Electable? When the playing field is fair, that's Rick.

Part of the Conventional Wisdom of GOP primary season 2012 has been that Romney is the “most electable” of the GOP contenders.

Somehow that’s supposed to make us forget his absolute unreliability on pretty much everything that matters to conservatives. “Anyone but Obama” doesn’t mean we want someone who will slow down and manage better the decline of U.S., Inc.

Romney has won four primaries. But his victories have come in his own back yard (New Hampshire), including a state that sends Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to the Senate (Maine); a state with a heavy Mormon population (Nevada); and a state where he simply drowned the opposition in cash (Florida). So given a really fair fight he hasn’t won.

Contrast that with Santorum taking Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, four fairly different states, none near his home state, with different political tendencies, and all battleground states in the general election, despite a much smaller organization and far less money.

And Public Policy Polling has Santorum slightly ahead (but within the MoE) this primary election day morning in MICHIGAN. Remember: Michigan is Mitt Romney’s real home state and the state where his dad was a popular governor and his family is still active. For Romney, Michigan is pretty much a must-win. But since Michigan awards her delegates proportionally, even if Romney technically wins by a few percentage points—after spending scads of money in a state he should win handily—Santorum’s strong showing is still quite significant.

I’ve not been the most ardent Santorum supporter, torn among Perry, Gingrich, and him, but a podcast up today with the Wall Street Journal‘s James Taranto (hat tip to Ben Domenech) has me a little more comfortable in a Santorum nomination.

In short, while Santorum has been presented as too extreme to take on Obama and win, the polling and electoral trends have been in his favor, even as people *have* come to know him more and digest the media and Romney attacks/distortions they’ve been fed.

I still think I would prefer a Gingrich presidency, but since his negatives have been hovering north of Obama’s, making his chances of getting elected even lower, I could go for a Santorum candidacy.

Carson looked at the hypocrisy and oddness of their criticism, but it struck me in a different way.

See, liberals like Colmes and Robinson today defend aborting babies that, if born, would likely have a life that people like Colmes and Robinson would deem not worth living. Down Syndrome being one of the most common, but any malady or deformity that would make the child “different,” or could possibly result in the death of the mother or the child shortly after birth, is a clear reason to opt for a “termination.”

Gabriel had a condition that required prenatal surgery. An infection developed and could not be treated. He was born premature, and lived only two hours. If the Santorums did not care about their baby, or babies were truly only “lumps of cells” as supporters of abortion have to tell themselves, then what’s the big deal, right?

But the witness provided by the Santorums of love and the indispensable value of family, of knowing and loving one another, of sharing joys and sorrows, pains and triumphs, and yes, life and death, is at such odds with the culture that can support abortion.

I wonder, if Colmes, Robinson, or anyone who nodded at their criticism of “weird” Rick Santorum were in the Santorums’ place, what would they do? Would they mourn? I would hope so. Would they want the dying child to meet his siblings and his siblings to meet him? Tougher question.

Or would they want to hide death? Would they want to try to forget about it? Move on as though it was little more than an abscess that had to be removed suddenly? Would they talk about it much with the other kids? Or is their thinking so disjointed that they wouldn’t see the irony in expecting *this one* to live because I want it to, while allowing *that one* to be killed violently because, well, women’s health.

Truly, I believe it is a great benefit of being Catholic not to fear death or suffering, but to embrace them as indispensable parts of life. Because in suffering well we are as near to Christ in his crucified glory as we can be on this earth, and death is the passage to meeting Him face-to-face.

Little Gabriel Santorum was baptized before he died. He has seen the Lord face-to-face and can be numbered among the saints of heaven. His siblings, and his parents, are eternally blessed for loving him and knowing him for the short time he was with them here.

I do hope Gabriel and his friends in heaven will come down and soften the hearts of those who thought his life and his family were “weird,” or in any way odd.

unforced error n. A mistake made by the player and not due to the opponent’s skill or effort 

Boy doesn’t that summarize this Republican primary season? Ron Paul calling for legalizing heroin.  Tim Pawlenty’s debate whiff on ‘Obamneycare.’ Michele Bachmann playing the gender card. Herman Cain’s abortion answer on Piers Morgan. Let’s not forget Cain’s incoherent answers on foreign policy and his campaign’s response to the sexual harassment scandal. And how can we forget the Rick Perry brain freeze?

Which lead Slate reporter David Weigel to remark:

There are people who catch … leprechauns who are less lucky than Mitt Romney this year.

So now that Newt Gingrich rockets to the top, what happens? An unforced error.

In a story published this morning, Gingrich told ABC News that life begins at implantation. Which not only puts him at odds with the pro-life community, but also the Catholic Church which Gingrich joined as an adult just two years ago.

At risk of people saying I am cherry picking quotes or taking him out of context, here is the entire snippet on this found at ABCNews.com:

TAPPER: Abortion is a big issue here in Iowa among conservative Republican voters and Rick Santorum has said you are inconsistent. The big argument here is that you have supported in the past embryonic stem cell research and you made a comment about how these fertilized eggs, these embryos are not yet “pre-human” because they have not been implanted. This has upset conservatives in this state who worry you don’t see these fertilized eggs as human life. When do you think human life begins?

GINGRICH: Well, I think the question of being implanted is a very big question. My friends who have ideological positions that sound good don’t then follow through the logic of: ‘So how many additional potential lives are they talking about? What are they going to do as a practical matter to make this real?’

I think that if you take a position when a woman has fertilized egg and that’s been successfully implanted that now you’re dealing with life. because otherwise you’re going to open up an extraordinary range of very difficult questions

TAPPER: So implantation is the moment for you.

GINGRICH: Implantation and successful implantation. In addition I would say that I’ve never been for embryonic stem cell research per se. I have been for, there are a lot of different ways to get embryonic stem cells. I think if you can get embryonic stem cells for example from placental blood if you can get it in ways that do not involve the loss of a life that’s a perfectly legitimate avenue of approach.

What I reject is the idea that we’re going to take one life for the purpose of doing research for other purposes and I think that crosses a threshold of de-humanizing us that’s very very dangerous.

Actually it is Gingrich who doesn’t ”follow through the logic” of his argument.

After all, let’s not forget that it’s the anti-child camp which wants Americans to think that life begins at implantation.

They’ve spent considerable money on this lie for a reason. Abortion is increasingly unpopular in American culture, but contraception remains widely popular.

Plan B kills a baby before she implants on the uterine wall. But the company hawking this pills calls it ”emergency contraception.” In fact, their ads directly lie saying: “Plan B is not the abortion pill.”

This deadly lie requires us to reject reality, to deny science. The study of biology has proven that a new human life begins once sperm and ovum unite. At that moment, you have a unique homo sapiens with her own unique DNA different than the mother. To snuff her out with Plan B is immoral.

Newt Gingrich’s answer on when human life begins is simply unacceptable. But his mistake isn’t due to timidness like when Pawlenty pulls his punch or from a profound lack of debate skills like Perry’s oops moment. No, Newt Gingrich’s error is much worse because he actually believes something which is wrong. And it has drastic consequences.

Newt and Callista Gingrich

My friend Joshua Mercer is concerned with Newt Gingrich’s three marriages and their effect on Newt’s ability to defend DOMA and promote the traditional definition of marriage.

As I tend to do ’round these parts, I disagree. I’m not sure Mercer is doing this, but I fear too many conservatives are trying to find an angel by whom to be governed. We will not find one, so we must choose from among the sinners we live with.

As for the sinner named Newt Gingrich, while his example is not one up for emulation, I do not believe Gingrich’s case is as problematic for Gingrich-as-nominee as Mercer does.

First and foremost, the primary battlefront on this topic is the personal, not the political—it’s you and me convincing others of what marriage is and why it is worth protecting in law. So the discussion about which politician would be the best one to champion this cause is, to my mind, a secondary consideration.

That said, since one of them *will* be the standard bearer, and thus “don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good” is in full effect, here is my response to Mercer’s concerns about Gingrich.

We believe that marriage is, by definition, between one man and one woman, and that this definition is unchangeable. Newt’s offense is in having three different wives, all of whom are still alive.

But given a culture that accepts divorce, and recognizing that until his 2009 conversion he accepted this bug of our culture, his offense was not against what we are at present trying to defend in law regarding marriage—after all, he only had one wife at a time, and all of his wives were women. As Catholics we hold that divorce is a severe problem, and that those who are sacramentally married, get divorced but who attempt remarriage while their (actual) spouse still lives incur automatic excommunication live separated from the Church in some way.* But in today’s fight to defend marriage we are not fighting the divorce fight.

Since the case we’re making at present is not against divorce, Newt’s marital issues are not a reason for him to recuse himself from the battle over marriage. Nor, in my opinion, are they a good enough reason for us to hesitate to support him as a standard bearer. He’s flawed, just like the rest of us. Opponents will undoubtedly use them as a cudgel with which to beat him about the head and shoulders, but I think that line of attack will have limited traction, especially if we at whom it is aimed shrug it off as a red herring “gotcha” attack. And it certainly will not throw Gingrich off his message—he wouldn’t be running if he and his wife didn’t expect that sort of criticism.

Those who ardently push for gay marriage do not honor the “man and woman” part of the definition, nor do they think divorce is particularly a problem, given the separation rate among gay couples, including the “marriages” that have taken place in those jurisdictions that have approved gay marriage laws. And you’re not going to win over those who simply reject the traditional definition of marriage anyhow, even if your candidate married his high school sweetheart at 20 years old, is still madly in love, and hasn’t even looked at another woman since.

For one, if not Newt, they’d point at others in the pro-marriage side who have been divorced and gotten remarried, including lawmakers. It’s going to happen anyhow, so why not have a strong leader at the helm whose personal issues don’t paralyze him?

Also,  yes, Newt cheated on his second wife, Marianne, with Callista, who is presently his wife. That’s bad. But it wasn’t the end of the story (we are Catholic, after all). His sins have been public, but his conversion sincere, and in spite of his very public bruised past he is putting himself forward for the presidency and all the scrutiny—being beaten about the head and shoulders—that such an endeavor brings with it. I actually somewhat admire him for that. He could have continued in a comfortable living as a spokesman, pundit, writer, professor, perhaps getting appointed to a commission here and there, but he decided there is something more important that he could be doing and he isn’t going to let past disappointments and sins derail that possibility. He is ambitious—they all are, or they wouldn’t be running—but I do not believe his ambition is unhealthy. And his wife is on board, which is important because he expressed early on that if Callista was not keen on the idea he would not do it. The idea that he would check his ambition for the sake of his marriage says something, no? His present marriage is really the first time he has entered into marriage with eyes mostly open (only “mostly,” because no one’s eyes, save Christ’s and His mother’s, are fully open this side of the grave) so it seems he sees things he did not previously see.  And he’s not the same man he was when he was in the mid-nineties. A friend of mine who knew him when she worked on Capitol Hill back in the days of his speakership did a sit-down interview with him and Callista a few months back. She commented on the marked difference in his demeanor—far more calm and statesmanlike, she said. And among the GOP contenders he is, by far, the most articulate, focused, and deeply knowledgeable conservative on the topics of the day. I don’t always agree with the exact policy prescriptions he settles upon, but I always stop to see what is his point.

And he may well be the best candidate. A quick comparison of Gingrich to the other top GOP contenders: Consider that Newt’s dirty laundry is already hung on the line for all to see so there won’t be anything like what we’re seeing with Herman Cain. This is no small thing in this day and age when the news organizations want to latch onto what’s salacious, not what’s substantial. Newt has been the best performer, or at least tied, in pretty much all of the debates and has an unmatched grasp of the issues. This is a great advantage over Perry, who, though I believe he is soundly conservative in his principles, seems to lack the depth of knowledge and quick access to what he does know that he would need in debates with the chameleon and nephew of lies, Barack Obama. And Newt is not the super-packaged, slick, play dough candidate that Mitt Romney is.

(Note: the preceding paragraph should not be construed as a “best of bad options” analysis. I could pro-actively support more than one of the candidates.)

So I’m not as worried as Mercer is about Gingrich’s ability to lead on the protection of marriage in law.

And though it may seem like it, I’m not fully settled on Gingrich as my preferred candidate. However, since the beginning of this campaign season, he has been in my top few and neither his marital issues of the past nor anything he has done during the campaign has changed that.

——-

*A commenter, Lewis Kappel, shared an important clarification of a point which I lazily generalized. He wrote:

Here is what then-Cardinal Ratzinger said in “Salt of the Earth”. – “I must make a purely canonical clarification, namely, that these married people are not excommunicated in the formal sense. Excommunication is a whole cluster of ecclesiastical penalties; it is a restriction of Church membership. This ecclesiastical penalty is not imposed on them, even though what you might call the core that immediately catches the eye, the fact of not being able to receive Communion, does affect them. But, as I said, they are not excommunicated in the juridical sense.” – cited from[here.]

Apologies for any misunderstanding I may have caused.

“I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States,” she wrote. “As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.”

I’m not surprised. In her present situation, she makes news simply by posting to Facebook. She can write books and deliver speeches and attract a large following. That’s not me criticizing her. I just think, why would you want to run for president and have the press vilify your family all over again? I think she made the right call.

What do you think about Sarah Palin and her political future?

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush defended Gov. Rick Perry’s support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. “I think that is a fair policy,” Bush said in an e-mail to National Journal on Tuesday, adding that the students who benefit from the tuition breaks find themselves in the United States through “no fault of their own.” National Journal notes that Sen. Marco Rubio, hero to many conservatives, also supported Florida’s version of the DREAM Act. http://cvote.to/4f

Speaking of Florida, the Sunshine State is threatening to make Christmas miserable for political reporters and presidential candidates by moving their primary up to Jan. 31, which could have a domino effect and make New Hampshire and Iowa to move their primary and caucus to December. http://cvote.to/4g

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received a standing ovation and thunderous applause at the Ronald Reagan Library last night for a speech that including references to foreign policy. Despite many categorical no’s earlier this year, he didn’t out right rule out a presidential campaign in 2012, but it still seems unlikely he will run. http://cvote.to/4d Note: I listened to the speech last night and it was outstanding. Of course, if he decided to run, the public swooning by conservatives over Christie would immediately change and he’d face criticism over his stance on cap and trade, civil unions and other issues. http://cvote.to/4e Nonetheless, he remains a popular figure among conservatives for his no nonsense approach to reigning in spending in New Jersey.

Other articles of interest:

With his presidential campaign over, Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter’s now faces a primary challenge in the 11^th District. State Sen. Mike Kowall announced this week he’s challenging McCotter for the GOP nomination. http://cvote.to/4h

Observers say the gay agenda is a major threat to religious liberty. http://cvote.to/4i

Pennsylvanians are opposed 52-40 to GOP proposal to apply electoral votes to Congressional district. http://cvote.to/4j

Matt Archbold slices through the myth of the “personally pro-life” Catholic who supports abortion. http://cvote.to/4k

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston denounced an effort to get physician-assisted suicide on the Massachusetts ballot. “We hope the citizens of the Commonwealth will not be seduced by language [such as] dignity and compassion, which are means to disguise the sheer brutality of helping people to kill themselves,” said O’Malley. http://cvote.to/3i Here are some links from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference for those interested in more information. http://cvote.to/3j Supporters of euthanasia need 70,000 signatures to get it presented for action and the Legislature would either vote on the measure or send it to the ballot box for citizens to vote on the measure.

The National Abortion Federation cheered a recent NPR story on abortion doctors and linked the story on their Facebook page. But NPR’s Ombudsman, Edward Schumacher-Matos, was upset about the story, slamming the news agency for using the loaded term “abortion doctor.” Does this mean this editor thinks it was inappropriate to label an abortionist with the nice term of “doctor”? Ah, No. He thought NPR wasn’t favorable enough to abortion supporters. “We don’t say a physician is an STD doctor. Or a child-birth doctor. Or a breast-exam doctor,” Schumacher-Matos said. Apparently the approved term is “abortion provider.” Sheesh. What a Culture of Death we live in. http://cvote.to/3h

There’s another wrinkle regarding Gardasil, a vaccine used to combat HPV. It’s been the subject of considerable discussion since Rick Perry entered the presidential race. Dr. Diane Harper, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City says the vaccine is being way over-sold. NPR notes this is “striking” since Harper worked on studies that got the vaccines approved and even accepted grants from the manufacturers (although not any longer, she says.) She changed her mind, she said, when the vaccine makers started lobbying state legislatures to mandate school children get vaccinated. “Ninety-five percent of women who are infected with HPV never, ever get cervical cancer,” she says. “It seemed very odd to be mandating something for which 95 percent of infections never amount to anything.”  http://cvote.to/3l Yes, we have certainly covered this issue extensively at CatholicVote and not all opinion here has been uniform. http://cvote.to/3k

Rep. Jeff Flake, an economic libertarian who doesn’t care too much about social issues, endorsed former Gov. Mitt Romney, an economic liberal who doesn’t care too much about social issues. Flake is an early favorite to win the GOP nomination for the Senate seat vacated by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl. Flake upset pro-family activists when he voted to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Arizona has moved up their presidential primary to Feb. 28, so this is considered a “big get” for Romney. http://cvote.to/3m

Other articles of interest:

CBS’s Mark Knoller reports that President Obama promises to veto any deficit plan that reduces Medicare benefits if the plan does not also raise taxes on “the rich and big corporations,” according to White House officials. http://cvote.to/3n Wow. Raising taxes in a recession? Yeah, brilliant.

The National Organization for Marriage compiled a long list of media outlets which noticed the impact that David Weprin’s vote on so-called “same sex marriage” contributed to his upset defeat to pro-life and pro-family Bob Turner in the race to fill the House seat in Queens and Brooklyn that was vacated by Anthony Weiner. http://cvote.to/3o

Republican insiders worry if Rick Perry can win over suburban voters. They wonder how the Texas governor would fare in Pennsylvania and if he’ll make Missouri more competitive than it should be. http://cvote.to/3p

President Obama’s approval ratings have dropped below 50% in nine target states that George W. Bush won in 2004, but that Obama captured in 2008. They are: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, and Nevada. http://cvote.to/3q

Have a million bucks? You could buy the domain teaparty.com, which has been owned by The Tea Party, a Canadian rock band since 1993 – and they are actually liberal in their politics. http://cvote.to/3r

It’s been 88 years since a non-Democrat won New York’s 9^th Congressional District, held recently by scandal-tarnished Anthony Weiner. The New York City district covers portions of Queens and Brooklyn. But yesterday, pro-life and pro-family Catholic Bob Turner won the seat by a large margin, 54% to 46%. Mark Amodei, the Republican, also easily won the special election in Nevada’s 2^nd Congressional District 58% to 36% over NARAL-endorsed Kate Marshall. NPR called the two defeats “demoralizing” for Democrats. http://cvote.to/3D

While the number of pro-abortion Republicans has plummeted since the mid-1990s, there are still some that get elected. One is Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who professes to be Catholic. Yesterday Sandoval endorsed Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. Political reporter Jon Ralston says Sandoval and Perry have a “strong friendship.” http://cvote.to/3E Would Rick Perry consider naming the Hispanic governor of a swing state as his running mate? If he did, he would violate his pledge with the Susan B. Anthony List. The Texas governor pledged to “select pro-life appointees for relevant Cabinet and Executive Branch positions.”   http://cvote.to/3F (PDF). But the endorsement will likely help Perry compete in the Nevada caucuses (an early voting state in the presidential primaries). Nevada, with its large Mormon population, was once considered an easy Romney win, but a recent poll in Nevada showed Perry actually leading Romney. http://cvote.to/3G

Yeah, Rick Perry low-balled the amount of money he’s received from Merck by a factor of five. His PAC received $28,000 from the pharmaceutical company which produces the Gardasil vaccination that Perry forced all Texas girls to receive. http://cvote.to/3H Voters will have to determine whether this amount of money proves that Perry’s motivations were not as pure as he claims. Michele Bachmann has relentlessly pushed the issue, even after Perry backed down and admitted his order was a mistake. In fact radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh thinks Bachmann’s decision to cite a mother claiming Gardasil caused her daughter to become mentally handicapped proves that Bachmann may have ‘jumped the shark’ – a pop culture reference that means a once credible force has now become a farce. http://cvote.to/3I

ABC News is uncovered embarrassing details of the Obama administration influence in securing a $535 million loan to a Solyndra, a “green energy” firm that recently went bankrupt and shut its doors two weeks ago. The firm is now the subject of a criminal investigation and their factory was raided by the FBI in a joint investigation with the Energy Department’s inspector general. ABC News noted: “One of the largest private investors in the deal, Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, was also a prominent fundraiser for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.” http://cvote.to/3J

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a pro-life Republican (and Catholic) enjoys sky-high approval ratings from just about every demographic. 61% of Virginians approve of the job he’s doing, including 79% of Republicans and 67% of independents. He’s managed to get even footing among Democratic voters (39% in support and 40% opposed). A plurality of Blacks also approve of McDonnell, with 46% in support and 32% opposed. http://cvote.to/3M Conservative blogger Christian Heinze says this poll will amplify talk of McDonnell as a possible Vice Presidential pick next year — especially since Virginia is a definite swing state next year. http://cvote.to/3N Virginia’s Constitution only allows governors to serve one consecutive term.

Other articles of interest:

Democrats on the Hill pick apart Obama’s jobs plan. http://cvote.to/3P

Just 21% of Americans believe our mission in Afghanistan has been accomplished. http://cvote.to/3K

When we give Congress the power to regulate so much economic activity, then we shouldn’t be surprised that 5,400 former Capitol Hill staffers in just the past decade have cashed out and become lobbyists? http://cvote.to/3L

Dr. Gerard Nadal is the new National Director of Med Students for Life. http://cvote.to/3O

Election 2012

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorses Mitt Romney for President. http://cvote.to/2k Political analyst Larry Sabato says that Pawlenty is unlikely to be Mitt’s running mate since they are both northern governors. http://cvote.to/2l Katrina Trinko of National Review Online notes that at the last debate, Pawlenty didn’t just criticize Romney’s health care plan, but also Romney’s record of high state spending and liberal judicial nominees. http://cvote.to/2m

GOP presidential debate in Tampa tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CNN. Politico has six things to watch for in the debate (hint: Social Security). http://cvote.to/2n The L.A. Times interviewed seniors in Tampa about Rick Perry calling Social Security a ‘Ponzi scheme.’ The responses should that the issue is thorny, but not a death knell. http://cvote.to/2n

Political analyst Larry Sabato outlined some Electoral College scenario possibilities for the 2012 presidential election, including the real chance of a nightmare 269-269 tie, which would throw the presidential election into the U.S. House of Representatives. http://cvote.to/2t There’s a simple way to prevent this possibility: Increase the size of the House by one. Yours truly outlined this almost a year ago. http://cvote.to/2u

Special elections happen tomorrow in Nevada’s 2nd and New York 9th and Republicans might win both. The New York race is to fill the seat of Democrat Anthony Weiner, who left office after a sending inappropriate images to women who were not his wife. Republican Bob Turner is a pro-life and pro-marriage Catholic who might just win an upset in this district that covers parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Polling for a Democratic firm show him leading over Democrat David Weprin 47% to 41%. The poll noted that Jewish voters upset over President Obama’s stance on Israel were supporting Republican Bob Turner, who leads with the Jewish vote 56% to 39% http://cvote.to/2p.  The National Organization for Marriage noted that this poll showed another major reason that Bob Turner might win tomorrow. In that PPP poll, a plurality of voters in the 9^th District opposed so-called ‘same-sex’ marriage 45% to 41%. Of those polled, 55% said the issue of SSM was either very or somewhat important in deciding who they will support tomorrow. http://cvote.to/2q

Over in Nevada, the latest polls show Mark Amodei cruising to victory 50% to 37% over Kate Marshall (endorsed by EMILY’s List) in Nevada’s 2^nd. http://cvote.to/2o The race is being held to replace Republican Dean Heller who was appointed to the Senate seat of Republican John Ensign, who resigned several years after ethics complaints surrounding his extramarital affair.

The Chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party wants Rep. Pat Meehan, Rep. Jim Gerlach, or Rep. Charlie Dent to face off against Democrat Sen. Bob Casey next November. http://cvote.to/2x

Other articles of interest:

The President’s jobs proposal is nothing but a “$447 billion reelection plan” says James Pethokoukis of Reuters. He cites economists at Moody’s and George Mason University who note it will do little to boost the economy. http://cvote.to/2r

Green subsidies are a “breeding ground of corruption” says Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner, noting that companies with ties to the Democratic Party received billions in subsidies from the federal government. http://cvote.to/2s

Catholic schools in Indiana see a surge in enrollment because of a recent voucher bill became law. Amazing what freedom brings. http://cvote.to/2v

Pat Archbold recounts the horror of a young woman who so casually and loudly called a group of mentally handicapped runs ‘retards.’ http://cvote.to/2w

Just last week Perry commented on New York’s passage of a same-sex “marriage” law, saying: “That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me…”

Those comments caused a backlash and could have threatened Perry’s chances at winning the Republican presidential nomination even before his campaign started.

But Perry told Perkins:

“I probably needed to add a few words after that ‘it’s fine with me,’ and that it’s fine with me that a state is using their sovereign rights to decide an issue. Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me. My stance hasn’t changed. I believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman. My record as governor of Texas reflects a very strong commitment to defending traditional marriage.”

During his radio interview with Perkins, Perry stressed his active support in 2005 for marriage amendment to Texas’ Constitution.

Perry said his initial remarks simply reflected the federalism found in our Constitutional system.

“My comments reflect my recognition that marriage and most issues of the family have historically been decided by the people at the state and local level. And that is absolutely the state of law under our Constitution,” said Perry.

Perkins agreed with Perry on the need for federalism and the 10th amendment but noted that the Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress in 1996 is only a law, not a constitutional amendment, thus offering only a “thin-line of defense” against activist judges. If DOMA were thrown out, same-sex marriage would be legal in all 50 states.

It was a concern that Perry shared:

“That is the reason that the federal marriage amendment is being offered. It’s the small group of activist judges. And frankly a small handful of states and these liberal special interest groups that are intent on a redefinition of marriage on the nation, for all of us. Which I adamantly oppose.

“Indeed, to not pass the federal marriage amendment would impinge on Texas and other states not to have (a redefinition of) marriage forced upon them by activists judges and these special interest groups. The Constitution was designed to respect the states, including the amendment process,” said Perry.

Perry noted that the amendment process respects the rights of the states, because any amendment to the Constitution must have the support of 3/4ths of the states to ratify.

“It’s really strong medicine, but our Founding Fathers had great wisdom,” Perry said. “I hope we pass a federal marriage amendment.”

Sounds good to me.

You can listen to the FRC interview here.