News Commentary: October 26, 2006

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples in the state must have the same benefits as married heterosexual couples - all eight hundred of them - as opposed to just the twelve (that's right, only twelve) benefits same-sex couples have now. Political commentators are already suggesting this could lead to an October surprise to help Republicans not just in New Jersey but nationwide. The fear is that this ruling will energize Christian fundamentalists and other homophobes to go out and vote for the GOP. In 2004, voters had a choice between letting gay couples register at Bloomingdale's or competing with their own teenage children for a job at Wal-Mart. We all know which was chosen.

Then again, maybe it won't cause a right-wing groundswell. Bear in mind that, unlike "activist judges" in Massachusetts, the judges in New Jersey didn't rule that gays could marry, just that same-sex partners should be entitled to similar rights as married straight couples, leaving the choice of what to do to the state legislature. I believe this ruling will have a far greater impact on state legislative midterm elections, to be held next year.

Anyway, the left is getting just as energized for November 7, thanks in no small part to Rush Limbaugh's recent attack on Michael J. Fox for his ad for Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill. In the ad, Fox, a Parkinson's disease patient, gyrates wildly as he advocates a vote for McCaskill for her support on stem cell research to find cure for Parkinson's. Although gyrating wildly is a common symptom of Parkinsonians, Limbaugh insisted that Fox was exaggerating his symptoms for political purposes. Limbaugh, who was born and raised in Missouri, could have stopped there, but he even made fun of Fox with spastic movements of his own, caught on videotape.

Which explains why Limbaugh made it big on radio.

Limbaugh may have a personal interest in how the Senate race in his home state turns out, but his intervention in the stem cell debate only highlighted the mean-spiritedness of Republicans in general and made incumbent Republican senator James Talent look bad (although Talent's recent appearance with Ms. MsCaskill on "Meet the Press" indicated that he doesn't need Limbaugh's help for that). In an ideal world, Limbaugh would be an insignificant Republican state legislator back in the Show Me State, and no one in Jefferson City would pay much attention to him. The fact that he is taken seriously as a pundit says more about America than it does about him.