They’re at it again.

I’m talking about all of those out-of-state experts who like to slam the governor over New Jersey issues they know nothing about. They’re accusing Chris Christie of giving in to gay activists by deciding not to appeal that recent court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

An Associated Press article quoted a Republican strategist from South Carolina by the name of Bob McAlister stating, "Abandoning foundational principles that go beyond politics is not the way to get positive attention in South Carolina." It reported a similar statement from a GOP strategist in Iowa, another state that has a pivotal role in Republican presidential primaries.

Nonsense. This was a slick move legally and politically.

Legally, "This was a lost cause. What are you going to get out of it?" asked Assemblyman Mike Carroll, a Republican from Morris County with the finest of conservative pedigrees.

Carroll answered his own question by noting that what the Republicans might get out of it would likely be yet another in a long line of decisions in which the state Supreme Court oversteps its authority.

The court’s prior ruling in a case concerning same-sex couples set a new standard for judicial overreach. In its 2006 decision in the case of Lewis vs. Harris, the court not only mandated civil unions but ordered that "the Legislature must either amend the marriage statutes or enact an appropriate statutory structure within 180 days."

"The fact of the matter is that no court anywhere has the power to order the Legislature to do anything," said Carroll. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly to that effect. But the state had a Democratic governor and Legislature back then and they willingly complied with the ruling.

This ruling by a lower-court judge is a lot less sweeping. It could even be reversed at some point. At least that’s the view of the Democratic state senator who has been the most prominent proponent of same-sex marriage. "This case was decided by the facts on a motion in a lower court," said Ray Lesniak of Union County. "If those facts change, the decision changes."

Lesniak argues that if Congress were to grant same-sex benefits to domestic partners, as has been proposed, Christie could go back to court and argue that marriage is no longer legally required to receive those benefits.

Lesniak’s using that argument to push for an override of Christie’s veto of a same-sex marriage bill. But by the same logic, Christie was wise not to pick a fight now when the battleground might shift in his favor in the future.

As for the political aspects, Christie’s decision not to appeal makes this a non-issue in the Nov. 5 election. His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barbara Buono, can no longer rally the Democratic base with a promise she will give them what they want if she’s elected. They already have it.

If Christie wins that election by as big a landslide as the polls predict, the GOP might even win control of the Senate. That would mean Christie would get to fill the court with a majority of his own appointees next year.

I suspect all of these wrinkles were lost on the rubes, just like back in June when they jumped all over Christie for calling that special election Oct. 16 to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat. In that case, the out-of-state pundits criticized Christie for failing to invoke a New Jersey law that might have permitted him to fill that seat with a Republican till 2014. But the same high court would almost certainly have put that election on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Christie’s decision to call a special election might have turned out to be a stroke of genius — except for the actions of the aforesaid rubes.

The Republican nominee, Steve Lonegan, was building momentum against Democrat Cory Booker right up till Oct. 1. Then the red-state Republicans in the House decided it would be a good idea to start a fight over defunding Obamacare — a fight they had no idea how to win. Lonegan’s campaign crashed to a halt as voters blamed the GOP for the most boneheaded move in recent political history.

There’s a lesson in this, but it’s lost on the red-state crowd: Politics is the art of the possible.

Not the impossible.

ADD: If you want something to really get mad about, forget same-sex marriage and read this piece about how 80 percent of the sheriffs in this state are double-dippers. They collect both public pensions and their outsized salaries. If Christie wants to make some real reforms in his second term, he should move to get rid of the office of sheriff. It's an obsolete parking place for political hacks, many of whom belong on the other side of the bars in their own jails.

Another reform desperately needed is a law stating that anyone on a public pension cannot also collect a public salary. Any "retired" public official who goes back to work should go back to paying into the pension system, not drawing money out of it.

Don't expect those reforms too soon, however. Just look at how many Republicans are on that list of double-dippers.