Great post.

There is one point on which I think everyone, on all sides of this issue, will agree: The NOM does not make any refunds.

One problem with your scenario. When your funder is the Catholic Church, you don’t have to appeal to their continued good will. You just cash the check.

NOM will be here for as long as the Vatican wants to fight over marriage in this country. And I suspect that will be for a while to come.

Marriage is a true and just cause, and we will never abandon the field of battle just because we experienced a setback. There is much work to do, and we begin that process now.

Yes. I believe every word of that. It’s what we said in 2008. Marriage is a true and just cause and that is why we are fighting (and winning) for it.

I don’t think our side actually out funded NOM. I think it was more a matter of more efficient use of less.

And there is only so much defamatory ads can do.
There is a reality of legal marriage in several states already, and whole countries that have similar political systems, standards of living and Westernized cultural mores.

These have been in effect in at least a decade.
To keep saying ‘just wait, give it time’ to see when marriage equality will prove a detriment, is a luxury NOBODY has.
Especially because so much hard earned money is going to NOM’s campaigns by such multi millions.
Even after the Justices in IA were unseated, marriage equality went on.
Here in CA, although everything changed for gay people.
It DIDN’T for straight people.
There’s no discernible, or effective difference in how marriage is defended or that there was any tangible purpose to having 8 in place.

What’s really happening is, there may be some serious battle fatigue and folks finally getting it that they are tilting at windmills and wasting their energy and money.
And in these hard times, it hasn’t been worth it just to keep Brian Brown and Maggie G in paychecks.

Funders’ likely response to Brown: Yeah, well, let’s talk about this. It’s one thing to have our reputation take a beating in public, as well as inside our congregations, when we win in the end. Time and money is well spent holding the high moral ground. But you’ve got to understand: We’re not in this to add million-dollar line items to the budget for decades, we expect you to be the force that wins this issue and puts it to bed.

Brown: No, no, no, don’t get scared now. Even when we lose, we’ve got this whole crazy defamation approach that will convince the public to be scared and auto-divorce every same-sex couple via a federal amendment after President Santorum’s inauguration in 2016. We’ve just got to keep up the funding… oops, I mean support… in the meantime. In fact, once we’re working on ratifying the amendment in every state, NOM’s budget will need to explode. Throw some seed money NOM’s way, and we’ll start today!

Funders: Dude, at first it was cute that you were a little demented, and tolerable (if uncomfortable) while you were winning. But, as much as we share your supposedly gay-loving anti-gayness, we love our money (or at least creating the appearance that we’re not wasting it) more than we we’re loving you or NOM. Have a good life, though. It’s been a crazy ride!

Brown (mumbling to self): OK, time to line up those anti-gay consulting gigs… oops, I mean missionary trips… to Africa and any other continent that will have me.

Four states, a fifth state retaining their judge, and a pro-marriage-equality President re-elected? They’ve lost it big time!

Ha I think you hit the nail on the head!