The New Majority

Given our history of polygamy, we Utahns are sensitive to claims of matrimonial degradation.  So it should come as no shock that Utah legislators are spearheading the movement to ban gay marriage in Washington D.C.   The Senate effort is being led by Robert Bennett, Utah’s “junior” Senator (he is 6 feet 6 inches tall and 76 years old).  And Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, along with Jim Jordan of Ohio, wrote the House’s resolution that expressed unease with gay marriage in the federal district. But Utah’s cry of “one man, one woman” has more to it than my state’s past forays into ...

The Republican National Committee is backing away from a controversial “litmus test” for GOP candidates and will offer members a significantly watered-down version to vote upon at its annual conference next week, FrumForum has learned. Jim Bopp, the RNC member from Indiana who originally proposed the so-called “purity test” has submitted a milder version, dubbed the “accountability resolution.” The latter makes no reference to the first “10 points” that all GOP candidates would be questioned on, including supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, opposing cap and trade, and denying federal ...

Scott Brown is not… exactly my kind of candidate.  My kind of candidate is and remains Bob McDonnell; attractive and articulate, but with a blizzard of clever policy proposals that fit the era that they are being proposed in. I’m also a social conservative, and I like my candidates to have culture war theses instead of Cosmo pictorials in their past! But, candidates need to fit their state, and Massachusetts is probably not the kind of state to run a McDonnell-type campaign.  With continual education wars, Romneycare and gay marriage, Massachusetts has been through enough policy upheaval ...

Almost everybody who follows politics knows the late Tip O’Neill’s famous aphorism, “All politics is local.” What most folks don’t know about that statement is that O’Neill wasn’t describing an existing reality; he was describing a political strategy. The late House speaker was no fool. He knew that big chunks of the Democratic platform – gay rights, big spending at home, weakness and retreat abroad – were broadly unpopular with the American people. His solution: “localize” races to the extent possible. Deliver strong constituent service, bring home the bacon, be a familiar face to the ...

Despite the opposition of many D.C. residents, the D.C. City Council bypassed a ballot vote, ignored constituents and passed legislation legalizing gay marriage. Congress has final approval over legislation passed by the District and can choose to intervene or allow legislation to become law. Thirty-seven House Republicans and two Senators filed an amicus brief with the D.C. Superior Court, asking that the issue be put on the ballot. The court challenge argues that the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics overstepped its authority when it determined that putting the issue to a vote would ...

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs took strenuous exception to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Newsweek interview. Tim Pawlenty, the very model of a modern GOP candidate, considered by many as a possible front runner for the Presidency in 2012: Anti-science and anti-gay. Let me ask you about social issues your party has been dealing with. In her book, Palin claims that McCain’s handlers wanted her to be silent about her belief in creationism. How would you describe your view? I can tell you how we handle it in Minnesota. We leave it to the local school districts. We don’t mandate ...

On Tuesday, Redstate.com’s Erik Erickson penned a piece calling on “real conservatives” to take another look at whether or not they really want Mark Kirk to get the GOP nomination in Illinois: “ Kirk is not a conservative. The question is: is Mark Kirk the most electable guy the Illinois GOP can put up in 2010?” The short answer to this question is yes – and for exactly the reasons that make Erickson so dubious. Erickson proposes that: conservatives who are happy to ‘grin and bear it’ with Kirk may at least want to consider the following: Kirk voted against the Defense of Marriage ...

Yesterday, the New York State Senate crushed a bill that would have allowed gay couples to get married by a margin of 38-24.  While righties everywhere are probably doing back flips this morning and proclaiming that the people have spoken, the decision is not just morally wrong, it is also unconstitutional and bad for the future of the Republican Party. As women, blacks, the handicapped, and many others who have been deprived of equal treatment in the past can attest, getting society to recognize the errors of the status quo is a long, hard struggle which continues to this day.  But if ...

Jonathan Rauch draws attention to a Nov. 20 open letter signed by Christian intellectuals. Jonathan comments: I interpret the release of this document, at this moment, as a warning shot directed at the conservative movement and, less directly, the Republican Party.  The gist, in my own translation: 1) “Opposition to abortion and gay marriage will be the two issues for the social right. Forget about diversifying the portfolio or changing the emphasis. Not gonna happen on our watch.” 2) “Never mind polls showing gradually increasing acceptance of gay marriage. Never mind the country’s ...

What are liberals teaching their children about homosexuality? If they were enlightened and educated, they would be teaching the following: homosexuality involves the sexual and emotional attraction to members of the same sex. It is not a lifestyle. It is not an ideology. It is not an agenda. It is with with great disturbance, then, that I relay the case of a 10-year-old Arkansas boy named Will Phillips who is refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because he believes — or, rather, his parents believe — that the phrase “liberty and justice for all” does not apply to gay and lesbian ...