Demagogue

that the New Jersey supreme court doesn't legalize same-sex marriage between now and Thursday.

Why Thursday?

On 10/26, the chief of justice of the New Jersey supreme court, Deborah T. Poritz, turns 70, and will retire.

Pending before her court at this writing is a potentially explosive same-sex marriage case. In '02, two gay couples sued New Jersey for denying them the right to marry. The Supreme Court finally heard oral arguments in Feb. It has yet to unveil its decision...If the court doesn't rule by next Thursday, they'll be forced to rehear the case with the new chief justice. Observers are fairly certain that the court, will, in fact, tender a decision by Oct. 26.

If the decision comes down in the next 50 hours or so and it is favorable towards people like me, we can all kiss the 2006 Democratic Landslide/GOP Asskicking good-bye.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

This is reason #69345 I loathe the GOP. They have managed to turn something that should be a victory to anyone who truly values marriage and religious freedom and, via pure demagoguery, turn it into a battering ram to beat up lgbt families and Democrats (regardless of their official stance on same-sex marriage) just so they can get anti-gay religious people to vote in bigger numbers.

It never fails to amaze me that this issue still makes people so irrational that they are willing to allow a marriage that isn't theirs, that has nothing to do with their lives, to trump all of the life-or-death issues facing this country right now. I don't doubt it for a second that if same-sex marriage is legalized in New Jersey this week then the 2006 election will be over before it even started.

Today is one of those odd moments where I find myself wishing against the legal recognition and equality of my own marriage-- well, at least not until after November 7th.

Update: Via Pam's House Blend, the New Jersey's Garden State Equality claims that the ruling does not have to come down before the chief justice steps down, that in fact, there is no real timeframe at work whatsoever.

Taking a quick spin on Garden State Equality's site also gives the Dems a clue or two about how to handle the decision, if it were to come before November 7th-- 56% of New Jersians support same-sex marriage rights.