The Senate in its wisdom (really!) kicked the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment to the curbtoday, with some alacrity, it would seem. Everybody got what they wanted: the anti-gay right got their election issue, and the rest of us got, well, the Constitution.
Now, it may well be that Bush’s recent uptick in the polls (if it’s not a mirage) is due to his strategic gay-baiting. But I’m more interested in the polls on same-sex marriage as an issue; while Pew’s poll may show this opposition to same-sex marriage deteriorating since 2004, other polls seem more consistent over time.
But now the 33% Prez has stepped in it, and Congress Schiavoed itself pretty nicely this week. Considering the messengers of the anti-gay amendment, maybe we should be grateful that this is happening. I’m interested to see if in their desire to please the homophobes, the Republicans actually drive the general public the other direction. We can hope …
By the way, it would be refreshing to hear a public servant make a principled (even conservative!) argument for same-sex marriage. Jon Stewart gets it, too.
Bush’s numbers have, sadly, been on the rise since his immigration speech from the Oval Office. In some ways, I’m quite glad that his gay-bashing isn’t responsible for his favorables. Still, I take no joy in immigrant-bashing as the indicator either. This site has great numbers. Nonetheless, the failure of the FMA, with fewer votes in favor than in the last attempt in 2004, perhaps we’ve seen the last of this amendment.
If the American public doesn’t see through this obvious and craven smokescreen, it deserves everything it gets and more.