As I am not the spiffiest writer of diaries, this will be mostly cut and paste with some commentary between sections.
Many of you are aware that Ted Olson, former Bush administration Solicitor General, was a staunch conservative and Bush supporter. His wife Barbara was one of the unfortunates who was a passenger on one of the 9/11 hijacked flights and her death spurred the horrible diatribe by close friend Ann Coulter wherein she urged "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
With friends like that and an affiliation with one of the most amoral and wretched presidencies, one might think that Ted Olson's life would be devoted to Dick Cheney-like attacks against all that is liberal/progressive/Democrat.
Imagine my surprise to read this morning's Los Angeles Times op-ed and find this out:
And now he's back at his old law firm and working with an old adversary, David Boies, who argued Al Gore's side of the 2000 election. They've launched a challenge to Proposition 8 that could find them together again before the high court -- but on the same side, arguing that same-sex marriage should be part of mainstream America. Who'da thunk it?
Proposition 8? "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Patt Morrison of LA Times: Some of the clients you've represented include coal and tobacco companies and Vice President Dick Cheney. Put together the dots, and you wouldn't come up with what you're doing now on Proposition 8.
Olson: I have represented a variety of clients over the years, including Ronald Reagan, the American Bar Assn., the convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard on an appeal. You're probably right, you probably wouldn't have drawn a line and said, "Well, it's logical that he's going to be representing these people in this case in California." But we are discriminating unfairly and unreasonably against gay and lesbian individuals, and it's the wrong thing for us to do.
Holy crap! I have obviously misunderstood Olson and his sense of right and wrong.
Morrison: Does your argument have more purchase with conservatives because you're the one making it?
Olson: I'm hoping that it does. I hope some people will open their eyes to the decency of getting to the point where we allow gay and lesbian individuals to be married and have a happy life.
Maybe Dick Cheney will be rooting him on but how about his late wife's BFF Ann Coulter? Should be interesting to find out.
Morrison: You make it sound personal as well as philosophical. Do you have gay friends or family? I ask because for some Americans, gay people are unknowns. They're "them."
Olson: I don't know that we have anybody in the immediate family who's gay. But I have had [gay] friends my entire life. People who say they don't know any gay people -- they're wrong, they do. They may not recognize them as gay. There are gay people in our neighborhoods, there are gay people wherever you work. Knowing [gay] people helps [you] to understand that it is not "us and them." It should all be "us."
I suspect that except for the Christian conservatives, this is true of the vast majority of the country and Olson at least has the decency to acknowledge this.
Morrison: You eventually remarried, to a lawyer named Lady Booth, a Democrat and Obama supporter. Has she influenced your political thinking?
Olson: Well, she thinks that she has! She's working on me. It's important to be surrounded by people who think differently than we do. We don't learn anything if we surround ourselves by people who think the same way we do.
Well, that may very well be one of the major reasons for his actions. Regardless, it is welcome.
What heartens me is that Olson is an extremely savvy and respected lawyer, especially among conservatives. He has argued many times before the Supreme Court (the photo in the print version of the Times shows him holding a white quill, presented to any lawyer who has had the privilege to do so. In his other hand is a mug that is stuffed with other quills).
A formidable advocate and I wish him and his partner well as they work to overturn Proposition 8.