Newtered

When Judge Vaughn Walker overturned California's Proposition 8 last week, he pointed out that the ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage is not just an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's due-process and equal-protection clauses but is wholly unsupported by the facts. When he asked Prop 8's defenders during the trial to prove their claim that procreation is the sole purpose of marriage, they actually refused, saying, "You don't have to have evidence of this point." So in his ruling, he pointed out the obvious: that there is simply no legitimate (much less overriding) reason to deny gay couples the same rights granted to straight couples.

So Prop 8 is now a thing of the past (pending appeals) and it seems like much of America greeted the decision with a yawn. After all, gay marriage was already legal in five states and the District of Columbia, and the world is still here. In the six years since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize such marriages, the sky has not fallen and the state has not been overrun by locusts.

But the nation's self-appointed "defenders of marriage" issued a collective primal scream and insisted we're on the fast track to Sodom and Gomorrah, especially since Walker is rumored to be gay:

• "There is only one issue before each of us Californians: Is Marriage of Divine or of Human Origin? Judge Walker pays no attention to this fundamental issue, and relies solely upon how Prop 8 made certain members of society 'feel' about themselves. Those of us who supported Prop 8 and worked for its passage did so for one reason: We truly believe that Marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society. Period." (Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles)
• "It is unnatural...an older white guy handed down the decision and he happened to be gay. That might have had something to do with it." (Patrick Buchanan)
• "Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling yesterday, in which he trampled on the will of seven million Californians, is a monstrous, egregious, reprehensible expression of judicial activism and tyranny." (American Family Association)
• "Let's not be shocked that Judge Walker cannot comprehend the self-evident rational basis for prohibiting homosexual marriage, after all, he is a practicing homosexual. The Bible plainly tells us that once a person has seared his conscience to such an extent that he can exchange his natural sexual relationship with the opposite sex for homosexuality, his ability to reason becomes utterly compromised." (Christian Anti-Defamation Commission)
  

And so on. One of the people putting in his two cents is Newt Gingrich, past House Speaker, present Fox News mainstay and future possible presidential candidate:

"Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. In every state of the union from California to Maine to Georgia, where the people have had a chance to vote they've affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Congress now has the responsibility to act immediately to reaffirm marriage as a union of one man and one woman as our national policy."

Now, it seems that Gingrich doesn't sanitize his website to make sure only supportive comments get through - unlike Sarah Palin, whose Facebook ghostwriter routinely strips her page of anything even remotely critical. You see, quite a few people noticed how it's just a tad self-righteous for a serial philanderer on his third wife to lecture anyone on what marriage should or should not be, and made clear their feelings in the comments. Some of the best include:

• "Newt you cheated on your first wife then dumped her when she was in the hospital with cancer. Later you cheated on your second wife with a 27 year old congressional aide. Maybe you should pipe down about defending marriage."
• "Marriage is between a man and a woman. Err... A man and 2 women. Err... a man and 3 women. Damn, why do women have to keep getting old."
• "One man and one woman, huh? So Newt, is your 'one woman' Jackie, Marianne, or Callista?"
• "No, I want to hear more from the twice-divorced man about how marriage has to be reserved for one man and one woman. I wonder if the two former Mrs. Gingriches would testify as to Newt's reverence for marriage."
• "Which one of your multiple marriages was the most sacred to you?"

Doesn't Gingrich have staffers whose job it is to prevent him from stepping into such situations? They're obviously not very good at it. Or perhaps he listened to them and then posted the statement anyway. Either way, he looks like not just a fool, but a hypocritical fool as well.

You'd think Gingrich and other mountebanks would learn to keep their mouths shut on such things. But until they do, they will always provide good entertainment.