Author: Trish
58%
Americans who support marriage equality, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. The same survey showed that only 24% consider being gay a lifestyle choice instead of a simple biological fact.
Republican Senator Comes Out for Marriage Equality After Acknowledging His Son is Gay
Even as his party at CPAC confirms its commitment to denying one set of taxpayers the right to marry the adult they love and somehow concluding this is not discrimination, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is speaking out in defense of marriage equality.
Portman’s position on the subject has “evolved,” as the saying goes, for a very personal reason. His son, a student at Yale, is gay.
Portman: ‘I told Mitt Romney everything’
“I’m announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about that has to do with gay couples’ opportunity to marry,” Portman told CNN.
It has to do with another revelation, one deeply personal. His 21-year-old son, Will, is gay.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I’ve had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay,” said Portman.
Portman campaigned for Mitt Romney for president in 2012, and was among Romney’s choices for the vice presidential slot. Team Romney denied that Portman’s son, or his acceptance of him, was a factor in their decision to choose someone else.
Perry Disses Romney at CPAC
The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. That’s what they think. That’s what they say. That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012. Might be true.
— Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tx), speaking at the 2013 CPAC conference. Perry lost his 2012 presidential primary bid to former Gov. Mitt Romney, who will speak at the event tomorrow. No word on whether Perry will be present when he does.
Florida’s Lt. Gov. Resigns After Questioning in Gambling Investigation
Carroll, in a public service announcement for the sham Allied Veterans group.
The ground is shifting under the feet of Florida Republicans, as Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns after being questioned in a federal racketeering investigation.
The surprise isn’t that Carroll is resigning, it’s that she’s resigning over this
The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) was caught short by the news, after more successfully dodging another recent scandal bullet. On the very day former RPOF chief Jim Greer was set to begin trial for funny bookkeeping that would have spilled the beans on almost every Republican politician in Florida, including and especially Sen. Marco Rubio, Greer copped a plea.
But Carroll doesn’t look so lucky. Exhibit A in Gov. Rick Scott’s “big tent” GOP cabinet has had her share of ethics challenges since assuming office as the state’s second in command. The issue of her shifting net worth, which she never seems to have a handle on, has been a recurring problem.
Then there’s her recent trouble, which is hard to describe in polite terms. Let’s just say that she and Bill Clinton share at least one thing in common, and that would be ladies on their knees beneath the executives’ office desks. Carroll denied the allegations by explaining that women who look like her cannot be lesbians. Many were unconvinced.
Did the Google Doodle Overlook Asian Women on International Women’s Day?
It’s nice that Google went to all the trouble to draw up a (kind of strange) Google doodle to represent International Women’s Day. But some critics are asking what happened to the Asian women, who don’t really jump out of the graphic. There are a couple of ladies in the image that might be someone’s idea of Asian; still, Google was fair in making all the women in the doodle look a little bizarre. What do you think?
Florida Eclipses Other States’ Paranoia Game
1 million
Number of concealed weapons permits Florida has handed out, as of Dec. 12, 2012, making it the number one gun-toting state — by far. The nearest contenders are Georgia, with 600,000 permits, Texas with 524,000, and Indiana with 420,000. Gun lobbyist Marion Hammer says the NRA and others will pressure the Florida legislature this session to pass “open carry” laws that will officially convert the state to the wild west by allowing the paranoid to walk around brandishing guns.
Twitter Not Amused by Rubio’s Ill-Timed Tweet
PR’s own Buck nominated Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (GOP/Tea) for the “Really Trying Way Too Hard” Hall of Fame after Rubio told the gossip site TMZ that his favorite songs of all-time are NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton,” Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and Tupac’s “Killuminati.”
The likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate, recently dubbed by Time Magazine the “saviour” of the party, is also brandishing a reputation as the life of the party, and nothing says frat boy quite like this tweet, posted the day the economy-wrecking sequester took effect.
If I put #HarlemShake video 2gether in Senate who should be in it?Taking suggestions now. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?utm_campaign=Fee
Rubio apparently didn’t spend the day trying to figure out how to keep from damaging the economy or how to save American jobs, but instead daydreaming about his own fantasy football-esque dance party. Here were some of the responses to his call for suggestions on his Twitter feed.*
- @jbminn — @marcorubio I’d suggest you stop wasting time and money.
- @haroldpollack — @marcorubio even I am too cool for the Harlem shake.
- @devincf — I suggest you fix the sequester.
- @Brian_Thill — LOL you are so hip!! OMG!!1! wheres my checkbook
Colbert On Why We Don’t Know Gun Death Numbers
Colbert highlights an overlooked but significant — possibly THE most significant — change in the public’s attitude toward guns going forward. When Pres. Obama signed an executive order freeing the Centers for Disease Control to count gun deaths and injuries for the first time in 17 years, he made it possible for us to know the impact of the continuing escalation of gun violence in America. This is information the NRA and Gun Owners of America need to keep hidden, because if we realized the extent of the problem, we might do sensible things about it.
h/t to Beach Peanuts for the Colbert video.
Look Out Liberals — Rubio Hydrates!
“Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you…he hydrates you too.” — Nonsensical call to action from the Reclaim America PAC, Sen. Marco Rubio’s political action committee that raises money to elect conservatives to the Senate.
For a minimum donation of $25, Rubio’s supporters can buy a water bottle with his name on it and thereby scare thirsty liberals. As inexplicable as the message itself is the fact that the photo and caption have received over 71,000 “Likes” on Facebook (and counting).
