As the anti-Obama, anti-Democrat rhetoric of the right becomes increasingly shrill, it's worth asking why Republicans, having demonstrated a complete inability to govern responsibly, are so shocked to learn that they now reside on the fringes of mainstream thought. Two perspectives today provide some insight.

Anthony DiMaggio points out that "right-wing conservatives and Republican political leaders" view themselves as "the legitimate rulers of the United States and the world."

This basic contempt for anything but one-party rule is manifested in a number of dire threats repeated by the party, with its members promising the end of Western civilization as we know it if they lose their dominant status in government.

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The Connecticut Supreme Court today joined the highest courts in Massachusetts and California in deciding that their state constitutions prohibit a legislative ban on same-sex marriages.

The case, Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health, was brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by the Madison town clerk. They argued that the state's civil union law was discriminatory and unconstitutional because it established a separate and therefore inherently unequal institution for a minority group. Citing the equal protection under the law, the state Supreme Court agreed.

While the decision (pdf) may energize the religiously intolerant branch of the right wing, it won't be of much help to John McCain, who has never been a point man for his party's anti-gay faction. Expect to hear considerable whining about "activist" judges -- the ones who actively support the constitutional value of equal protection -- but expect to hear an even louder celebration of this important victory for human rights.

Big Tent Democrat is in court today and I'm also busy at work. How about if readers take over today? Here's an open thread.

The Alaska Supreme Court has refused to block the legislative investigation and report in TrooperGate. The report should be out today.

The Guardian reports that Gov. Sarah Palin, and some of her employees, may be censured.

In an attempt to mitigate the fallout, the McCain campaign released a competing report. Naturally, the report clears her. (Note: the report is by the McCain campaign, not the Personnel Board.)

The details of her husband Todd Palin's answers in the legislative probe are here. The Court's decison is below, the opinion should follow shortly.

Other than the knowledge gained by keeping a sharp eye on Russia from her hilltop on some Alaskan island, Sarah Palin's only claim to expertise owes to Alaska's abundance of oil. Palin has expertly siphoned off oil revenues for the State of Alaska. That doesn't mean she has the broader expertise in energy policy that she claims.

Palin told a town hall questioner that he did not need to worry about Alaskan oil being exported to other countries.

"In fact," she added, "Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially."

Not so, according to the AP. [more ...]

Time Magazine reports on Gov. Sarah Palin's unclear religious views. Is she a Pentacostal or an Evangelical?

It is this Pentecostal association that most concerns and confuses the McCain campaign. As Minnery makes clear, millions of Evangelicals have accepted Palin because of her membership in a Bible church. But there is no denying that mainstream Evangelicals and Pentecostals, while political allies on many social issues, have historically had significant tensions over theological differences. The Evangelicals' swoon for Palin might fade if it turns out that she continues to hold fast to Pentecostal practices and beliefs.

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A Sarah Palin enthusiast says:

“I’m a grandmother trying to put money away for retirement. I fear what America’s going to face with Barack Obama as president,” said Diana Ross, 59, who said she works for a company that helps provide apartments in Columbus to low-income residents.

I hate to break this to you, Diana Ross, but George Bush is president and your retirement investments are of questionable value thanks to Republican governance.

In the spirit of optimism, this open thread is brought to you by the other Diana Ross performing Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."

Some stories are just too good. Remember all those times you thought, "I know they're doing this, but I can't prove it," yet kept silent because you didn't want to be perceived as cranky? Turns out, they were really doing it!

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

Glenn Greenwald has a comprehensive take on the story.

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I am about to get on a plane to New York, but my flight is delayed. So I pop open the computer and see the Dow lost nearly 700 points and 7.3% of its value. Oy! Talk about suffering for your sins. Atonement is seemingly out of reach at the moment.

On this high holy day for Judaism, let us pray for better days ahead and for atonement for our sins as a Nation. Or not. As you wish.

In any event this is another Open Thread.

Obama is way ahead. RCP has them here, except for the DKos/R2000 poll, which has Obama up 10 (Gallup also has Obama up by double digits.) It's over.

This is an Open Thread.

The government's bungling of the Ted Stevens prosecution hasn't persuaded the judge to grant a mistrial, but the remedy he selected may help Stevens obtain an acquittal. The prosecution's missteps are recounted here and here.

Judge Sullivan delivered a severe scolding to the prosecution and said he would bar the government from using two categories of evidence central to its case. Perhaps more important, he said he would tell the jury on Thursday that he was excluding some of the prosecution’s evidence because “the government presented evidence the government knew was not true,” an instruction that is likely to undermine the credibility of the prosecution.

The jury isn't likely to overlook such a stinging rebuke. Once the judge accuses the prosecution of knowingly presenting false evidence, the jury might be so offended that it won't believe any of the legitimate evidence the government managed to gather.

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Steve Benen discusses Barack Obama's goading of John McCain to "say it to my face":

I suspect Obama is baiting McCain for a reason -- he wants McCain to lose his cool, make personal attacks, and try to change the subject away from the economy. Obama isn't afraid of this scenario, he'd welcome this scenario.

No doubt. The alternative of course is to get McCain to back off of the smear campaign. Either way, Obama wins. If McCain goes there in the third debate, no doubt Obama has a well planned reply along the lines Bill Clinton used in 1992. If the McCain campaign backs off, that's good for Obama too. A good, and dare I say it, obvious tactic.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only