Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
I still disagree, and think that Bush just lost the election on this issue (assuming he continues to push for this amendment.)
I think the support for such an amendment is far thinner than perceived. I think that, as a casual question, "do you favor gay marriages" probably gets a lot of "no"'s, but, as a much-discussed, constantly-debated long run-up to an amendment ratification election, the question of "shall we amend the Constitution to prevent these people from every marrying" isn't going to go far. Most of those casual "no, I don't favor gay marriage"'s come from people who don't think about it much, and don't know (overtly) any gay people, and so it's always been a throw-away issue. A lot of those "no" 's are going to turn into "no amendment" 's once middle America starts to really consider what's being done. Once they start to see normal gay couples on TV speaking of why they want to be married, and realize that a SanFran shock parade isn't "normal" gay America, the auto-backlash reaction is going to dissipate.
We all can make thoughtless and ignorant group-choices when that's the easiest route, but I think that people, as a whole, are more decent than not, and so I think we've probably just recently seen the beginnings of real progress for gay rights in this country. I think that Bush, with his new panderings, has firmly placed himself in line with the Nationalist Party SA in 1948. "People", in general, and after real reflection, are not going to want to be on this particular side of this issue - just as no one wants to be remembered as the one who kicked Rosa out of her seat. Bush is joining the side that wants to kick some people totally out of the bus, and there are an awful lot of people out here who believe that conservative economic and social policy work best, but aren't willing to join the new South Africa to get there.
Bush had best let this one die of its own weight, quickly. If he truly wants to make this the point of comparison in the election, well, he's foolish.
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I strongly agree with your description of this issue, but I just don't see how this is going to keep anyone from voting for Bush in the fall. If people don't like the amendment idea they just won't vote for the amendment. For example, see the recent posts on this board where conservatives pointed out the recent moral failings of the Dem party to say that "you guys are just as bad." In today's polarized environment, if a voter supports Bush and his record so far he's not going to jump ship based on this plank.
But even in the likely event that I am wrong I don't think Bush can make this go away like he did with the Mars exploration proposal. With all these different court cases and legislative debates going on this issue is going to have momentum on its own for the foreseeable future even if Bush never utters the word "amendment" again.
Aside from all of the more important questions about this, I'd just like to say that I'm looking forward to the VP debates where Cheney gets asked about his support for an amendment to the constitution which specifically excludes his daughter from certain rights and privileges that he as a heterosexual can freely enjoy. That will be an interesting answer, especially after his past comments about this being a states rights issue.
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