I have to admit that as a human being I have a crush on Sarah Palin. The woman is a dynamo and an amazing example for women. As a politician and the future Representative of the Party, well the jury is still out. She will rise or fall based on her ability. That ability needs to be further tested. With that said, she gained MAJOR points with me by shucking Party for principal this week, taking sides with the conservative candidate in NY-23 while the GOP itself and some of the major contenders for 2010 fell apart.

First and foremost, Newt Gingrich. While he is floating the notion of running for President, he basically sunk any tiny remaining morsel of respect I had for him. An adulterer and ravenous self promoter whose character defects are endless, and whose personal style often emulates the smug and condescending tone of the left, he is often a very tuff man to support. He sometimes has amazing ideas, he often has terrible ideas. You never quite know which Newt you are going to get. In NY-23, we got the loyal Party man without principal. His decision to back a pro-choice, socialist loved and ACORN loving RINO was terrible. His justification that we must submit to the will of local Party decisions and silence our opposition was even worse.

Two other figures are looming large in my mind though because right or wrong at least Newt took a stand. In a moment that could be defining, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have disappeared from sight. Neither will go out on a limb for either candidate. The future of the Republican Party is being waged in NY-23 between conservatives and Party leaders. Where is Huckabee? Where is Romney?

I also gained respect for Fred Thompson who also weighed in on this race. Huckabee, Romney and Newt have made it clear they are looking to run in 2010 and Palin has made it clear she wants some kind of future. Thompson, I have no idea where he will be in the coming years, with that said he weighed in early and chose conservatism over Party. Kudos to him!

It is time to draw distinctions, time to find real leaders who stand for something. Huckabee and Romney seem repeatedly to be on the outside looking in on conservatives. Wanting desperately to court them and show off their credibility, but abandoning them or attacking when it is deemed politically expedient. They are politicians, this I know, so they are not to be trusted. With that said, they could at least do what is truly politically right and reach out to what is the majority of America.

I live about two streets away from a grocery store plaza that includes a Sams Club, Wal-Mart and other retail stores. Every morning on my way to work and every evening coming back I see someone riding to this plaza on a scooter. Worse still in several of the stores in that plaza as well as my local Wegmans and mall there are scooters available to use by those inclined while shopping. In short order, it is impossible for me to go a day without seeing someone motoring around in a power chair.

When I see the commercials from pitchmen screaming that they can get you one of these devices and have Medicare pay for it, the image is always of some aging indigent senior citizen. When I see people driving them in person, they are almost always young (meaning fifty or less) and always obese. Not just fat, not just overweight, but there should be horns and blinkers to let you know these people are moving obese and they are driving around in a device that, as far as I am concerned, should go to benefit those lacking the true ability to walk.

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My thoughts are straight and to the point, the court made the right decision and those upset need to suck it up and deal. For those not following the same court ruled not long ago that the state had to recognize gay marriage based on the constitution. So people rose up and petitioned to have the constitution amended to say marriage would only be recognized as between a man and a woman. The measure made it to the ballot and the people supported it by 52%. Clean and clear victory, Constitution amended.

The court had no choice but to make the decision they did today. Now the court also ruled that those marriages which went through between their ruling and the passing of Prop 8 stood. This again was the obvious decision. Those who were married had the ceremony performed when it was legal and Prop 8 let those stand.

The Supreme Court should never have gotten itself involved in legislating from the bench and because of their actions there is now a minor problem. 18,000 gay couples now have a legal title that all other gay couples cannot receive. The people of California followed the law and chose to uphold a historic tradition and legal definition. Never in our history has marriage been defined in this country as between any couple other than a man and a woman. This new distinction in several states is a change and the California court chose to usurp the power of the voters and legislators. Voters took that power back.

This is exactly why conservatives fear judicial activism. People get hurt in the process and bad precedent and law is enacted. California is now in the precarious position of giving a special legal distinction to a few couples who chose to get married during a very short period of time.

Regardless of how one feels about gay marriage this was a legal decision plain and simple. California activists can propose new ballot measures overturning Prop 8 or creating domestic partnerships and then allow the people to vote again.

Donald Trump is one of those guys I agree with until I disagree with him; a very large chunk of the things he says are spot on while every now and again he goes into a territory so absolutely removed from reality it makes me want to disavow him outright. Life doesn’t work that way though, being wrong about one thing doesn’t preclude you from being right about others and so I was thrilled to hear ‘The Donald’ use a defense of Miss California and her public stance on gay marriage that echoed common sense and a point we on the right have been screaming to hear.

Donald rightly pointed out Miss California holds the exact same position as the President. He could have even gone farther adding every serious Democrat candidate for President in recent memory. All of whom were championed by the same groups and figures now vilifying Carrie Prejean.

Name your Democrat, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton they have said in the past or continue to say that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law. The law states that in the eyes of the federal government marriage is between a man and a woman. Barack Obama campaigned with the exact same stance as Prejean and yet somehow Carrie is a bigot and Obama a humanitarian.

Now I have to say, I personally could care less about her stance or what any beauty pageant winner thinks on this or any other subject. They have little say in the matter while elected politicians can actually influence the law. They can overturn DOMA, they can at the state level move through legislation. If there should be an outrage by gay Americans who believe in gay marriage, it should plain and simple be directed at the Democrat Party and the elected Democrats who split hairs on the issue. They walk both ways courting the support of gays and trying to appeal to an America that is openly against redefining marriage. They give gays a “lesser of two evils” line pandering to the “spirit” of their issues but not actually embracing the substance of their cause.

We on the right are not immune from this on a host of issues, but to spew hate toward a woman for a belief that is exactly the same as every serious Democrat contender and the current golden boy of the liberal left is more than hypocrisy, it is ignorance.

Well done Donald Trump!