Senate Republicans are moving forward with their plan to hold a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in just two weeks. Fortunately, a brief report in Time magazine included a candid quote about the real motivation behind the endeavor.
G.O.P. conservatives argue that even a losing vote, besides putting Democrats in an uncomfortable spot, will fire up gay-marriage opponents in more than a dozen states likely to have initiatives on the November ballot to pass anti-gay-marriage amendments. The aim is to get gay-marriage opponents to the polls, says a Senate G.O.P. aide, “and while they’re in the booth, they’ll pull the trigger for Bush and Republicans.”
Boy, am I glad this aide said that.
For months, FMA supporters have maintained the façade that the amendment was about preserving “traditional” families and stopping “activist” judges. It never made a lot of sense, but that was their argument and they were sticking to it.
But the GOP aide who spoke to Time finally spelled out what we knew all along. The Senate hasn’t scheduled a vote on this constitutional pollution because lawmakers aren’t concerned about families or the law — they want a campaign ploy. The aim, his aide admitted, is to use a vote on a constitutional amendment as a Get-Out-The-Vote tool.
Isn’t this practically the definition of playing politics with an issue?
I realize that most of us recognized this ploy as a campaign stunt from the beginning, but still, I think that quote in Time was the first time I’ve seen a Republican admit it since this mess started.