CIVIL RIGHTS
Right-Wing H8

On Nov. 4, Californians approved Prop. 8, amending the state constitution to "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California." "Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue," the California Supreme Court said yesterday that it would take up the case of whether Prop. 8 was constitutional. The court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify the initiative, which all claim the Prop. 8 "abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change," according to the AP. The court battle is only one part of the ongoing struggle for LGBT rights. Since Nov. 4, same-sex marriage proponents have swept the country in protests and demonstrations against Prop. 8. At the same time, the right wing has escalated its rhetoric, downplaying the importance of gay rights and hyperventilating over a few instances of violence that have resulted from anti-Prop 8. protests.

'GAY AND SECULAR FASCISM': Since Nov. 4, same-sex marriage proponents have taken to the streets in dozens of peaceful demonstrations. LGBT rights advocates have turned out in at least eight countries, 50 states, and 300 cities in support of marriage equality. Thousands have gathered across California to protest Prop. 8. As the Dallas Morning News noted in an editorial yesterday, "The protests, which have gone beyond California, have been largely peaceful." Yet the right wing is blowing the scale of the protests out of proportion. On his Nov. 14 show, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly tried to define the entire anti-Prop. 8 movement by a few protests. "In the last three or four days, really nasty stuff. ... We had a church in Michigan invaded by gay activists. ... We had a guy in Sacramento fired from his job," he said. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich responded: "Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants impose its will on the rest of us. It is prepared to use violence, to use harassment."

THE VIOLENCE THRESHOLD: On ABC's "The View" on Tuesday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee suggested that, compared to the push for civil rights in the 60s, the gay rights movement hasn't suffered enough violence to be a real issue. "But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge," he said. Similarly, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins claimed that gay rights and civil rights are "totally different." Tara Wall of the Washington Times wrote Tuesday that "there is no comparison" between the two rights movements because "blacks were stoned, hung, and dragged for their constitutional right to 'sit at the table.'" But gay people have suffered serious violence. Roughly 16.6 percent of all hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2007 "resulted from sexual-orientation bias." A 2007 University of California-Davis study found that nearly four in 10 gay men and about one in eight lesbians and bisexuals "have been the target of violence or a property crime because of their sexual orientation." The violence that LGBT activists face will gain more attention in the upcoming, when "Milk," a film about the first openly gay elected official, is released. Harvey Milk, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, was ultimately killed for his struggle for political equality.

'DID NOT PROHIBIT' SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Interviewed on the Bill Bennett show yesterday, Huckabee claimed that in approving Prop. 8, California did not "ban" marriage equality, but affirmed marriage as between a man and woman. "I refuse to use the term, 'ban same-sex marriage.' That's not what those efforts did. They affirmed what is. They did not prohibit something," he said. As the California ballot read, however, Prop. 8 "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry." In fact, since June, 18,000 gay couples have wed. But under Prop. 8, same-sex couples lose this right. Keeping with their efforts to downplay the importance of gay rights, conservatives have been attempting to claim gay marriage is different than interracial marriage. "You try to compare this to interracial marriage. It is not the same thing," said Tony Perkins on Nov. 12. But as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) noted, "It's the same as...when blacks and whites were not allowed to marry. This falls into the same category."

Under the Radar

ETHICS -- REP. ACKERMAN: AUTO EXECS' PRIVATE JET TRAVEL IS LIKE SOMEONE 'AT THE SOUP KITCHEN IN HIGH HAT AND TUXEDO': Yesterday, the CEOs of the Detroit Big Three returned to Capitol Hill to continue asking for $25 billion in loans. Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner insisted, "We're all slashing back" on non-essential expenses, promising, "We're going to be dramatically leaner." The other executives echoed Wagoner's pledge. However, as ABC news reported, all three executives flew private jets to Washington, D.C., for the hearings. Wagoner's trip "cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000." Minutes after Wagoner claimed to be "slashing back" on expenses, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said, "There's a delicious irony of seeing private luxury jets flying into D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands. It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo." Later in the hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) asked if any of the executives planned to sell their private jets; none raised his hand.

IRAQ -- PERINO SAYS SOFA MEANS U.S. CAN 'CELEBRATE THE VICTORY' IN IRAQ: Last Sunday, Iraq's cabinet approved the proposed security agreement that mandates the full withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011. Trying to fit the terms of the accord into President Bush's long-held opposition to withdrawal timelines, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino falsely claimed on Monday that the exit mandate is only "aspirational." But yesterday, Perino went a step further, saying the agreement represents a celebration of victory in Iraq. "[W]e are able to celebrate the victory that we’ve had so far and establish…a strategic framework agreement," Perino said. But even CentCom commander Gen. David Petraeus will not use the term "victory" or "winning" regarding Iraq. The firm redeployment deadline is less a declaration of victory and more a reflection of Iraq's long-held dissatisfaction with the occupation. For months, Iraqis have been pushing the Bush administration to set a final date for withdrawal. Indeed, the Iraqi version of the agreement is called a "withdrawal accord."

ECONOMY -- HOME DEPOT FOUNDER: RETAILERS WHO ARE NOT FIGHTING THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT 'SHOULD BE SHOT': In the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Thomas Frank wrote that in light of the new progressive mandate "it is likely that we really do want universal health care and some measure of wealth-spreading, and even would like to see it become easier to organize a union in the workplace." Making the case for the Employee Free Choice Act, Frank highlighted one of the more virulent reactions to the proposed legislation, which would enable workers to form a union by signing cards of consent. "This is the demise of a civilization," said Home Depot founder and former CEO Bernie Marcus in October. Marcus allegedly added that if "a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys," who oppose the Free Choice Act, then the retailers "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs." But easing the path toward unionization is hardly the end of civilization, unless Marcus deems increased wages along with better health and pension benefits for America's workers to be civilization's death knell.

Think Fast

Politico reports that President-elect Obama has chosen Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano is a border governor who "brings law-and-order experience from her stint as the Grand Canyon State's first female attorney general."

A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a South Texas federal detention center. "Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said Wednesday he will allow them to waive arraignment or have their attorneys present rather than appear in person at the hearing."

In the past week, the Bush administration "has adopted several hot-button regulatory changes long sought by business groups." The changes include "new rules that open the way for commercial development of oil shale on federal land, allow truckers to drive for longer periods, and add certain restrictions on employee time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act."

Antiwar groups "are increasingly concerned at signs that Barack Obama's national security team will be dominated" by hawkish appointees who favored the Iraq war. "Obama ran his campaign around the idea the war was not legitimate, but it sends a very different message when you bring in people who supported the war from the beginning," said Iraq Veterans Against the War Executive Director Kelly Dougherty.

Relations between Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV) are "in tatters," Roll call reports. Republicans say that the "sudden deterioration in relations...is a direct result of what they view as an overly aggressive Democratic effort to unseat McConnell." More »

The stock market suffered "another terrible day" yesterday, dropping below 8,000 points for the first time since 2003. "New-home starts in October were the lowest since at least 1959," and the "consumer price index plummeted by the most since that series of monthly data was started in 1947, as the economy slowed so abruptly that companies had to slash prices to sell products."

On the first day of Minnesota's election recount, Democrat Al Franken gained a net of 43 votes. FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver writes that Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) "had a lead of 215 voters over Franken in Minnesota's certified, pre-recount tally; that margin is now 172 votes." A state judge also granted Franken access to the "rosters of disqualified absentee voters…to determine if they were properly rejected in the counting of ballots."

And finally: Yesterday, the Hill asked Senate Democrats their thoughts on the outgoing Vice President Cheney. Sen. Carl Levin said that he is "colder, more aloof" than previous vice presidents. Sen. Harry Reid noted his disagreements with Cheney: "I'm trying to think of something I agree with; I haven't found it yet." Asked about his relationship with Cheney four years after the vice president infamously told him to "go f--k yourself," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said, "I love him." He later clarified: "That's a joke."

Good News

"Amid another huge increase in U.S. jobless claims," the White House has changed its position and agreed to suppport an extension of unemployment benefits.

State Watch

WASHINGTON: Projected budget deficit swells to $5.1 billion, nearly $2 billion more than predicted.

TEXAS: State Board of Education members hear from Texans "trying to influence the panel on how evolution should be covered in science classes."

FLORIDA: "Bowing to the pleas of Florida's cash-starved state universities, Gov. Charlie Crist will announce a plan today to allow all 11 schools to raise tuition up to 15 percent a year."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol: Americans have seen "plenty of coffins" from the Iraq war.

WONK ROOM: Former senator Tom Daschle's views on health reform: "Incremental change in our system is no longer a viable option."

BRENDAN NYHAN: The New York Times's Matt Bai is wrong to say that "the American public doesn't seem to move very much in its basic attitudes about government."

NEWSHOUNDS: Fox News' Bill O'Reilly surrenders to the War on Christmas and touts his "holiday reading list."

Daily Grill

"Ted Stevens, the 40-year incumbent in Alaska, recently convicted of seven counts of something-or-other, hangs on in Alaska."
-- Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, 11/04/08, predicting the ultimate outcome in Alaska's U.S. Senate race

VERSUS

"Tuesday the Associated Press declared Mayor Mark Begich the winner in the U.S. Senate race between Begich and Senator Ted Stevens."
-- Associated Press, 11/18/08