual behavior" through hate language and fear tactics. One thing is for sure: The days of peaceful marches like those headed up by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seem to be long gone. The truth is that the great majority of Prop 8 advocates are not bigots or hatemongers. They are American citizens who are...

The march to protest Proposition 8 is continuing to wind its way downtown, and marchers got louder as they passed a cluster of three people holding "Yes on 8" signs. One of those holding the signs, David Cruz, said he wanted to remind marchers that the majority of voters have spoken by the passage of Prop. 8 in the Nov. 4 election. "They are not going to overturn the will of the majority,"said Cruz, 34, a College Area resident. Just then, marcher David Gonzales pushed toward Cruz, screaming that he was a disgrace. March volunteers kept them separated and Gonzales...

Playing the race card on gay marriage By Jeff Jacoby http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It has been widely noted that black voters put California's Proposition 8 over the top last week, with nearly 7 out of 10 voting in favor of the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. As the magnitude of black opposition to same-sex marriage became clear on Election Day, blogger Andrew Sullivan, a prominent gay-marriage champion, reacted bitterly: "Every ethnic group supported marriage equality," he wrote, "except African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly against extending to gay people the civil rights once denied them."...

Today, leaders representing the broad coalition of Californians who supported Proposition 8 called on leaders of the No on Proposition 8 campaign, in addition to Senator Diane Feinstein and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to denounce the attacks against citizens who supported the constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. "Amidst all this lawlessness, harassment, trampling of civil rights and now domestic terrorism, one thing stands out: the deafening silence of our elected officials. Not a single elected leader has spoken out against what is happening. Where is Governor Arnold Schwarzenengger while churches are being attacked? And where...

President-elect Barack Obama met Thursday with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) at his transition headquarters in Chicago as a growing chorus of advisers pushes her for secretary of state. This would give him a “Team of Rivals” Cabinet that would allow him to focus on the domestic economy while Clinton traveled the world to shore up America’s image with allies. A clue to the secret visit was contained in a note last night from the protective pool of journalists who follow Obama: “Several minutes before President-elect Obama's motorcade emerged from the basement garage beneath his transition headquarters, another unidentified motorcade...

ProtectMarriage.com was disappointed to hear that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has disregarded the will of the people of Los Angeles and the rest of the state by voting to join a lawsuit filed by the City of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Clara county challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8. “This is a legal issue for the court to decide,” said Andy Pugno, ProtectMarriage.com attorney. “It doesn’t matter how many politicians line up to ask the court to overturn Prop 8. What matters is that the majority of the voters approved Proposition 8, regardless of opposition...