Hate Groups Scream After Top Romney Advisors Sign Marriage Equality Brief

Far-right and anti-gay groups are screaming varying versions of "We KNEW it!" today after a raft of top Romney campaign advisors signed the GOP brief in support of same-sex marriage.

Bob Vander Plaats, head of Iowa's Family Leader:

"The only surprise here is that Romney himself didn’t join them. As you know, many conservatives did not trust Romney on marriage, life, and other social issues…Now, true colors are exposed by these leaders of his campaign…You can tell a lot about a person by who he chooses to surround himself with.”

Iowa Republican Committee member Jamie Johnson:

"I am not surprised. In the last election cycle, those of us who truly cared about preserving traditional marriage and protecting the right to life of the unborn ran from Mitt Romney as we would from a rattlesnake.”

Santorum backer Chuck Laudner:

"Certainly not surprised. They never wanted social issues in the campaign. Romney kept the moral compass spinning on social issues, and it’s no surprise his followers have to blame the issue rather than the candidate for the loss.”

The Washington Examiner ticks off the Romney campaign names on the brief:

Beth Myers, perhaps Romney’s closest aide in the campaign; Ben Ginsberg, the campaign’s influential lawyer; David Kochel, the campaign’s main strategist in Iowa (where Romney worked hard to win the support of Republicans for whom traditional marriage is a key issue); Katie Biber, the campaign’s general counsel; Lee Rudofsky, the deputy general counsel; and Alex Lundry, a top tech official in the campaign.

The GOP brief, which is headlined by homocon former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, has swelled (at this writing) to 131 names since it first was made public with 75 signees.  Of particular note to us here is the presence of sitting New York state Sen. Mark Grisanti, who famously reversed on marriage in 2011 and helped provide our slim margin of victory, turning him into NOM's arch enemy.  Despite NOM's $2M pledge to unseat Grisanti, he easily won his GOP primary against the NOM-backed opponent.