The three Massachusetts Republicans vying for the Bay State’s open U.S. Senate seat held their first debate on Wednesday night. Candidates Mike Sullivan, Dan Winslow and Gabriel Gomez were asked to give their views on two marriage-related questions:

-Is the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) constitutional?
-Should states have the right to maintain discriminatory marriage laws?

In 2011, before he was the Republican nominee for vice-president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) proposed a federal budget. He called it, “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise.”

Two years later, now in his second year as chair of the House budget committee, he dusted off and polished his old proposal. He calls this one: “The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible Balanced Budget.”

Wow. Just… wow. Okay, admittedly Google’s counsel could have done a better job of explaining that internet advertising isn’t really all that different from traditional advertising, just with better and more dynamic targeting, but in all fairness he probably didn’t think he’d need to. My condensed transcript for those of you who don’t have time for videos or Louie Gohmert:

Since we are coming up on the ignominious tenth anniversary of an economy-wrecking, enemy producing, falsely-based war crime it is only fair to note that “Dead-Enders” come in all shapes and hues.

Scott Terry thinks blacks should be grateful for food and shelter provided by Massa and why can’t we just have segregation?

It’s kind of sad that there’s no empathy or common sense for the support of the civil right of gays and lesbians to marry until the issue smacks you in the face when a loved one comes out to you. But I’ll take the reality check — the act of coming out, as I’ve said many times before, is the most powerful bit of activism one can do. And Will Portman did just that — he came out to his dad, Senator Rob Portman, who has been on the record supporting both the Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment during his career.

And the father saw the light.

Yes, traditional marriage now means gays cannot marry — if only there was an analogy we could draw upon? Hmm….oh, look here, as recently as 2009.

Within one week Republicans are going to grab the national spotlight on two huge issues that should be the realm of the party who stands up for the little guy. That party used to be the Democratic party. How can they let this happen?

On Friday, at the CPAC convention, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher is going to call for breaking up the big banks in the wake of a failed Dodd-Frank bill.

Five candidates — two Democrats and three Republicans — are vying for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts vacated by John Kerry. All of these candidates support marriage equality except Mike Sullivan, a Republican, who thinks that gays should be barred from civil marriage.

Over 100 prominent Republicans have signed onto a legal brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that civil marriage is a constitutional right for same-sex couples. Among the most recent to sign on is Marilyn Musgrave, the retired Republican U.S. representative from Colorado who previously championed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage.

If Marilyn Musgrave can rethink the freedom to marry, anyone can.