Pander? GOP says, 'I do'
Palm Beach Post Editorial
President Bush came out of his political hole Monday and saw his shadow, which means at least six more weeks of demagoguery.
It happens every even-numbered year. In February 2004, facing reelection, the president called for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. It failed, but it rallied Republican religious fundamentalists. Once Mr. Bush had won and the Republicans had kept control of Congress, the issue went back underground, as it will again after November.
With another election looming and ratings for Mr. Bush and the Republican Congress in the dumper though, it's time once again to blame homosexuals for everything that's wrong with the country. Today, as happened Monday and may happen Wednesday, the Senate will "debate" another same-sex marriage ban that everyone knows doesn't have the 67 votes necessary to pass it.
Think of President Bush and the Republicans as the cheating husband who needs to string the mistress along when she feels neglected. The political marriage in Washington is between the GOP and the nation's wealthiest Americans and corporations, but the fundamentalists know that all they need to do is threaten to cut off the Republicans at the polls. Think of the marriage amendment vote as a political candlelight dinner.
Though the national divorce rate has been declining, slightly more than 40 percent of marriages don't last - and the rate is higher in states that vote Republican in national elections. Kentucky's, for example, is more than twice as high as Massachusetts'. Those numbers may be worth worrying about, but one thing we know is that heterosexuals are to blame for any weakness in the marriage institution.
President Bush's amendment would be the only one in the Constitution to restrict freedom. Polls by news organizations over the past two years have show that most Americans would civil unions that allow same-sex couples to enjoy the roughly 1,100 federal protections and benefits that apply to married couples. Nationally, Americans are less divided and more thoughtful on this issue than Washington. But Mr. Bush and the Republicans need a distraction, and the mistress is getting antsy.
Source: Palm Beach Post
President Bush came out of his political hole Monday and saw his shadow, which means at least six more weeks of demagoguery.
It happens every even-numbered year. In February 2004, facing reelection, the president called for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. It failed, but it rallied Republican religious fundamentalists. Once Mr. Bush had won and the Republicans had kept control of Congress, the issue went back underground, as it will again after November.
With another election looming and ratings for Mr. Bush and the Republican Congress in the dumper though, it's time once again to blame homosexuals for everything that's wrong with the country. Today, as happened Monday and may happen Wednesday, the Senate will "debate" another same-sex marriage ban that everyone knows doesn't have the 67 votes necessary to pass it.
Think of President Bush and the Republicans as the cheating husband who needs to string the mistress along when she feels neglected. The political marriage in Washington is between the GOP and the nation's wealthiest Americans and corporations, but the fundamentalists know that all they need to do is threaten to cut off the Republicans at the polls. Think of the marriage amendment vote as a political candlelight dinner.
Though the national divorce rate has been declining, slightly more than 40 percent of marriages don't last - and the rate is higher in states that vote Republican in national elections. Kentucky's, for example, is more than twice as high as Massachusetts'. Those numbers may be worth worrying about, but one thing we know is that heterosexuals are to blame for any weakness in the marriage institution.
President Bush's amendment would be the only one in the Constitution to restrict freedom. Polls by news organizations over the past two years have show that most Americans would civil unions that allow same-sex couples to enjoy the roughly 1,100 federal protections and benefits that apply to married couples. Nationally, Americans are less divided and more thoughtful on this issue than Washington. But Mr. Bush and the Republicans need a distraction, and the mistress is getting antsy.
Source: Palm Beach Post
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