Carrie Prejean and the Joe The Plumber effect

Gay Patriot observes that the rabid supporters of same-sex marriage who have done their best to trash Carrie Prejean have only secured her fame.

Now, we’ve got the some web-site snooping around in her parents’ divorce record to uncover the origins of her homophobia. While I’ve read more than I care to about this controversy, I have yet to find one statement she has made showing a fear (”phobia”) of homosexuals or showing any animosity whatsoever against gay people. All I’ve heard her is express the viewpoint of a majority of Americans, including the Democratic President of the United States about the meaning of marriage.

So, now this website’s staff has rooted around in her parents’ divorce records, learned of some strange accusations lobbed between the parties to ask whether “Carrie believe gays broke up her parents’ marriage.” They’ve truly become obsessed with this woman.

Yet, the more they investigate her, the more they malign her, the stronger will grow her support among social conservatives. She will become their poster child to showcase the left’s intolerance of people favoring the traditional definition of marriage.

Should Miss Prejean lose her title over her “nudie” pictures (as appears possible), she won’t lose her fame. Few will know the name of her replacement as Miss California. Indeed, few will know the name of the woman who bested her for the Miss USA crown. But, they will know who Carrie Prejean is.

The uproar of her adversaries has secured her fame.

Remember Joe the Plumber?

He was in his own front yard, playing with his daughter, when Obama's campaign retinue passed by. Obama came to him and asked him if he had any questions for the Bringer of Hope and Change. Obama's camp didn't like Joe's question, and neither did any of Obama's supporters. Within the week, we knew all about Joe's back taxes, his income, his outgo, and his use of an assumed name. Crowds of people were eager to tell us everything except the answer to his question. That was fit only for the quickest possible burial.

Like Joe the Plumber, Carrie Prejean did not seek this controversy. A spoiled brat of a judge asked her a radioactive political question, against what is at least an unwritten policy of the Pageant. She answered. Now, the screaming left is doing its best to make the issue Carrie Prejean, and not the question asked, or the person asking it.

Why Demonize?

Gay Patriot asks why the supporters of same-sex marriage feel the need to demonize their opponents.

Last fall, I received a good deal of e-mail from both sides of the Prop 8 campaign. In nearly every missive I received from the "Yes" said, the proponents of the measure were at pains to assure me they did not want to take away the state's domestic partnership program. The language was straight forward. They did not attack. They merely, as did Carrie Prejean, defended the notion of marriage as an institution defined by gender difference.

By contrast, the e-mail from the "No" side was overwhelmingly hostile, attacking supporters of the proposition as mean-spirited. To be sure, not all the e-mails were hostile. Lesbian friends who had gotten married just talked about their relationships.

It struck me how in the Prejean-Hilton exchange and the ensuing hullabaloo, we saw a replaying of that very campaign.

Why must so many gay marriage advocates label their adversaries as haters? Don't they even realize the irony that they are using hateful rhetoric to accuse others of hate?

What is behind this need to demonize?