Reason #791 to hope and pray for a Kerry victory
By Because maybe the Republicans will think a little bit harder the next time they’re tempted to deploy bigotry as a wedge issue.
On that subject, the Bush administration’s handling of the gay marriage issue in 2004 should probably be considered the paradigmatic example for how not to do wedge issue politics. I mean, handing your opponents a middle ground that puts them on the side of federalism? How foolish is that? I think gay rights issues can still be used in a way that could help the GOP, but they really botched it here (fortunately). This is one of those occasions where we should be grateful for their incompetence.
One other comment on the article–I see that the Times is bringing some of the highly annoying and stupid tendencies they use to cover Kerry’s campaign to the Bush campaign. The quote they take from Bush:
“What they do in the privacy of their house, consenting adults should be able to do,” Mr. Bush said during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Friday, seeking to distinguish between private behavior and giving legal sanction to same-sex marriages. “This is America. It’s a free society. But it doesn’t mean we have to redefine traditional marriage.”
By hedging his position, if only a bit, Mr. Bush may have insulated himself somewhat from the sting of the defeat the proposed amendment suffered in the Senate on Wednesday.
Sounds like he’s saying Lawrence was correctly decided. That may be connected to the gay marriage issue, but the connections are nowhere near obvious enough to be assumed. I don’t see how this is hedging his position, unless we’re to the point that Bush suggesting it’s a free society is a sign of moderation. It certainly doesn’t necessarily imply a weakening of his commitment to or position on the FMA.
UPDATE: As this post reminds us, there is another bad reason the FMA is bad politics for the GOP: It gives the likes of Rick Santorum national exposure at his creepiest. They won’t let these people near the convention stage.