You Only Need to Look in The Corner

To find an idiot. Jonah Goldberg:

If opposition to gay marriage is morally indistinguishable from Jim Crow racism, anti-Semitism and the like (as so many of you say), why on earth aren't you screaming bloody murder at Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid and the other Democratic politicians who run the US governmemt? Surely, they matter more than a few Mormon donors. Why aren't they bigots even though they hold the same fundamental position as Mormons?

Gads -- where to start? First off, the people Goldberg names haven't been running the government, in case no one noticed. I doubt they would have made such a mess of things even trying. Second, they all opposed Prop 8. A "few Mormon donors" gave over half the funding for the campaign to strip gay Californians (and actually, when it comes right down to it, the rest of us) of fundamental rights.

And of course, Obama, Biden, Clinton, et al. don't hold the same fundamental position as Mormons. There's a big difference in thinking that marriage should be between a man and a woman as a religious doctrine and expending major efforts to impose that religious doctrine on others.

As a thinker, Goldberg's a great . . . gee, I don't really want to insult anyone by comparing them to Jonah Goldberg.

Here's the editorial Goldberg mentions. It's an amazing study in false equivalents, straw men, buzz words, and just plain ol' everyday arrogance. It's a fairly appalling piece of tripe, demonstrating that the right doesn't know how this country was designed to work, thinks mob rule is "democracy," will say anything as long as it suits their agenda, and thinks that only they and those who agree with them (for the time being) should have access to guarantees of basic rights. I mean, that "editorial" is so full of holes it would take a couple of days to parse. I realize it's an opinion piece, but doesn't that demonstrate to you the idea that some people should just keep their opinions to themselves? What's that old line about opening your mouth and proving you're an idiot?

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan (I think). And here's Sullivan with more on Goldberg:

Jonah, moreover, does not mention the fact that the Mormon hierarchy planned this campaign for eleven years, that their decision to make this a public issue is unprecedented in the history of the LDS church, and that their donations made up a huge proportion of the Prop 8 forces. He doesn't mention that their public bluff that they only care about the m-word and favor rights for gay couples has been called in Utah, where gay rights advocates are demanding the LDS church back strong civil union laws (and the LDS church is resisting). He cites no instance in which any Mormon anywhere has had any right removed or threatened by marriage equality.

It's called "cherrypicking."