We'll call this "The Full Gingrich." Yes, love, honor, obey - and ditch when they get sick.

Finally Pat Robertson has come out on the side of the suffering - just like Christ. Those suffering with having a wife who's no longer up to snuff.

Asked what a man should do whose wife has Alzheimer's, an increasingly decrepit Pat Robertson says, "I know it sounds cruel but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over."

In a week of Republicans cheering for record executions and wooing for the uninsured to drop dead - does this even get a blip on our disgust radar?

In a word: YES. This dude is twisted. If a secular humanist went on national television telling people to divorce their sick spouses - it would be the Fourth Horseman of the Atheists Want to Drink White Babies' Blood and Make You Gay-calypse! Every traffic jam would be blamed on the statement. "That seven-minute increase to your commute is a sign from GOD that marriage is near extinction and GOD is angry!"

Haven't these bible-babblers been out allegedly "defending" marriage?! Hasn't the Religious Right for an entire seven or eight years now been on one long parade proclaiming the queers will destroy matrimony if they get to legally do it? And now there's this Crypt Keeper (too obscure? Gollum?) guy - arguably with the highest media profile in the Religious Right - saying that divorce is a way better option than being with a sick broad?

This is probably Obama's fault...

Hat tip Right Wing Watch

Great news, everybody! Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus are sharing marriage tips! Shall we all gather round and take notes?

These two supergeniuses of marriage, morality, and normalcy are feeling real share-y lately, and as the facts surface showing that Marcus's federally funded* "clinic" engages in "reparative" (pray-the-gay-away) "therapy," perhaps we can examine what makes this God-ordained right-knowing perfect couple of God click.

Of course, there's a hippie-dippy school of thought that says every love is unique and beautiful just as it is. Having disqualified themselves with a lifetime of hateful policy and b.s. medicine, the Bachmanns can enjoy all the scrutiny and judgement they have eagerly heaped on others. Feel free to share ways they can perfect their union in the comments!

*SOCIALISM!

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Mike Huckabee smiles like a nice guy and looks like a nice guy, but when it comes to his views on being a single mother, he's not such a nice guy. You've probably heard about his remarks concerning Natalie Portman having a baby, but Heavens to Betsy, she's not married...

During her speech, Portman thanked "Black Swan" co-star turned fiance Benjamin Millepied for "the most wonderful gift," -- their baby, due later this year. Huckabee took issue with that statement, and the entire premise of her pregnancy, in an interview with conservative radio host Michael Medved on Monday.

After a set up from Medved saying that most wonderful gift should have been "a wedding ring," Huckabee slammed the star actress -- and then all single mothers.

You know Michael, one of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children, and they're doing just fine.' But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie. And I think it gives a distorted image that yes, not everybody hires nannies, and caretakers, and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of children wedlock.

You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids -- across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out of wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering.

He failed to mention that Natalie has a fiance, but forget the facts, Huckabee needed a platform to become the new Dan Quayle and trot out his insipid Murphy Brown argument all over again so he could attacks single mothers everywhere. That didn't work out too well for Qualye, who was being groomed by Bill Kristol to become a "Ken Doll" matinee idol for Conservatives.

Huckabee released a statement that was pretty much the same thing he said on Huckabee's weekend FOX show.

Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby's father," Huckabee said. "My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock."

So after being called out on it, he tried to downplay what he said, heaped lavish praise all over Natalie, but said he was only talking about the problems single mothers face. Back to reality, how does Portman's acceptance speech glorify and glamorize having children out of wedlock? It's ludicrous and anyone that could draw that analogy is seriously delusional.

The assault on women continues with great fury by conservatives since the Tea Party got popular, and it's a f**ked up thing to be doing."The family," which Huckabee says is the true form of government, is being tarnished because of Natalie Portman? In other words, he took the cowardly way out. He must have been truly offended by Portman being pregnant and not married so he should have backed up what he said. We all make mistakes, but being as public a figure as he is, this was calculated. He apologized for his "Obama is from Kenya" crap earlier last week:

On Monday, the ex-governor mistakenly suggested in an interview that President Obama had grown up in Kenya. Huckabee later insisted he had simply misspoke, saying Kenya when he had meant Indonesia, and he slammed the media for the "sensationalized" way reporters covered his remarks.

Notice the victim-apology. In the end, he's really the victim because the media reported what he said which is a typical ploy. David Neiwert busted him on that twisted crap too last week.

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Huckabee just digs that hole in Kenya deeper. Why not just admit he got his misinformation from Fox?

Of course, it didn't exactly help his cause that he blatantly lied on O'Reilly's show, claiming he had described Obama's Indonesian childhood in his book -- which has no mention of it at all! Why are these supposed Christian Conservatives so frakkin' nasty? Why do they need all these lies to make their arguments?

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Paragraph Four of the Department of Justice Memo says it all:

After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.

This is a huge victory. FINALLY.

UPDATE: House Speaker John Boehner, in an absolute fit of political amnesia, released a statement.

While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation.

Because abortion, slavery, and lay-offs are not controversial? So be it.

Politicususa: 40 reiigious leaders denounce Sarah Palin, and Fox's hate speech - challenge Gingrich

David Rosen: Know Nothings of 2010

The Hill's Congress Blog: GOP vilifies workers who serve the public

Rumproast: Douchehat doubles down: Straight marriage is 'thick,' Gay marriage is 'thin'

The Atlantic: The Great Lie

The Root: S.C. mystery Dem, Alvin Greene, indicted

Judge Walker has opened the door for same-sex marriage, but with a bit of a twist. The stay will remain in effect until August 18th to give the proponents of Prop 8 an opportunity to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

That's not surprising, but what does surprise me is the lengthy discussion of whether those same Prop 8 proponents even have standing to file such an appeal.

Because Prop 8 was an amendment to the state Constitution, the Attorney General and Governor are the parties with standing to appeal Judge Walker's ruling. However, Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger both declined to do so. At the trial, the original proponents were allowed to present their case instead of Brown and Schwarzenegger, but after the judge ruled, responsibility for appeal bounced back to the state.

Brown and Schwarzenegger argued that the stay should be lifted and marriages allowed immediately. What Judge Walker has done with this short extension of the stay is to allow the Prop 8 proponents to argue: a) that they have standing to appeal; and b) that the stay should be made permanent.

Judge Walker seems to think they don't have standing. Key conclusion:

Because proponents make no argument that they -- as opposed to the state defendants or plaintiffs -- will be irreparably injured absent a stay, proponents have not given the court any basis to exercise its discretion to grant a stay.

Bottom line: This is moving toward the Supreme Court. The real question is what will happen in the interim.

Chris Geidner has a quick analysis with key points. Maddow also reacts. The LA Times reports that Prop 8 proponents plan an immediate appeal.

Update #2: According to Right Wing Watch, the American Family Association is considering the possibility of dropping any challenge to Prop 8 in order to save bans on same-sex marriage in other states.

Ross Douthat tries a new approach to attack gay marriage. He dressed it up in some intellectual conservative costume, but it's still the same old bullshit in new clothes.

Glenn Greenwald then destroys his argument from the legal perspective.

In the end it all comes down to intellectual dishonesty by conservatives. It doesn't matter if it's in Newsmax or the pages of the NY Times. People like Douthat just want to rob the gay community of basic human rights afforded to the rest of our society.

(h/t Balloon Juice)

Ahh...Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Newt:

Newt Gingrich would like you to know, via the Newt Gingrich Twitter feed, that you can find his thoughts on the Proposition 8 ruling at Newt.org. Here they are:

Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. In every state of the union from California to Maine to Georgia, where the people have had a chance to vote they've affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

"An outrageous disrespect" is a little grammatically shaky for a scholar and published author. Still, unlike Sarah Palin's sanitized Facebook feed, Newt.org doesn't seem to mind a little dissent. Or a lot of it. Some of the comments that have been up on Gingrich's site since last night:

• Newt you cheated on your first wife then dumped her when she was in the hospital with cancer. Later you cheated on your second wife with a 27 year old congressional aide. Maybe you should pipe down about defending marriage.

• No, I want to hear more from the twice-divorced man about how marriage has to be reserved for one man and one woman. I wonder if the two former Mrs. Gingriches would testify as to Newt's reverence for marriage.

My favorite was the commenter who asked which of his three marriages did Newt consider "sacred".

Fortunately for Newt (and less fortunately for we progressives looking for a laugh), his webmaster has wised up and it appears he/she has deleted the post altogether. But still, you gotta hand it to Newt for the absolute audacity to feel entitled to pundify on Prop 8 at all.

ProPublica: Chart: Medicare Drug Plan architects now drug company lobbyists

Mad Kane’s Political Madness: Judge Walker's critics- divorced from reality

CONELRAD Adjacent: HIROSHIMA: THIS IS YOUR LIFE

Consortiumblog: October Surprise cover-up unravels

Pacific Views: America and it's wars

Bitch Ph.D.: "This is a big inconvenience for me"

Judge Walker has struck down California's Proposition 8, stating that it violates the due process and equal protection rights under the Constitution. He further ordered a permanent injunction on any effort to enforce Proposition 8:

Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights and that they will continue to suffer these constitutional violations until state officials cease enforcement of Proposition 8. California is able to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as it has already issued 18,000 marriage licenses to same-sex couples and has not suffered any demonstrated harm as a result...; moreover, California officials have chosen not to defend Proposition 8 in these proceedings.

Because Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, the court orders entry of judgment permanently enjoining its enforcement; prohibiting the official defendants from applying or enforcing Proposition 8 and directing the official defendants that all persons under their control or supervision shall not apply or enforce Proposition 8.

To my gay friends who I have fought alongside and cried with when it passed in November, 2008, congratulations and hugs all around. The war isn't over, but this battle was won and has a clear victor. Everyone.

The full ruling is here. I'm still reading, and will update this post as I read more.

Update #1: A stay has been filed in this case (ahead of the ruling, actually)., and KGO is reporting that it has been granted. I'm not finding any reports on that, but it's to be expected.

What happens next: Judge Walker will rule on the stay filed by proponents of Prop 8. Depending on that ruling, the 9th Circuit will get involved.

Update #2:

Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:

“This is a historic day for California, and for our country. Proposition 8 took away the freedom of committed couples to make what is one of the most important decisions in any person’s life—to make a lifelong promise of caring, responsibility, love, and protection for another individual. Now, like the thousands of other California couples who have been barred from marrying who they choose, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier can have security of knowing they can receive legal protections for their family, visit each other’s hospital rooms when they are ill, and provide for each other in old age. They now have the freedom to make that lifelong commitment to each other.

“This decision is an important step in the right direction, but there’s a lot of work left to do. We will continue to work toward making America a place where all couples can enjoy the freedom and security of marriage.”

Update #3 The judge has put a temporary stay on his order until Friday in order to give both sides opportunity to prepare for the inevitable longer stay/appeal. More details here.