NOM President Brian Brown will be on MSNBC Live tomorrow morning between 11:30AM - 12:00PM ET with Thomas Roberts from their Los Angeles studio talking about NOM's new Marriage Pledge signed by three of the GOP candidates running for President.
It will be a panel discussion. Be sure to tune in if you can!
Ben Smith at Politico was first to take note:
Former Gov. Mitt Romney has joined Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum in signing a pledge to oppose same-sex marriage on a number of specific fronts.
... The pledge is less meaningful for its direct consequences than for the fact that it commits the three candidates fully to the hottest front in the culture wars.
Danny Yadron at the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum have signed a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to oppose gay marriage at several levels of the federal government.
But former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has sought to burnish his credentials as an evangelical Christian, declined to sign it, possibly putting him at odds with the social conservatives he is trying to court in Iowa. The National Organization for Marriage is running a four-day Iowa bus tour leading up to the Aug. 13 straw poll in Ames.
Kathryn Lopez at National Review's The Corner blog:
I’ve sorta tired of pledges, but it does seem bizarre that Tim Pawlenty hasn’t signed onto the National Organization of Marriage’s marriage pledge. The pledge is straightforward. And Governor Pawlenty does come from Minnesota, which has been a ground zero for the marriage debate lately. Pawlenty knows this is not a mere rhetorical debate for primary times.
Alex Pappas at The Daily Caller:
Sources tell The Daily Caller that Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Thad McCotter, Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty all declined to sign the pledge.
“Marriage is an issue with an unbroken string of victories that unites Republicans,” said Brian Brown, president of the conservative marriage advocacy group, “and we’re pleased and honored the leading candidates in the race for the GOP nomination have spoken up for marriage.”
The organization added that “serious announced candidates for the GOP nomination” had the opportunity to sign its marriage pledge.
Brian Montopoli at CBSNews' Political Hotsheet blog:
Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum also signed the pledge, though that's not much of a surprise: Both candidates have grounded their campaigns in part in strong social conservatism. Romney's decision is more interesting because he has largely tried to keep his focus on fiscal issues and declined to sign an earlier, more far-reaching "values" pledge from a conservative group in Iowa.
More outlets:
Kathryn Lopez at NRO's The Corner blog interviews NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher briefly on our new marriage pledge:
I’ve sorta tired of pledges, but it does seem bizarre that Tim Pawlenty hasn’t signed onto the National Organization of Marriage’s marriage pledge. The pledge is straightforward. And Governor Pawlenty does come from Minnesota, which has been a ground zero for the marriage debate lately. Pawlenty knows this is not a mere rhetorical debate for primary times.
Maggie Gallagher, who is chair of NOM, says [...] “At this point, the people of Iowa need to know that Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are the only candidates willing to step forward and pledge to protect marriage in this campaign. We hope Governor Pawlenty will reconsider.”
Danny Yadron at the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog asks that question, and includes NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher's comments:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum have signed a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to oppose gay marriage at several levels of the federal government.
But former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has sought to burnish his credentials as an evangelical Christian, declined to sign it, possibly putting him at odds with the social conservatives he is trying to court in Iowa. The National Organization for Marriage is running a four-day Iowa bus tour leading up to the Aug. 13 straw poll in Ames.
“Pawlenty’s communications director Ann Marie Hauser, personally informed me on Tuesday that Tim Pawlenty would not sign NOM’s marriage pledge,” said Maggie Gallagher, chairman of the board of NOM. “Like many people, we are scratching our heads wondering why Gov. Pawlenty, who has been a champion for marriage in Minnesota, would not commit to doing so for America.”
"[The pledge] commits the three candidates fully to the hottest front in the culture wars." -- Ben Smith, Politico
"Three marriage champions have emerged," says Brian Brown, President of NOM
UPDATE - Tim Pawlenty has signed the pledge as well.
WASHINGTON - "Many candidates say they support traditional marriage (like President Obama!) but three GOP presidential candidates today stand head and shoulders above the crowd as marriage champions, for their willingness to go beyond words to commit to concrete actions," said Brian Brown, president of NOM, speaking on the eve of the launch of the Values Voter Bus Tour through 22 Iowa cities, which NOM is co-sponsoring. "We are grateful to Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for their courage and their leadership in standing up for marriage, and so are millions of Americans who care about protecting marriage."
NOM's marriage pledge was offered to all serious announced candidates for the GOP nomination. An opportunity to sign the Marriage Pledge will be extended to Gov. Rick Perry and other major candidates, if and as they enter the race.
In signing NOM's marriage pledge, Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum pledged to:
"Marriage is an issue with an unbroken string of victories that unites Republicans, and we're pleased and honored the leading candidates in the race for the GOP nomination have spoken up for marriage. We expect the voters of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina will continue to reward candidates who champion marriage," noted Brown.
The signed pledges can be seen here:
Michelle Bachmann
Tim Pawlenty
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum
Related: Round-Up: Media Coverage of NOM's Marriage Pledge
To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of NOM, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board of NOM, please contact Mary Beth Hutchins, [email protected] at 703-683-5004 ext. 105.
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Ben Smith at Politico blogs:
Former Gov. Mitt Romney has joined Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum in signing a pledge to oppose same-sex marriage on a number of specific fronts.
The three candidates signed the pledge advanced by the National Organization for Marriage, which has led national and state campaigns to limit marriage to a man and a woman. The signature of the frontrunner, Romney, is a bit of a coup for the group, as he's been careful about committing to other pledges, including a broad promise to a socially conservative Iowa group that caused trouble for other candidates.
Romney, Bachmann, and Santorum signed on to supporting a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage, to appoint federal judges who don't see a Constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and to back the Defense of Marriage Act.
They've also pledged to support offering a referendum on marriage in the District of Columbia, and to establish a "presidential commission on religious liberty" aimed at protecting the rights of marriage foes to speak out.
Bottom line:
The pledge is less meaningful for its direct consequences than for the fact that it commits the three candidates fully to the hottest front in the culture wars.
Will the NAACP issue at least a mild rebuke to this outrageous and defamatory characterization of the first black GOP congressman elected from Florida since Reconstruction?
In an op-ed published yesterday in the Sun Sentinel, Michael Kenny, executive director of Florida Together writes:
If the infamous Klu Klux Klan leader, David Duke, were coming to Wilton Manors to speak and the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League were calling for the invitation to be rescinded, would the Sun Sentinel call them intolerant?
That is the crux of the problem. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board erred in equating Allen West’s well documented, inflammatory, bigoted, hate speech with the GLBT Democratic Caucus’s call to disinvite him. In your editorial, you attempted to compare the incomparable.
Brian Raum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund writes in Town Hall:
Recently, PR Newswire ran the latest Harris Interactive poll under the headline, “Over Half of all Americans Favor National Recognition for Same-Sex Marriages.” And like so much of the homosexual agenda, both the headline and the story beneath it demonstrated the Left’s not-so-subtle habit of using verbiage to say one thing but communicate another.
... A bigger problem with the poll is that Harris Interactive purposely oversampled those who engage in homosexual behavior ...How significant was the oversampling? Consider this: those who identify as homosexual only constitute 1.4 to 1.7 percent of the U.S. population, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the Harris Interactive poll, they constituted a sample of well over 14 percent. With this distortion understood, it’s no wonder the poll showed that “‘49% of all U.S. adults…support the right for same-sex couples to marry,’ [vs.] 41% who oppose the right, and 10% who are not at all sure.”
... These numbers simply aren’t trustworthy (and they are definitely nothing to brag about once the oversampling is brought to light). And if we look at scientific polls, like the one conducted by the Alliance Defense Fund and Public Opinion Strategies during May 16-19 of this year, the distortion of the Harris Interactive poll is simply too great to go unchallenged.
For example, on the issue of marriage, 62 percent of those polled agreed that “marriage should be defined only as a union between one man and one woman.” That means nearly two-thirds of those polled believe marriage should remain what it has been for so many millennia, rather than be changed to accommodate the demands of the homosexual agenda.
Pastor Kevin Backus at the Buffalo Let The People Vote rally explaining how New York Senator Mark Grisanti went back on the promises he made to the pastor (and the people who supported his campaign) that he would protect marriage and why, as a result, the people of Buffalo must unseat him in 2012:
Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt agreed on Monday to let the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ALCU) join the highly publicized lawsuit filed by four Catholic Charities agencies against the state.
... Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society and representing Catholic Charities, said “the ACLU’s true colors have now been revealed. “The ACLU had been advocating for the best interest of children,” he said. “Now the ACLU is putting their preference for homosexual politics over the best interest of children.”
... Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of Thomas More, agreed that elected officials are willing to sacrifice a proven foster care program, which grew 57 percent in scope and size over the past five years.
“Why would the State of Illinois want to go out of its way to inflict this harm on children and families,” he asked, “putting out of business a vital network of charitable social agencies that have achieved the greatest success and growth rate in serving our state’s most precious and valuable assets, our children?”
In Albany Watch:
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, put out a news release late yesterday touting the fact that he’s raised more campaign cash than any of the 13 freshman in the Senate.
After a bruising election last year, Ball, a former state assemblyman, has been able to restock his campaign coffers, raising $337,000 during the first six months of the year and having $249,000 on hand. The contributions also helped him pay off about $18,000 in outstanding loans he made to his campaign, part of roughly $40,000 in loans he’s paid off since January.
Sen. Greg Ball finally voted NO on redefining marriage. The four republican senators who flip-flopped on marriage experienced a financial windfall from gay activists shortly after they cast their vote.
Dear Marriage Supporter,
Join us in Iowa next week for the Values Voters Bus Tour!
Next Saturday, August 13th, Republican presidential candidates face the first critical test of their grassroots support and organizational strength at the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll. The winner of the Straw Poll will emerge with new momentum heading into the primary season as Republican voters choose a candidate to oppose President Barack Obama next November.
Join us starting Monday, August 8th, as we team up with the Family Research Council and the Susan B. Anthony List for the Values Voters Bus Tour across the state of Iowa, beginning in Des Moines and making 22 stops in 4 days en route to the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames on Saturday.
I will be joined on the bus by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), FRC Action President Tony Perkins, and SBA List "Votes Have Consequences" Project Director Marilyn Musgrave. We're expecting presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty to join us during the week as well.
One of our key emphases over the coming year is to ensure that presidential candidates are clear where they stand on marriage, and that social issues continue to play a key role in the Republican primaries. Already, we have co-sponsored a presidential lecture series in Iowa, and you’ll want to watch your inbox for another big announcement that we’ll be able to report in just a few days.
Here’s the list of tour stops. If you live in Iowa, I hope you'll be able to come out and join us! And don’t forget to tell family and friends!
I hope to see you in Iowa next week!
Faithfully,
Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
P.S. Efforts like the Values Voter Bus Tour are an incredibly effective means of getting our message out, but they take significant resources as well. Can you afford a gift of $20, $35, or $50 today to help fund efforts to protect marriage all across the nation? Please click here to make your secure online contribution today.
There will always be opportunists looking to make a buck off of family breakdown:
A controversial adultery website is now providing a money-back guarantee if its customers do not have an affair, the Herald Sun reported Tuesday.
Founder Noel Biderman -- in Australia to renew his own wedding vows -- said he would personally reimburse cheats who could not find a fling by following the website's guidelines.
... The dating site's Australian arm has more than 400,000 members. It claims to protect love rats from leaving a trail of "digital lipstick" by deleting personal communication between users and keeping identities secret.
The website has drawn international condemnation since its launch in 2001, with family groups accusing Biderman of making money from others' grief. In Australia, Family Council of Victoria president Peter Stokes said the website's success was a sad reflection on society. --Herald Sun
In this video featuring highlights of the Let The People Vote rally in Manhattan, NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher, New York Senator Ruben Diaz and other speakers address crowd:
From the press release:
FRC Action's Faith Family Freedom Fund, the National Organization for Marriage and the Susan B. Anthony List today announced the "Values Voter Bus Tour" that next week will cover 1,305 miles in four days with events in 22 cities. The tour will pass through 47 of Iowa's 99 counties.
Presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum will participate in the tour, and candidate Michele Bachmann and other GOP presidential candidates are expected to join the tour as well. U.S. Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) will also join Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown, Susan B. Anthony List's Marilyn Musgrave, and other state and national leaders. The tour will be kicked off by Faith Family Freedom Fund Chairman Connie Mackey on Tuesday, August 9, 2011, at the state capitol and conclude at the Ames Straw Poll on August 13.
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), made the following comments:
"President Obama has done virtually everything in his power to undermine the institution of marriage, including refusing to defend the bi-partisan Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by President Clinton. NOM is committed to ensuring that the next President is a strong and committed supporter of traditional marriage and will commit his or her administration to vigorously defending marriage in the courts, Congress and in the court of public opinion. We were the largest contributor to the effort to unseat the state judges who imposed same-sex marriage on Iowa by judicial fiat. We look forward to playing an extremely active role in encouraging the people of Iowa, including our tens of thousands of supporters, to make a difference in selecting an unambiguously pro-marriage candidate in Iowa."
For a full schedule of the tour, visit www.valuesbus.com.
