Defeat appears inevitable for ban on gay marriage

[Judi Lynn]

Article Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Defeat appears inevitable for ban on gay marriage

Republican leaders hoping to keep loss respectable

By David Espo
The Associated Press


Washington - Short on votes and beset by internal divisions, Senate Republicans struggled Tuesday to salvage a respectable defeat for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, an issue that President Bush pushed toward the top of the election-year agenda.

"This issue is not going away," Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said in a virtual concession that the measure would fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance past a test vote set for today.

"Will it be back? Absolutely, yes," he added.

Democrats, many of whom oppose the measure, took delight in the internal Republican troubles, and Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois read aloud from a recent statement on the issue by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney. "When it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter that should be left to the states," he quoted her as saying.
(snip/...)

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E11676%257E2270464,00.html

[WindRavenX]

1. that's some good news

This issue must be fought tooth and nail...no surrender.

[physioex]

2. Exactly....

:toast:

[ashling]

3. They never expected to win

The idea was to fire up their fundie base. But a resounding defeat sure would be nice.

[Gore1FL]

4. This never had a chance

It was red meat for Bush's base.

In fact it really shows how desperate they really are.

In order to energize their base, they are willing to set up a political loss to themselves in which they
1> alienate Log Cabin Republicans
2> trouble true conservatives who view the Constitution as more than a wedge issue.


This thing had to be the dumbest move ever by the GOP, and if anything it shows just how weak is with his base, that he's willing to sacrifice much of the center to ensure the dumbfuck vote.

[Journeyman]

5. Agreed. This is beyond stupid; it's bad politics. . .

What they touted to be a wedge issue dissolves into an embarassment, left twisting in the wind, the object of ridicule and disdain from all but those in the camp from which they already had the votes!

Sweet. Every issue they've brought forward so far -- attacks on Kerry & Edwards, images of 9/11, speculation on postponing elections, this idiotic amendment to restrict freedom -- every one of their issues has failed to galvanize the support and momentum they expected. Now we just have to keep working hard against them and, since both we and they seem to be pushing in the same direction these days, we'll have BushCo out of our White House in short order.

[AndyTiedye]

9. It Means They Know They ONLY Need Their Base

> It was red meat for Bush's base.

That's all we're getting now. They don't care if they alienate the center anymore.
They are acting as if they know they don't need any votes from the center.
They obviously know something we don't.

> In fact it really shows how desperate they really are.

It shows that their strategy for staying in power does not involve
getting a majority of the voters to vote for them.
So What ARE they doing?
Their original strategy obviously relied on Diebold, but the
polls indicate that this may no longer by viable.
Recent trial balloons suggest what their real strategy may be.
If so, they want to energize their base to keep them in power.

> In order to energize their base, they are willing to set up a
> political loss to themselves in which they
> 1> alienate Log Cabin Republicans

Anyone who >still< calls him/herself a "Log Cabin Republican"
would not be alienated until they start hauling gay people
off to concentration camps.

> 2> trouble true conservatives who view the Constitution as more than
> a wedge issue.

Sadly, few of them will desert Bush*.

[jmowreader]

10. Alienating the LCR may be a prime goal

The LCR is an embarrassment to the national party: GAY REPUBLICANS? Horrors!

Gays are supposed to be Democrats so they can be demonized, don'tcha know? The fact that there are gay Republicans must keep Jerry Falwell awake at night.

They can't just call 'em into the Oval Office and tell 'em "look, guys, we switched your registrations to Democrat because you're freaks of nature--Republicans like pussy and making lots of little Republicans, it's in the manual, and you just don't fit in."

So they do the next best thing: piss them off at every turn. Maybe they'll leave.

[Snoggera]

6. Will these stupid fuckers

ever do what they were elected to do, or will they forever continue to play moralistic games?

[WindRavenX]

7. don't hold your breath

To them, pushing an extreme christian ideology on the American people is more important than, say, helping the American people by expanding health care and education and ya know, fighting terrorism.
But damn, those homosexuals are *such* a threat to us :eyes:

[Guaranteed]

13. Someone should ask Santorum that question directly:

Who is more of a threat to our country- terrorists, or homosexuals?

See what the stupid fuck does with that one.

[saigon68]

8. The Bush Criminals are vicious homophobes.

They are whipping up another climate of hate and evil that will result in another lynching like Matthew Shepard.

It good to see them "TWIST IN THE WIND"--saigon

quote stolen from below


Quote by:
John Ehrlichman
Presidential assistant to Nixon 1968-1974


Quotation:

I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.

( speaking of nominated director of the FBI )

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for the Erlichman quote.

It's good to take time to remember yet one more Republican rattlesnake. My God, there's a never ending supply of these creeps.

[Kickin_Donkey]

12. Besides a ploy to fire up their base ...

it was an effort to put Sens. Kerry and Edwards on the spot by forcing them to vote on the issue – thereby sewing divisions among Democrats prior to the convention.

[dusty64]

14. With this cabal a defeat

is NEVER really a defeat. Like the energizer bunny they just keep going and going and going. They only way to truly get rid of them is to boot their asses far far away in November.




GOP Vows to Push Gay-Marriage Amendment

42 minutes ago Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo!


By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON - Bracing for defeat on one of President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign-season priorities, Republicans vow that not even a Senate setback will halt their drive to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.


AP Photo


Reuters
Slideshow: Same-Sex Marriage Issues




"I don't think it's going away after this vote," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Tuesday on the eve of a test vote. "I think the issue will remain alive," he added, virtually conceding the amendment would fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance.


Whatever its future in Congress, there were signs that supporters of the amendment intended to use it in the campaign already unfolding.


"The institution of marriage is under fire from extremist groups in Washington, politicians, even judges who have made it clear that they are willing to run over any state law defining marriage," Republican senatorial candidate John Thune says in a radio commercial airing in South Dakota. "They have done it in Massachusetts and they can do it here," adds Thune, who is challenging Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle for his seat.


"Thune's ad suggests that some are using this amendment more to protect the Republican majority than to protect marriage," said Dan Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Daschle's campaign.


Senate Democrats advanced a similar argument, saying politics prompted Bush and fellow Republicans to advance the issue to the top of the legislative agenda.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040714/ap_on_go_co/gay_marriage&cid=512&ncid=716