Are Voters Getting Cold Feet on Same-sex 'Marriage'?
The Washington Post thought it knew where the American people stood on marriage. Just two days ago, news outlets were plastering its poll results of "record" backing for same-sex "marriage" on their websites--only to see the support vanish as quickly as it appeared. Today, the Reuters Corporation released the results of an even bigger poll than the Post's and found that only 41% of America supports the case being made by Ted Olson and David Boies at the Supreme Court. In an astonishingly large survey sample, 24,455 people (23,000 more than the Washington Post's survey!), barely four out of 10 Americans thought homosexuals should be allowed to "marry." Those numbers are far and away more consistent with the findings of trustworthy survey houses in the last few months on marriage. It also shows the unreliability of the media's polling. In 48 hours, we've seen a 17-point swing in public opinion on marriage. Of course, as we mentioned yesterday, the Post's questions were specifically structured to generate a more favorable response. When you frame the debate as the Post did--in criminal terms--Americans are far more wary of opposing same-sex "marriage." In the meantime, Reuters' numbers are even more significant when you consider that they come from a news agency with a public interest in redefining marriage. Last month, the Reuters Corp. threw objectivity out the window by signing on to an amicus brief urging the court to embrace same-sex "marriage." If 41% was all the support Reuters could scrounge up for same-sex "marriage," then you know they exhausted every avenue trying to push that number higher--and couldn't. Let me be very clear: we don't arrive at our policy positions because of polls. The point of sharing this is to once again draw attention to the media's efforts to make you feel that same-sex "marriage" is inevitable--and that everyone but YOU thinks it's okay. Trust me, as this latest poll shows, you're far from alone in your support for natural marriage. Encourage your family and friends by sharing this truth with them!
White House Scrambles to Explain Egg Hunt
The White House may not have the money to accommodate a few Iowa sixth graders, but somehow it has more than enough to host 35,000 people for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Yesterday, the President's Press Secretary insisted the White House would go the egg-stra mile for the event, proving that the President's sequestration message isn't everything it's cracked up to be. If the White House can afford to keep the year's largest party on the books, then it can certainly find the resources to show a few hundred kids around the people's house.
For now, the Easter bash is at least mildly dependent on what happens in Congress between now and next Wednesday. That's when the Senate will hold a final vote on the short-term government funding measure, known as the continuing resolution or CR. After a few outbursts on the bill's pork, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seems well on his way to securing a vote this week. Sixty-three senators voted yesterday to end debate on the continuing resolution, which would keep the government from supposedly grinding to a halt when the current CR expires on March 27. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) took Monday's vote as a sign that the House and Senate were learning to compromise. "We could actually show that we could govern... Hallelujah!"
Of course, the Senate's goodwill is sure to run out when the two sides wade into the debate over next year's budget. The barbs are already flying over Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) version, which wouldn't balance the budget until 2040 (no word on whether this was far enough in the future to earn Rep. Nancy Pelosi's support). According to reports, the Senate process will also include a "vote-a-rama," where leaders from both parties can offer an unlimited number of amendments.
Apparently, plenty of Republicans plan to take advantage of the opportunity. Among the several measures on the table are: Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which would make it a crime for people to take a minor across state lines for an abortion without their parents' knowledge; Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) D.C. Pain bill, which would ban District abortions when unborn babies suffer pain; and Sen. Roger Wicker's (R-Miss.) measure to defund UNFPA--the same organization that condones China's one-child policy. Both Senator Murray's plan and Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) budget are expected to be debated before Congress adjourns on its two-week Easter break.
Not surprisingly, you won't find many fans of the Democrats' plan in the House. In a new op-ed from Rep. Tom Price, the Georgia Republican is outraged that the government will take in a "record level of revenue in 2013," yet liberals still want to raise $1 trillion in new taxes. "They want to take more so that they can spend more inWashington..."
If there is a liberal plan the GOP can get behind, it might be President Obama's, which so far doesn't increase spending or the debt--because it doesn't exist. Two months after he was required by law to submit it, the President's budget is still M.I.A. Still, Rep. Mick Mulvaney is prepared to offer the plan for him, as he did last year. "Except this year," said Mulvaney's office, "the President hasn't submitted anything, so [the page] will be blank." Who knows? That might be more popular than the President's last real budget, which got zero votes.
Kermit the Fraud
It was a scene that Philadelphia's District Attorney Seth Williams says "comprehension of the English language doesn't and cannot adequately describe." From its 15-year-old "anesthetists" to blood-stained walls, Kermit Gosnell's Pennsylvania abortion facility was the site of 261 pages of abortion horrors--horrors for which he is finally on trial. Yesterday, a jury sat in shocked silence as Gosnell's medical assistant recounted the pattern of cold-blooded killing. At Gosnell's request, Adrienne Morton admitted that she had "cut the necks of at least 10 babies after they were delivered." Weeping, she told the courtroom about a picture she had taken of a baby on her cell phone because he was bigger than any victim she had ever seen. "Gosnell later joked that the baby was so big he could have walked to the bus stop."
Prosecutors tried to recreate the third-world conditions of the "clinic" in court with old and dirty equipment--one of the many nightmares in an office where 15-year-old high school students "perform intravenous anesthesia on patients" and "fetuses frequently clogged the toilet." Gosnell, who faces the death penalty, insists that he's the victim of racial profiling--instead of what he actually is: a monster whose inner-city torture chamber is the real face of "choice" in America.
** Today's radio show was full of surprises--including surprise guests! If you missed "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," (the birthday edition), check out the archive on TonyPerkins.com with Reps. Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, and some other names you're sure to recognize!
*** Most countries try to hide their nuclear-weapons programs, writes FRC's Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin in the Washington Times. Find out what "America's New Pollyanna War Tactics" mean for the country in his new column!