Bush’s Friend Says Gay Marriage Ban Is “Purely Political. I Don’t Think He Gives A S—T About It”… Daniel Schorr: Bush May Be Losing His Base
Evangelical leaders insist they know how gay marriage affects their voters—they’ll stay home if politicians don’t push for the FMA. “It’s the one issue I have seen that eclipses even the abortion issue among Southern Baptists,” says Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Last month James Dobson, the influential founder of Focus on the Family, met privately with key Republicans, including Frist, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, to warn them about the political consequences of failing to promote issues like marriage. “If you forget us, we’ll forget you,” he said, according to a GOP House leadership aide who was briefed on the gatherings, but declined to be identified discussing private meetings.
Any thinking person had to recognize that when Republicans climbed into bed (politically speaking, of course) with the Religious Right, there would eventually come a time of reckoning, when the bill for the support of the self-righteous hypocrites would come due. The zealots would demand their pound of flesh, and Republicans, being the spineless, amoral cowards they are, would have no choice but to cave, for without the zealots, the GOP would be completely devoid of passion, commitment, and ideas.
Now the time has come to pay up, and while few in the GOP really want to fight this battle, they understand that they have no choice. It’s a no-win situation for them, but when you sleep with the Devil, you’re going to have to expect to get burned, eh?
Uh…isn’t this the same President who rode into Washington promising to be a uniter and not a divider?
And here’s another thing…as I’m writing this, I’m watching the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins attempting to justify instutionalizing hatred. Uh…and how exactly is marriage under attack? If you’re so all-fired worried about defending marriage, you’d think Perkins and the FRC would be trying to do something about the divorce rate. Honestly, isn’t divorce the biggest threat to marriage these days? Oh, but that means you’d have to take personal responsibility for your own moral failings. It’s SO much easier to preach hatred of Da Gayz than to clean up the mess in your own back yard….
Though Bush himself has publicly embraced the amendment, he never seemed to care enough to press the matter. One of his old friends told NEWSWEEK that same-sex marriage barely registers on the president’s moral radar. “I think it was purely political. I don’t think he gives a s—t about it. He never talks about this stuff,” said the friend, who requested anonymity to discuss his private conversations with Bush. White House aides, who also declined to be identified, insist that the president does care about banning gay marriage. They say Monday’s events with amendment supporters—Bush will also meet privately with a small group—have been in the works “for weeks” and aren’t just a sop to conservatives.
Of course, if there is one thing Republicans, and Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader, understand, it’s pandering. They may agree that gay marriage is repulsive and immoral by their way of thinking, but they also know that they are being forced into a position where they must be seen as enthusiastically backing a horse that will barely make it out of the starting gate. The Defense of Marriage Amendment, or whatever the Hate Lobby happens to be calling their paean to hatred, has little (well, OK, no) chance of actually making it successfully through 38 state legislatures and into the Constitution. Nonetheless, the Religious Right wants their moment in the sun, and this is the issue they’ve chosen. That they have no problem with being seen as hateful bigots is their problem, but they are also going to take a number of prominent Republicans along for the ride.
The sad thing is that the rights of an entire class of Americans are being sacrificed to political expediency and debt-paying. Gays and Lesbians are easy to hate, because their lifestyle is something that a goodly majority of Americans find abhorrent. That they have the constitutional right to live as they see fit seems to have been conveniently ignored in order to allow Republicans to pander to the Christian Conservative masters.
Who said hatred isn’t a family value?
