New York Note

It seems that NY Sen. Greg Ball is open to suggestion on how to vote on New York's equal marriage bill -- he's tweeted asking for opinions. The responses, as you might guess, are rather lop-sided.

But really -- did he have to ask?

I have a strong suspicion that the Republicans will try to dodge the issue and not bring it up for a vote in the Senate.

Here's a report from CNN and a "debate" between Danny O'Donnell and Brian Brown.



A couple of interesting things -- Don Lemon, the host, actually challenges Brown on the "religious freedom" bullshit. And then Brown comes back with a letter signed by, among other, Robert George, "one of the foremost legal scholars" in the country. George might, with proper supervision, be able to reason his way through a grocery list.

The other interesting thing, which flows from the first, is that it looks like the day when some blowhard like James Dobson or Tony Perkins -- or Brian Brown -- could go on the air and spout their lies unchallenged are over. There's been a fundamental shift in the approach to gay issues in both the print and broadcast MSM -- aside from the non-Fox outlets, at least, and even Fox is showing signs of cracks in the facade. The tone here is definitely supportive of legalizing SSM. Granted, Lemon is gay (and now, "openly gay"), but I don't think that affects my conclusion here -- five years ago, or even two years ago, he would not have been able to challenge Brown like that.

One problem I have with these kinds of reports on the news is that they are always rushed, and I'll admit it -- people like Brian Brown can spout so much absolute bullshit so quickly that anyone who relies on actual facts to make a point is simply not going to have the time to counter their "arguments." Brown's comments are typical of the breed -- red herrings, straw men, tangents, fact-free assertions, all in one nauseating mix. (I'm actually surprised that I managed to sit through the whole thing.)

But it's a strong positive sign that these fact-free screeds are being challenged -- and by the hosts, not other guests.