Via Greg Hengler. Alternate headline: “Even Tingles starting to compare Obama to Nixon.”

It’s a bit before my time, so remind me: Did Nixon run for president in ’68 opposing the Apollo program the way Obama opposed gay marriage to convince especially gullible social conservatives that he was some kind of middle-of-the-roader on “values”? Even now, I’m amazed at what a total pass he’s gotten on that. Marco Rubio may decide tomorrow that he’s “evolved” into a border hawk and therefore must vote against the Gang of Eight, but that won’t excuse him for having deceived the voters three years ago by posing as something he really wasn’t on this issue. He lied, on a subject that a lot of people care about, for his own personal political gain. He showed contempt for the voters. And so did Bambi, who as far as I can tell has paid not the slightest price for it and even now has Matthews fawning over the fact that he deigned to play approving National Father today.

This is one of the most grating things about the movement towards legalizing gay marriage, even for someone like me who supports it: Too many proponents seem too willing to grant each other rhetorical carte blanche after “evolving,” no matter how long they opposed SSM before and no matter how nasty they might get now with people who hold the same stance in opposition that they used to. If you go to bed on Monday opposed to gay marriage and wake up on Tuesday in favor, there’s no issue, it seems, with calling opponents “bigots” and “h8ers” on Tuesday afternoon. O was a fraud for years on this subject, for selfish reasons, and reversed himself last year only after he’d decided that the road to reelection was by rallying and turning out his liberal base. If he thought his only chance was by holding onto some social conservative votes, he’d be anti-SSM even now. And yet all that’s forgotten; suddenly he’s the leader of the gay-marriage spirit squad, with duly admiring coverage from his fans at MSNBC. It’s good to be the king.