In Snit, Mitt Bit

Our governor, Mitt Romney, has likely killed the replace-gay-marriage-with-civil-unions amendment trying to wriggle through the constitutional-convention process. Shortly after the predictable group of anti folk announced today that they did in fact intend to try to get a DoMA amendment before the voters in 2008, Mitt said that's what he had in mind all along.

It looks like surrender clothed in bravado, shouting, "We'll get you now!," as they run away.

Putting the most positive spin on it, Mitt's man at the mic, Eric Rehrnstrom said, "Gov. Romney believes that voters should be given a straightforward amendment to decide the definition of marriage and not one that muddles the water by creating civil unions that would be equivalent of marriage in all respects but name."

It is to laugh.

From here it looks like:

• The anti folk figured they were not going to win the second vote to get their civil-union amendment on the ballot.
• Mitt wants to be POTUS or VP and was not about to leave the state soundly defeated by both same-sex marriage and failure to downgrade it to civil union.
• The bar to get the new amendment on the ballot in 2008 is half as high as the current one, so that even this group of clowns should be able to pull it off.

However, legislators and voters here are losing what light taste they had for this blood. Same-sex marriage works as smoothly as the old kind, letting homosexuals have equal rights has hurt no one and no one's estate of matrimony, and none of the dreadful plagues predicted by the naysayers and nigglers has befallen us.

Assuming the low-bar version gets on the ballot, it looks like a loser. Politicians are seeing that the majority of voters are either in favor of equality or indifferent to this non-problem. It's possible that in three years the only voters who will go for the amendment will be bigots who say they aren't bigoted and discriminators who say no one wants discrimination. Let us be thankful that they are the minority.

By the bye, no one other than Mass News paid much attention to the anti folk's announcement. That stalwart source listed, "Holding Thursday's press conference are Massachusetts Family Institute's Kris Mineau, Maria Parker of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, Dr. Roberto Miranda of the Congregacion de Judah, Bishop Gilbert Thompson from the Black Ministerial Alliance, and Rep. Philip Travis (D-Rehoboth)."