Because it is the right thing to do:
"Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense."
Next up: New Jersey, where this married couple live and work, where their lives and the lives of their children cannot wait. Details on how to help here.
Chait gets the ironies dead to rights:
When I attended college just after the height of the political-correctness fad, I was exposed to the exotic but widely accepted theory that racial minorities could not, by definition, be guilty of racism. Limbaugh has formulated a sort of mirror-image philosophy: Conservatives can't be racist. "Racism in this country," he has announced, "is the exclusive province of the left."The victimology of the leftist is bad enough–he is beset by racism. But the persecution complex of the conservative has managed to top that. The conservative is a double victim–of false accusations of racism and of racism itself. Limbaugh moans, "Frankly, the biggest problem I face in the current climate of political correctness is that I'm color-blind about it." Poor Limbaugh–he tries so hard to avoid race, but it just keeps finding him.
In some ways, today's right is the last remaining legacy of yesterday's left.
Despite the loss in Maine, Dale Carpenter remains upbeat:
With close popular votes in two states in the last year, little prospect of additional anti-SSM state constitutional amendments, coming legislative action in more states and D.C., the first-ever electoral victory for civil unions in an election last night in Washington state, gay marriage completely secure in four of five states that still have it, and a federal marriage amendment in rigor mortis, the question is not really whether, but when and where next.
I think this is essential context. From my own perspective, working on this for two decades, I’m both heartsick at losing but also near delirious at the progress we have already made.
Remember: I was regarded as insane for proposing marriage equality in 1989. Twenty years’ later, thanks to a massive new movement, it’s law in five states and very nearly the law in California, where full state rights of marriage are now accorded gay citizens. The recent losses, moreover, were closer than any previous fights. We used to be losing by 2 -1; now we’re losing by the narrowest 52 – 48 type margins. This is extraordinary progress – and the educational impact in which we have shifted the entire next generation to supporting equality has been profound.
We are winning. Remember that. Defeats are spurs to better strategy, not to despair. I know the pain. I feel it deep in my bones. But I also know the truth: this is the right thing to do and it is winning wherever fear surrenders to reason. Know hope. Which is not the same as optimism.
(Hat tip: Nerdcore)
John Cornyn's statement that the NRSC will not fund its own candidates in disputed primaries seems to me to be a surrender to the base activists. What it means is that the same forces that purged Scozzafava will have free rein to purge others. They are already interpreting a Democratic victory in a super-safe red-state seat as a win for … conservatives. And the threat of third party candidates against the GOP across the country has obviously spooked the national party leadership.
But that leaves an obvious question: what about Rubio-Crist?
Crist is vulnerable for being gay in the first place, although his sexual orientation is not as abhorrent as his support for the stimulus package and actually – gasp – appearing with a newly elected president of the United States who carried Florida. But the NRSC has already endorsed Crist and the Club for Growth purists are itching to back Rubio, who has the support of the netroots and the Beck-Palin insurgency. So the apparent surrender may have an inconvenient hangover from the past. And if Crist is taken down by Rubio, then the last remnants of non-movement conservatism will be fast evaporating from the GOP.
Maybe this will indeed be the real long-term consequence of last night: the acceleration of the GOP toward the Christianist right, and a platform of real counter-revolution against the post New Deal Settlement. I do find it remarkable that a Republican in New York State who is actually on the right of her own delegation is nonetheless a "socialist" and a "radical leftist" in the eyes of the base.
It's back to the 1940s we go!
E.D. Kain wishes the Catholic church would stop interfering with civil marriage law:
I am a decentralist at heart. I believe in the decentralization of power, no matter what the organization. If there is to be a hierarchy, I want it to be a hierarchy that is still very flat, with power spread as far and wide as possible. The very Catholic notion of subsidiarity plays a very strong role in my thinking on this – and, paradoxically perhaps, a very weak role in the Church itself. I’m not against the papacy. I’m just against the level of power the Pope seems to wield.
Larison counters Reihan.
NIAC explains this fascinating cultural exchange:
It shows Amb. John Limbert, at the time a hostage in the US Embassy, speaking with Ali Khamenei, then Iran’s president (and currently the Supreme Leader). […] For non-Farsi speakers, the exchange between Limbert and Khamenei here is incredibly interesting. To paraphrase: Limbert politely welcomed Khamenei, who was being treated as a guest since he was visiting the hostages at their “residence” where they were being held. Limbert remarked about the Iranian cultural quirk known as “taarof,” which characterizes the uniquely Iranian version of hospitality, saying: Iranians are too hospitable to guests in their country, when we insist that we must be going, you all tell us “no, no, you must stay.”
When Limbert pressed the matter further, Khamenei revealed that the real issue was the United States’ willingness to allow the deposed Shah to enter into the country for medical treatment. When the US returns the Shah to Iran so the revolutionary government can prosecute him, Khamenei explained, then the hostages will be allowed to leave.
For those old enough to remember the hostage crisis as it happened, this will surely evoke strong memories from that period thirty years ago. But for the rest of us, this is an amazingly personal glimpse into the ordeal that held the world’s attention for so long, and for which all of us are still dealing with the repercussions.
Leonhardt strikes an optimistic note:
[I]t’s a good time to remember that when an economy is just coming out of recession, its weaknesses are always more obvious than its potential strengths.
Free exchange interjects:
As things stand, the medium-term outlook for the American economy really isn't that bad. The problem is that the near-term outlook is awful. And the question is: faced with perhaps another year or two of unemployment near 10%, can the government avoid making any serious economic mistakes, which might jeopardise recovery over the long-term?
Justin Fox is not reassured.
Even non-college students are getting in the act:
Mowj Camp reports that students in several schools across Tehran are preparing for November 4 protests by starting to chant “Death to Dictator” early in the morning. Many middle school and high school students reportedly came to school wearing green wristbands.
(Hat tip: Pedestrian)
The Dish 