McConnell will win. There is also Oregon and Georgia, if you care.

Use this open thread to be contemptuous and dismissive of people in your own party. Try to call a few of them liars if you can manage it. Make sure you insult someone, for Pete’s sake.

Why fight it?

And another:

For the second day in a row, a federal judge — this time in Pennsylvania — has struck down a state ban on same-sex couples’ marriages.

Less than 24 hours after U.S. District Court Michael McShane — an Obama appointee — struck down Oregon’s state constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marrying, U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III — appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2002 — reached the same ultimate conclusion in Pennsylvania.

“We now join the twelve federal district courts across the country which, when confronted with these inequities in their own states, have concluded that all couples deserve equal dignity in the realm of civil marriage,” Jones wrote.

Although Pennsylvania has no constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marrying, Jones on Tuesday struck down the state’s 1996 statute banning same-sex couples from marrying and barring recognition of out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples.

Before you have a chance to blink, this will be the whole country. We’ll have none of this acceptance by society nonsense. Just cram it down the people’s throats through phony trumped-up legal doctrine. That’s the ticket.

As was reported last December, the Chamber of Commerce has pledged $50 billion to protect us from that awful Tea Party:

On Christmas Day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it plans to spend at least $50 million to “support establishment, business-friendly candidates in primaries and the general election, with an aim of trying to win a Republican Senate majority.”

“Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce top political strategist Scott Reed. “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”

GOP establishment officials hope to elide Tea Party challenges by shrinking the nomination process down to a tight four-month window replete with penalties for states that shirk the rules.

What does that kind of thinking lead to? Why, it leads to Congressman who have 100% ratings from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Right? Folks like Michael Grimm, Republican from Staten Island, NY. His 100% rating can be viewed here. Grimm received the Chamber’s full backing in 2012.

Victory is ours! Oh, except there is one little hitch.

Namely, Grimm just got indicted for multiple counts of fraud and tax evasion. Roll Call says there is not much that Republicans can do about the fact that they are now running someone who has been indicted:

Grimm will be on the general-election ballot unless one of three unlikely events takes place, according to a New York Republican source. He has already been designated by the state party as its nominee, so the only way he can be removed is by moving out of the district, running for a judgeship or being convicted before the general, the source said.

Yay Chamber!

P.S. What’s personally ironic about all this to me is that cretin Neal Rauhauser, associate of Brett Kimberlin and general creep, engaged in a multi-year campaign to discredit me — and made it a centerpiece of his fabrications that I was somehow tied up with the Chamber of Commerce and Michael Grimm. Here I am, espousing positions consistent with (and sometimes more extreme than) those of the Tea Party, day after day, and this weirdo says I have some connection to the group opposing the Tea Party (and supporting a Congressman who threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony).

Oh, Neal. Is there no lie so brazen that you won’t tell it? And that stooges Karoli Kuns and Matthew “Shoq” Edelstein won’t fall for it?

Thanks to a tipster.

[guest post by Dana]

It is common knowledge, again confirmed during this commencement season of student protests, that there is a segment of the population that firmly rejects those who do not think and believe the way they do. No individuals allowed. In other words, groupthink- …the desire for conformity in the group… results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints… As a result of this narrow-minded bigotry, the conversation is shut down before it even begins.

Here is what happens when someone breaks rank: Anne Marie Schubert is running for District Attorney in Sacramento. Schubert is a lesbian, a mother and a Republican. And, ironically, her brother just happens to be one of the leading figures behind Proposition 8. As such, gay and lesbian activist groups are working overtime to defeat her because she did not speak out against Proposition 8, as was expected of her. (She’s gay, she must be against it!)

However, according to her political consultant, Anne Marie Schubert did not speak out against Prop. 8 as she has never been involved with that area of activism. Also,

[S]he was running for judge, and California discourages judges from expressing political opinions.

Did this make a difference to the gay activists? Absolutely not.

They believe she should have “held a news conference with her then-partner and their two children denouncing the [Prop 8] initiative,” according to the AP’s Don Thompson. They have also “wanted an opportunity to punish Frank Schubert [Anne’s brother] for a long time,” gay legal activist Kathleen Finnerty told Thompson–even though Prop 8 was long since struck down by the courts.

Reading further, it’s interesting to note that,

Financial reports filed with Sacramento County show Anne Marie Schubert accepted at least $2,600 in campaign contributions from her brother.

Aha! It all comes together now.

According to the gay community, Prop. 8 is not the only reason they are opposing Schubert,

Members of the gay community say their backing of Schubert’s main opponent has to do with more than Proposition 8. They say she never engaged with them before she began running for office.

That shouldn’t matter to voters, Schubert’s supporters say.

“She’s been very clear on her orientation, but also that it has nothing to do with her job,” said Gilliard, Schubert’s political consultant.

At the end of the day, equality and tolerance are no longer enough.

Schubert’s struggles reflect an increasing political radicalization of the gay community, which has moved far beyond arguing for tolerance and equality, and now increasingly backs efforts to enforce conformity.

–Dana