Bacon's Rebellion

Another Kaine flip – or is it flop?

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The RTD reported in 05 that Candidate Kaine said he supported the Marriage amendment ‘as written’ that marriage is between one man and one woman only.

Governor Kaine said he will vote against the amendment and encourage others to do so.

A politician ran for public office saying one thing and did something different in office. Shocked, I’m shocked, I say!

So, why did Gov. Kaine wait six days to change his tune on new taxes for transportation? What happened in those six days? Why didn’ t he announce the flip six minutes after he won? Go figure.

Maybe we ought to have dunking pond for politicians. If they get tested as candidates and drown, the voters know they would have been truthful. If the candidates live, the voters know they will lie.

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17 responses to “Another Kaine flip – or is it flop?”

  1. Virginia Centrist Avatar
    Virginia Centrist

    Uhhh…….

    The marriage amendment doesn’t just say “one man and one woman”

    They added tons of other stuff to it…

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    When did the current wording come into being? Not just a week ago, I assure you.

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    The wording of the amendment has been the same for over a year (2 General Assembly sessions).

    The fact is that it doesn’t change Virginia law. Everything the amendment does is already in the Code. It simply protects our law from activist judges.

    People who oppose it would oppose it regardless of the language.

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    There you go…all the loonies aren’t in the bin …or in the House either.

    Hey boys & girls, my marriage and those of my children and of my friends are quite safe without the “protection” of some weirdo “Marriage Amendment.”

  5. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Anon 12:00: The Marriage Amendment doesn’t protect your marriage in an ex post facto fashion. It protects the institution of marriage in Virginia – based on our civilization – for future generations.

  6. Anonymous 12:00 Avatar
    Anonymous 12:00

    I can tell you based on my 43 years of experience in my marriage that the institution will survive based on what the parties put into it.

    Based on my 42 years of experience as a lawyer, I can tell you that no law in Christendom will turn a bad marriage into a good one nor will it change people’s behavior. We have had laws against “cohabitation” for over 200 years–yet they still do it. Imagine that!

    The “Marriage Amendment” is a silly effort to politicize a moral and religious issue. No man made law will protect the “institution” of marriage. If a man and a woman are truly committed to each other in wedlock, then their “institution” is safe. By attentive parenting they can instill their values in their children and preserve their cultural and religious values for their progeny.

    What others do in their own relationship should not affect them. This “Marriage Amendment” is pure hypocracy.

  7. CG2 Avatar
    CG2

    Governor Kaine and candidate Kaine have been and are consistent on this issue. He has said consistently that he would support “a” marriage amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. He has said that he supports allowing some legal agreements between unmarried couples, although not civil unions. Since the proposed Marshall/Newman amendment outlaws all legal recognition of any unmarried relationships, Kaine opposes this proposed amendment just as he opposed HB 751 (which put in the Virginia Code some of the same language voiding private contracts that the Marshall/Newman amendment seeks to put in George Mason’s bill of rights).

    The line Kaine has drawn here is not unlike the line he has drawn on bills to outlaw certain abortion procedures; he said he would support a constitutional bill that banned so-called “partial birth abortions,” but opposed the bill that passed that did not meet this standard.

    As other posts point out, there is much more to the proposed amendment than a simple definition of marriage.

    You can find out more on http://www.voteNOva.org, the website of The Commonwealth Coalition, and in editiorials published this week in the Roanoke Times http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/60448
    and the Staunton News Leader, http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/OPINION01/604110303/1014

    Disclosure: I have received compensation as a consultant to Kaine campaigns in the past, and I am now the campaign manager for the statewide campaign against the Marshall/Newman amendment.

  8. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    So I guess poor Tim was misquoted by the RTD. Because the quote isn’t a poltical waffle but a clear statement that he supported the amendment as written – as did Jerry Kilgore. Darn those lying journalists.

    Anon: If the institution of marriage includes two men, two women, one man and four women or fourteen, an adult parent and child, a brother and sister, some people and an animal of their choice – then it won’t protected.

    The Commonwealth has a compelling interest to define marriage for the common good – which means keep it between one man and one woman. The judges made the issue political the same way they did abortion by legislating from the bench.

  9. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    Have we been having a big problem with activist state judges in Virginia? It has totally escaped my notice, if indeed there’s something going on. Indeed, my general impression is that the judiciary in Virginia is fairly “conservative” (in the sense of not particularly adventuresome). I stay reasonably well informed, so I’ll be pleased to find out what I’ve missed. Apparently it was absolutely seismic because I keep hearing this phrase, “activist judges.” On my long list of things I’m not worried about in Virginia are my marriage being undermined by contracts or other arrangements between non-heterosexual couples and Activist Judges. Show me that I’m dreadfully naive.

    References to the laws of other states are not permitted. They’ve got their own problems.

  10. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    NoVa Scout: Closing the barn door after the horse is out and about is a bit foolish. Timing is everything – in show biz, war and politics.

  11. Anon 12 Avatar
    Anon 12

    NoVA Scout–There’s no reasoning with someone who has to use all three names!

    He says marriage is between ONE man and ONE woman…I guess that rules out divorce and remarriage and therefore disqualifies George Allen from public office since he fits in there….Pity.

  12. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    Anon 12. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Bowden and don’t hold his 3 names against him, especially since one of them is “Atticus”. But my point is that whenever I ask the “why?” question about the content, need and location of this amendment, the only answer I get (from several sources, BTW) is “activist judges.” So if we can establish that current state law is clear and that we in Virginia don’t have an activist judiciary, we can just call the whole thing off, I assume.

    If the perceived problem is federal (as opposed to Virginia) judges, then this thing isn’t any protection in any event.

    I suppose some will point to the Massachusetts situation, but that is a different underlying law and a far different state judiciary.

  13. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    NoVa Scout: I agree with you that there isn’t a sense of urgency for the Marriage Amendment in VA this year. But, since the legislators put it on the table, I will support it. We vote on it in Nov regardless.

    The fact that most Virginia judges are okay today doesn’t mean they will be tomorrow. Look at what happened to Sandra Day O’Connor between 86 and 05 (or was it 04?) on the right to sodomy.

  14. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    JAB: I though O’Connor was a good Justice throughout her tenure. She was always well-prepared and had excellent clerks. She was a handful for counsel in oral argument. A very smart judge, an excellent citizen and patriot. You misinterpret the Court’s decisions if you find anywhere in its jurisprudence a “right to sodomy.” All the cases dealing with this issue have addressed limits on state action.

    Now, why do you think Virginia’s judges are going to find favor in permitting homosexual marriages?

    My gripe with the legislature is why, on an issue you and I agree is not urgent, the members of the GA thrust this Politically Correct, but absolutely substandard piece of drafting in our faces on the November ballot. Since we agree there was no urgency, let’s you and I start a movement to oust all those who voted for it. How many of these folks will have to move on if we succeed?

  15. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    NoVa: You are the lawyer. You may have read the whole body of the 86 and 04(?) decisions on sodomy. O’Connor went the wrong way on the last vote. Virginia’s judges could do the same sooner or later.

    There was some wording – I don’t recall and don’t want to take the time to look up now – about right to private relations blah blah that reads like a right to sodomy.

    I don’t have the urgency to fight politicians about the Marriage Amendment for its timing. Since it is on the table, I’ll support it.

  16. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    JAB: The Court (including the lower courts) have never recognized a “Right to Sodomy.” To use that phrase, with no link to text, is deliberately provocative and misleading. And whether the timing bothers you, certainly the sloppy drafting must drive you, a man of precision, quite wild. If there’s one thing we ought to be able to expect of legislators, it’s precise legislative and constitutional drafting. You and I, as conservatives concerned about the integrity of fundamental documents like the Virginia Bill of Rights, certainly can join forces in holding these slothful incompetents to account and getting some new troops in to do the job right. Voting for their slipshod handiwork would only encourage them.

  17. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    NoVa: I’ll look at the precise wording and start a new thread… one of these days base on my unlawerly understanding of the law.

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