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To: SmithL
The irony is that the wording of Prop 8 was deliberately changed to guarantee its defeat.

Here's the story:

Prop. 8 asks voters to affirm that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California" - a concept that voters overwhelmingly backed when they approved Proposition 22 in 2000.

Voters still favor the traditional definition of marriage, 49 to 47 percent, according to the most recent Public Policy Institute of California poll.

However, in the wake of the state Supreme Court decision in May legalizing same-sex marriage, Brown worded Prop. 8's ballot description to specify that it "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry."

The proponents' original title for Prop. 8 was "Limit on Marriage." What voters see on their ballot pamphlet, thanks to Brown, is, "Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry."

Prop. 8 supporters accused Brown of playing politics and went to court.

They lost. The new language went on the ballot, and pollsters said support for the ban dropped by eight points - with the most recent PPIC survey showing 52 percent of likely voters now opposing the ban.

"It all depends on how you ask the question," said Sacramento pollster Jim Moore of J. Moore Methods.

"When you ask people what they believe, you get one answer," he said. "But when you ask someone to take away something from somebody else, it seems unfair."

Field Institute pollster Mark DiCamillo agreed, noting that when his outfit tested the two wordings in September, support for Prop. 8 was three points lower on Brown's version than the original.

As the state's top law enforcer, Brown has taken no official position on Prop. 8.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/BADT13NUOH.DTL

7 posted on 11/11/2008 10:00:22 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: Texas Eagle

If they had the original wording, in other words, it would have passed by even wider margins.

What is wrong with the white people of Cali? Why do they want to destroy traditional marriage?


25 posted on 11/11/2008 11:21:35 AM PST by WOSG (STOP OBAMA'S SOCIALISM - Change we need: Replace the Democrat Congress)
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