Mark Levin vs. David Frum

Fantastic post by "Hogan" on RedState.com against the pseudo-Republicans who went after Rush Limbaugh and his speech at CPAC last Saturday... Also, you can listen to an on-air debate between Mark Levin and David Frum by clicking here.

A note to David Frum, Ross Douthat, David Brooks and every other self-important, self-designated savior of the Republican Party… PLEASE STOP.

Please stop telling us what is wrong with… well, US. Seriously, I just cannot take it any more.

It’s like Yankees who come South because it’s generally such a nice place to live and then tell us we’re all a bunch of idiots and that we need to “do it like they used to do it back in Detroit.” Spare me – move back to Detroit and leave me alone.

We all recognize the problems we face as a nation, and as a Party. You want a frigging medal because you, too, can read polls and recognize that we need to sort out the Hispanic-gap, the suburban-soccer-mom-gap, the generational gap, the new-young-christian-gap or any other gap the numbers indicate? No freaking crap, geniuses. We just want to start with principle instead of a craptacularly stupid effort to buy-off their votes.

I can tolerate (while vehemently disagreeing with) your random ideas about traffic jams and ramping up police forces, your gas tax to pay for other tax cuts and a green agenda, your musings about FDR somehow being the model for 21st Century conservatism, and I can even tolerate your boring books that some Republicans read to prove they are “introspective” and thoughtful about the movement.

What makes me want to scream – and I mean a pull-my-hair-out, punch-someone-in-the-face kind of scream – is your self-indulgent, holier-than-thou proclamations about how wrong most of us “conservatives” are simply because you have seen the light after all this time writing for the New York Times, all of 5 minutes working for the Bush Administration, or all this time well, doing very little other than writing a book called Grand New Party and putting yourself out as the savior of a movement you apparently want little to do with.

I do not want – as I suspect most Republicans do not want – to suggest that we cannot have a fine debate about ideas within the movement. We always have. We always will. There is nothing new about that. I do it all the time with a great many smart conservatives. And you three have offered some fine ideas along the way, when not spending your time trying to re-make us.

Yes, we are a big tent… but we are a big tent with principles. Those principles vary a little bit, but there are large, common threads – freedom, personal responsibility, limited government and an appropriate deference to the Almighty are just a few of those principles the VAST majority of conservatives and Republicans I know embrace.

I love being a conservative and am proud to call myself one – so please do us a favor… quit calling yourself conservative, moving the goalposts on us, and then complaining we are on a different field. If you want to have a discussion of ideas, gentlemen, put them out there and we may find common ground. But STOP the condescending babbling about how “bad” we are and recognize that life is too short to go around being pompous and angry in your self-promotion.

p.s. If you are wondering what triggered this particular reaction, it was this post by David Frum, but it was only because it was the most recent… it could have been any one of hundreds of others…

California Supreme Court Weighs Legality of Gay Marriage Ban

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- The California Supreme Court, which legalized gay marriage in 2008, will consider whether it was unconstitutional for Californians to outlaw same-sex weddings in a ballot measure that sparked protests and calls for boycotts against its supporters.

Gay and civil rights groups and cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles are seeking to overturn the measure, known as Proposition 8, which on Nov. 4 won 52 percent approval of voters to amend the state constitution to ban homosexual nuptials in the nation’s most populous state.

They say Proposition 8 is illegal because it revises the constitution to rob a protected minority of equal rights and court protection. Revisions of the constitution must be handled by state lawmakers, according to lawsuits filed on Nov. 5. Proposition 8 backers said the court can’t reverse what voters have approved. Arguments in the case are scheduled for today in San Francisco.

“The court is always reluctant to overturn a ballot initiative,” said attorney Vikram Amar, who teaches constitutional law at University of California-Davis. “Prop 8 challengers will try to distinguish this initiative from others, that equality is somehow more important than other basic rights.”

The court will also decide whether to invalidate approximately 18,000 marriages performed before Proposition 8 passed. Four out of seven Supreme Court justices voted to legalize gay marriage in May. One of the four voted against hearing lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8. That has led to speculation that there may be four votes against striking down Proposition 8, said Amar. A ruling is due within 90 days.

The ballot measure captured national attention because California was only the second state after Massachusetts to allow gay weddings and because of the backlash against its supporters.

Mormon and Evangelical churches in California were targeted by protesters over their support of the measure. Proposition 8 campaign donors, some of whose names were publicized on Web sites, received critical e-mails or calls to boycott their businesses, according to court records.

California has at least 92,000 same-sex couples, more than any other state, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. The state supreme court ruled in May that homosexual couples have a constitutional right to marry. The ruling struck down laws barring gay weddings, and was reversed by Proposition 8.

“If permitted to stand, Proposition 8 would strike directly at the foundational constitutional principal of equal protection” by establishing “that an unpopular group may be selectively stripped of fundamental rights by a simple majority of voters,” Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in court filings.

Minter, a 48-year-old transsexual who is married with a daughter, will argue on behalf of gay couples suing to overturn Proposition 8. He was one of the attorneys who successfully argued before the court in May to legalize gay weddings.

Kenneth Starr, the Pepperdine University Law School dean and former U.S. independent counsel who headed an investigation that led to former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, will represent Proposition 8 supporters before the court today. Proposition 8 doesn’t revise the constitution or allow a majority to take rights away from same-sex couples because it leaves intact California’s domestic partner laws, Starr, 62, said in court filings.

Californians “will no doubt continue to debate the issue in terms of inalienable rights, justice, tradition and social welfare,” Starr wrote. “However, the judiciary no longer has a role in determining the definition of marriage.”