George Pimps Marriage

Today begins the measure of how cynical and dishonest a sitting president and his party's senators can be. Over the next three days, George the Lesser will command his amazing performing solons in the Kick the Gays Circus.

The august U.S. Senate debates the unnecessary and unpassable anti-same-sex-marriage amendment. Bill Clinton's DOMA law already forbids federal recognition of Massachusetts SSMs. There's also nothing like the two-thirds majority necessary to pass this in both houses of Congress and put it out for an impossible three-quarters of the states to ratify.

Only a week and change ago, similarly regressive Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his version of this cheap manoeuver.

This can serve to remind us that:

• These national leaders are also charged with keeping their parties in power, and will do the most emotional and cynical things in that effort.
• That emotion carries over to their core voters, who use the same irrational and easily disprovable arguments.

On both sides of the border, these bozos are trying to make a point, trying to differentiate themselves and their parties from the other -- liberals, homosexuals and who knows what else, and trying to fire up their voter base before the fall elections and legislative campaigns.

Ironically here, George runs afoul of his conservative base in his marriage push. The power to regulate intrastate affairs, including marriage, has always belonged to the individual states. U.S. consevatives have long believed in states rights.

He wants a major change that rankles many in the South and Midwest. He already operates a huge borrow-and-spend government, larger and more expensive per capita than any, even WWII era. He has been publicly and often secretively claiming legislative and judicial rights for the executive branch, unbalancing the government. In short, he represents what Republicans in general say they hate -- fat government, deeply intruding in daily lives in big and small ways.

Now he knows that he has no chance of getting this amendment or even getting it through the Senate. Yet, he is willing to pursue it for the sleaziest and most cynical of party-pandering aims.

Today's New York Times editorial on the issue nails it. It states, "It was depressing in the extreme to hear the chief executive trying to pretend, at this moment in American history, that this was a critical priority."

It also rips him for using the Republician wheeze that the judicial system is overreaching. To wit:

If there's anything the country should have learned over the past five years, it is that Mr. Bush and his supporters have no problem with judicial decisions, no matter how cutting edge, that endorse their political positions. They trot out the "activist judge" threat only when they're worried about getting out their base on Election Day.

I didn't vote for him.

---

Tags: massmarrier, Senate, same sex marriage, George Bush, amendment