Del. Bob Marshall appeared on CNN today to discuss the Tracy Thorne-Begland nomination and Politico reports the details:
“I’ve been [in the General Assembly] 21 years. We’ve never appointed an activist of any kind along these lines, much less somebody who has a long history of this,” the legislator said.
Pressed by CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on how he couldn’t give a gay man a chance to be a judge in an age when black people are not forced to sit in the back of the bus and women can vote, Marshall shot back, “Sodomy is not a civil right.”
“Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks never took an oath of office they broke,” he said. “Sodomy is not a civil right and there’s an effort by homosexual lobbyists to equate the two. That’s wrong. It is a pattern of behavior.”
He added, “When I was in public school … we all said, ‘Keep us from temptation.’ This was because we said the Lord’s prayer. Nobody, nobody — should go where they’ll be tempted. That includes me, that includes you, that includes you, that includes a prospective judge.”
Brian Schoeneman has written a commentary for Bearing Drift on the issue. I do not want to speak for all of our contributors, but several of us are very disappointed in the outcome of this vote and agree with Brian. I won’t repeat Brian’s reasons here.
Personally, I think Thorne-Begland should be a judge. He’s certainly qualified to mete out judgement on traffic tickets and contract disputes in General District Court.
But I am also disappointed regarding what has transpired because of another reason…how conservatives seem to so easily lose the narrative whenever there is a controversy.
Let’s face it. Republicans suck when it comes to talking about race, gender, or sexual preference. It seems no matter what is said or done on these issues, conservatives will end up losing the debate.
For liberals, casting aspersions on Republicans for bigotry is second nature. So, does someone like Marshall really have to go on a global news network and provide liberals more ammunition?
Just more self-inflicted pain for the GOP.
So, while Rasmussen polls tell us that 65 percent of people are angry at the current government’s policies, 51 percent of Americans relate the economy as poor, 56 percent favor the repeal of Obama’s healthcare law, and only 37 percent of Americans give the president favorable marks on how he handles the economy – the narrative is Bob Marshall’s homophobia.
When the President’s budget was nuked 99-0 in the U.S. Senate, Jeff Schapiro, columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, attempts to portray Gov. Bob McDonnell – who said exactly the right thing about this issue – as a “culture warrior.”
When state Democrats are fighting for union-only labor for Tim Kaine’s monstrous creation, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which continues to spend taxpayer money on perks and benefits, NBC12 is trying to investigate which delegates did not vote regarding the nomination vote and why.
All of this is self-inflicted by the GOP. If we truly wanted to save America and grow the economy, then these continued distractions and unforced errors wouldn’t keep happening.
Liberals are only doing what liberals do best – distract and misdirect. If conservatives want to get down to business and make this country a better place, we need to focus on what matters.
