[CA Conservative]

For those of you who, like me, wondered what ever possessed Ted Olson to join the gay marriage crusade - it looks like he's following the lead of his new wife. I guess Barbara was the reason he acted like a conservative before - he has no real conservative principles of his own. Sad.

[KansasGirl]

Barbara clearly was his better 1/2.

[longtermmemmory]

He follows his wives.

how pathetic. He is only worthy of pity. He has no convictions of his own.

[freekitty]

It’s sad this has happened. You know he is being influenced by this fool he married.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I will never understand how same-sex marriage belongs in the courts in the place.

If Ted Olson and others believe that we should change our marriage laws and social policies to include same-sex couples, they can believe that. I wish they would be intellectually honest enough to admit that everyone is treated equally under current marriage law, and that judges have to change the definition of marriage in order to accomplish what they want to see happen through the courts.

But there is not intellectual honesty on the left, so, the left decides that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue, then the courts get involved. Then gay groups don’t even have to lobby legislatures to change marriage laws. They just find a judge to declare something unconstitutional, and viola, we have new laws without them having to work to change the law.

I wonder how homosexual marriage became a liberal cause. If you review the 1996 congressional vote on the Defense of Marriage Act, you will see that it passed with over 80% support. And, you will see that many liberals voted for it.

It’s amazing to me that 20 years ago, marriage was about the least controversial issue in America. Nobody seriously questioned how it is defined or who the partners are. Now a beauty pagent contestant or anyone can be severely criticized in the MSM and by the left for thinking that marriage should be a man and a woman.

And why does Barack Obama get away with saying he believes marriage is a man and a woman? Why do some liberals even today get a pass from the radicals who want to institutionalize same-sex marriage?

[Deb]

I knew it.

[Deb]

Ahem!

[MBB1984]

She’s got his name, she’s got his number, she’s got him by the .....................

[OldDeckHand]

I met him at a professional function some years ago. I couldn’t get over how long his hair was, which of course was amplified by the fact he was speaking to a room full of Navy and Marine Corps lawyers. Unless your name is Ted Nugent, conservatives don’t have hair that long. Just saying.

[kcvl]

When Opposites Influence (Dear Ted - it’s called PW for a reason)

“He would have never been able to take the other side,” she said, before adding with a laugh, “He wouldn’t have had a wife after that!”

She continued: “After eight years of knowing Ted, I thought this is something I can jump into with two feet, really sink my teeth into, and we can do this together.”

And jump she did. For the large team, working round-the-clock in their San Francisco office, Mrs. Olson provided a down-home dose of Southern hospitality. She was also a perpetual cheerleader; a front-row presence for nearly every day of the trial; a moot-court spectator and, not least, a Georgetown-educated lawyer with a master’s degree in tax law from New York University. And, as she put it, Mr. Olson’s “Girl Friday, Friday through Thursday.”

She offered her legal perspective (“I was delighted that Ted occasionally listened to me, since that is not his normal habit around the house,” she joked, but would not share any specific details on what they discussed), and went on sushi runs for her husband when the court broke for an hour lunch. (“We found a sushi place that took six minutes to get there, six minutes to order, six minutes to eat the sushi, and six minutes to get back,” she said.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/fashion/19Lady.html?_r=1&sq=C-SPAN&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=all

Mary Boies, a friend of the couple who is married to Mr. Boies, said: “He’s just a kinder, gentler Ted, but I think he’s more relaxed and more enjoying of a good time, and in that way I think she’s been a very big influence on him. He probably is more tolerant of Democrats now. Not that he agrees with them, but there’s no point in being the ant at the picnic.”

[CA Conservative]

Here is a snapshot of his wife's political contributions:

Contributor	Occupation	Date	Amount	Recipient
BOOTH, LADY GREAT FALLS,VA 22066	SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY	4/15/08	$1,800	Obama, Barack (D)
BOOTH, LADY E MS GREAT FALLS,VA 22066	SELF-EMPLOYED/TAX LAWYER	3/26/07	$2,300	Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)

Source: OpenSecrets.Org

[kcvl]

Ted Olson was obviously never a conservative. He is a lawyer, period. He will screw anything available (especially younger somethings).

Now the ‘media’ trots him out every time they want to argue against conservatives and he allows them to use him. Sickening piece of garbage.

Ted Olson, your wife Barbara deserved better you hypocrite.

******

the man she met in person won her over and the two eventually married. Olson had previously been married to conservative commentator Barbara Olson, who was killed during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But while his new wife has “certainly influenced my views [with] her ideas, her approach, her feelings,” Olson was less converted to the cause of equality by Booth Olson than supported by her as he undertook the suit that challenged the constitutionality of rescinding legal rights for minorities at the ballot box. As Lady Booth Olson put it, the issue was not about political left versus political right, but rather a matter “of right and wrong, justice and injustice, and discrimination is something that offends at any time.”

“During the trial, I kept looking down at my wedding ring and thinking, ’Gosh, I am so lucky to be here,’ “ the article recounted her as saying. “I waited until 45 to get married, taking it for granted the entire time.”

In a Jan. 9 op-ed piece published by Newsweek, Olson outlined his reasons for taking the case. “Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage,” he wrote. “This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize.

“Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation,” continued Olson. “At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership. We encourage couples to marry because the commitments they make to one another provide benefits not only to themselves but also to their families and communities.

“Marriage requires thinking beyond one’s own needs. It transforms two individuals into a union based on shared aspirations, and in doing so establishes a formal investment in the well-being of society,” Olson noted. “The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this, rather than lament it.”

[Alberta's Child]

The late Barbara Olson was Ted Olson's third wife. I'll offer no comment on any personal matters related to his first two marriages, but I wonder how seriously he's ever been about the institution of marriage in the first place.

[kcvl]

Mrs. Olson told the paper, “He would have never been able to take the other side. He wouldn’t have had a wife after that!”

Mrs. Olson, a lawyer herself, was a significant presence behind the scenes on the case. And by simply speaking with the paper, she is continuing to extend her influence. She agreed to the interview so that people could see her and her husband as “happy heterosexuals who are completely supporting this,” and support it as well.

How the Olson's Marriage Could Influence Yours

Edwin Bonilla

"It's important that Ted Olson's wife helped him understand the right of same-sex marriage because without her, we wouldn't have the talent of Ted Olson representing the plaintiffs, along with David Boies"

[Ann Archy]

I KNEW IT HAD TO BE THE NEW WIFE!!!! DESPICABLE!!

She's most likely got a GAY CHILD.

[sickoflibs]

Ted Olsen also came out in support of the Mosque location too just to cause trouble. But what bothers me is not so much that he suports same sex marriage, It’s that Olsen wants to be the one to create a new federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage through the judiciary, and then claim it was always in the constitution and we just never saw it. (Just like a liberal does)

Yet with respect to ending the granting citizenship to illegals born here liberals claim we have to actually amend the US constitution, then further claim we want to repeal the whole 14th amendment. Why cant a Republican get on TV and say we will handle the illegal birthright issue like democrats handle creating new rights in the constitution? Appoint the correct judge.

Ann Coulter put it best. If you want to repeal a 10,000 year old tradition of man-woman marriage, at least give us a vote.

[Wuli]

“And she’s certainly influenced my views — her ideas, her approach, her feelings.”

So, Obama is looking at a potential judge’s FEELINGS - their ability to have ‘empathy’ for a litigant; and Mr. Olsen, in spite of his own history with Constitutional litigation has, apparently, been influenced - in the “same-sex marriage” issue, by his wife’s FEELINGS.

I recall, how frequently over the years I have counseled younger acquaintances and friends on why, when answering questions on a job interview they should generally not begin by saying “I feel that.............”.

I know, in their mind, they think they are talking about what they “believe”, but even so, the interviewer does not give a $%#@ what you “feel” or what you “believe”; they are looking for what you KNOW, and even if you are not sure, they are looking for what you THINK, in a rational, reasoned manner (not feelings or beliefs). Which always leaves the best answer beginning with “I think..........”.

If the Maxims are true (which they are) that true justice is blind, that we are meant to be a nation of laws, not a nation of men, then how we “feel” about the litigants (either of them) and how we “feel” about the law, does not make for a reasoned judgment about the standing that a law has, as to its Constitutionality. We may not like a law - we think there should be a different one. That is insufficient to judge it unconstitutional.

As the NRO author alluded to, if Mr. Olsen was still a Conservative and yet believed that same-sex marriage ought to be “legalized” then as a Conservative, his “feelings” about the laws on this matter, as they are, would not lead to the “Constitutional” argument he tries to make, because his informed reason, as a Conservative would instead lead him to (1)uphold the Constitutionality of the present laws, while (2)seeking LEGISLATIVE solutions to change the laws.

Certainly, even Mr. Olsen, with all his Conservative history, can discern when an issue is about mere “eligibility” for something, and when it is about the core “definition” of it.

If WE THE PEOPLE - not the judges - are not the authors of that core definition, much less any matter of eligibility, then I can assure you that the lawyers for polygamy, and other forms of marriage, KNOW that the language that will REQUIRE their EQUAL RIGHTS be recognized WILL come forth from the legal arguments of the judges who try to dictate “same sex marriage”, even as they - the judges - deny that is their intent.

I have never met Mr. Olsen, so I can’t say that I know him at all.

But, just as an observer, I have had a concern that Mr. Olsen, having obtained such a high public profile doing work for George W. Bush, and having for quite a few years now been away from that limelight, has, in part, attached himself to the “same-sex marriage” radical judicial agenda, for the media image and hoped-for expansion of his legal client base that the whole thing may bring him. Do I know that to be the case? No. And maybe I am wrong. Yet, given his legal history, it seems strange that even his wife’s feelings alone would drag him into this high profile issue.

[patlin]

So the so called “know it alls” of the wanna be conservative movement are finally getting around to the actual truth of who Olson is, facts that I sent them nearly a year ago? NOT IMPRESSED! This is merely a blurb so they can say they covered it, expect it to go no where...nothing to see here folks, move along. This guy who is one of the most influential lawyers to Congress is of no importance to you little people.

http://constitutionallyspeaking.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/the-congressional-natural-born-citizen-part-iii-mccain-s-res-511-were-meant-to-sanitize-obamas-ineligibility-to-be-president/

Parts I & II are here:

http://constitutionallyspeaking.wordpress.com/a-congressional-natural-born-citizen-parts-i-ii-iii/

[Ben Ficklin]

There seems to be a trend here that most are missing.

There have been a number of instances of prominent members of the Federalist Society(in this case Olson) taking positions unpopular with the true conservatives and real Americans.

Another example is Kenneth Star supporting birth right citizenship. Also, there were several feddies supporting the Kagan SCOTUS nomination.

It was only a decade ago that Hillary declared the Federalist Society to be the cornerstone of the VRWC

[WarEagle]

Same thing happened to Barry Goldwater, if you remember.

What is it with men? I'm trying not to male-bash here, but what is it about a woman's influence that can make a formerly principled man ditch everything?

As whoever it was said, "Cherchez le femme".

Barbara, we miss you more than you can know.

[Heart of Georgia]

***He put the same question to all of them: why shouldn’t gay people have the right to marry? “I asked them to give me their best argument. They had all sorts of intangible instincts and feelings about what’s ‘right,’” he says. “But I didn’t hear any persuasive response.”

***“And she’s certainly influenced my views — her ideas, her approach, her feelings.”

Mr. Olson can't be persuaded by feelings yet he can be influenced by feelings. So basically he wants to have it both ways according to whichever way works to his benefit at the moment. I pray he comes to his senses. Soon!