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October 26, 2006
The significance of two men kissing
Last night the extremists at the Federalist Society in NYC hosted a debate of sorts about the elections, and the potential policy ramifications if Dems take over the House and/or the Senate. Because I am a dork and an extremist, I attended with a few friends, and had the chance to meet John Fund and Jim Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, the surprisingly tall Jim Pinkerton, and Stormy Waters Ellis Henican (Sealab info here) who served (and well) as the token liberal/whipping boy.
Ordinarily Fed Soc debates are a better balanced; this was moreso a "discussion," with the exception of Henican, reminiscent of this "debate". Kudos to Henican for being what my father would call a "thinking liberal."
Despite the gay marriage decision in NJ yesterday, Henican predicted that gay marriage won't be the base-rallying issue it was for Republicans in 2004. Pinkerton had pointed to the decision as new evidence Democrats face what's essentially a systemic backlash: as novelty issues come to the dais, and as social "progress" introduces (and circulates) issues like stem cell research, gay marriage, etc., Dems are finding themselves at odds with a fundamentally center-right country.
It's hard to dismiss what will be a two-week long, viral response to the image of two men french kissing, as was featured yesterday on AP reports. It might not mean a vote for the serpentine Republican Tom Kean NJ, or one against Kean's equally serpentine opponent, but elections are fundamentally a marketing exercise, and this imagery cannot have been greeted as good news over at the DNC.
Posted by bill at October 26, 2006 08:47 AM
Comments
I was at that program, and it was both entertaining and enlightening. The liberal Mr. Henican was treated courteously and even warmly by the conservative / libertarian audience. This stands in stark contrast to the way conservatives are typically treated by liberal audiences (e.g., Columbia University students' riot during a speech from a Minuteman Project spokesman; the various heckling, shouting-down and pie-ing of Republican speakers, etc.).
Somebody remind us again why conservatives are the ones labled as "intolerant."
Posted by: Raygun ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.citizen-journal.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 26, 2006 10:37 AM
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