Nom Nom Nom

Apparently the most pressing issue regarding yesterday's hugely embarrassing NOM rally is whether the counter protesters were too loud, which is a really bad sign for the dipshits hosting the event.

Lost in the shuffle is the actual purpose of this traveling freak show: to rally the base in an election year. Six years ago the attendance would have been much larger than the 20-30 people that appear to have shown up. Hell, four years ago an event like this would have been a bigger deal, but the anemic showing yesterday should be evidence of just how far the evangelical far right has fallen.

Not only are Christian conservatives out of favor with mainstream America these days, but their power in the GOP is also waning, having been replaced by Libertarian influences that have largely eschewed state-sponsored moralizing. NOM itself is a great example of just how hard times are for these folks. Five years ago NOM would have been staffed by an elite cadre of conservative operatives who would have used sophisticated tools and strategies to push a message that would have brought their base to the polls, but these fourth-rate hacks are reduced to driving around and going basically door-to-door. It's pretty sad.

Anyway, since NOM can't get it up anymore they're left with one arrow in their quiver: baiting counterprotesters. Really, that's all yesterday's spectacle was about. Here's Glenn Grothman -- a man who is as useful as a marshmallow dildo -- making that point:

It's all about maintaining the illusion that the homophobes are actually the ones being oppressed. This is the exact same media strategy employed by Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Why the hell do you think they held this event in Madison and not, for example, in Waukesha County, where they would have been greeted more warmly? I mean, the dude in this video actually compared himself to William Wilberforce, the guy who rather heroically worked to ban slavery in England.

Seriously.

If shouting them down gives these clowns an air of dignity, then it's probably a bad idea, but if you look at the videos, that really didn't happen because these folks are apparently incapable of appearing the slightest bit sane, much less dignified. So long as they remain the nutters that we all know they are, there's really no harm in telling them to fuck off as loud as you can.