Gay-Bashing Strategy... OF DOMA!!!

Encouraging news from The All-Seeing Eye Of Froomkin, Athenae, and others: The Bush push for the cynically-named "Defense Of Marriage Amendment" ("Clear Skies Initiative," anyone?) is not going over well, not even with the base.

We'll start with Froomkin:

President Bush this afternoon speaks out in favor of a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

But nobody's buying it.

Not the Senate, where there's not even a remote chance that the amendment will muster the required two-thirds majority this week.

Not the critics, who see Bush's posturing on the issue as nothing more than a bald-faced sop to his increasingly restive social-conservative base -- and a desperate attempt to change the subject from the grimmer, more important issues that are appropriately disquieting the public.

And not even that social-conservative base, whose members doubt the intensity of Bush's commitment to the issue. The president has actively ignored this issue until this week, most notably by refusing to twist arms on the Hill.

Speaking of The Base, what kind of reaction has Athenae found at Wingnut Central?

I think consenting adults should be free to enter into whatever marital contract they please, as long as no physical harm or other crime is committed. Securing the nation's borders is, however, probably the main task of any government. It'd be nice if this government got around to performing this task.

(snip)

The Constitution is supposed to be about government behavior, not personal behavior. The attempt to change/outlaw one form of personal behavior was thumpingly reversed in a little more than a decade. Why do you want to change the focus of the Constitution?

(snip)

I often wonder how I ended up with three kids. I guess it was before all this gay marriage talk. Actually the real reason I am against the amendment is more to do with government interference than gay marriage, but either way it does not bother me or my wife and somehow my three kids are surviving as well. I really feel horrible about some people who worry about it and stay up at night consummed with angst. I also laugh about the stories that doom is coming with the people marrying their dogs and cats and snakes and horses and even dolphins (someone posted a picture of the ceremony on our conservative site). I found it a hoot. Believe me, I am conservative as the next guy, but when you go to great lengths as that then I just have to laugh.

(snip)

I think it's an attempt to distract us from their spending and the amnesty. They know we're mad as hell about both. You have to wonder how stupid they think we are. Then you think about your fellow-voters and wonder if they might be right about the voters.

Of course, there's still a lot of time left until the election, and I always take any claims of conservative dissent with a grain of salt, but if this kind of skepticism holds up, it's a huge, huge deal. This is exactly what I've said we need in order to finally reclaim this country and Constitution from the GOP stranglehold. If in November, Republicans (and everyone else) says "Yeah, right." instead of "OMG! Gay terrorist marriage is going to kill my unborn baby!!!", the spell would truly be broken, and the Republicans would have to win on their actual merits. Buh-bye.