CON GAMES: Gay Is As Gay Does In Senate

May 18th, 2006 at 01:49pm Michael Conniff 2

The one way out of the primordial soup for conservatives is to fight like hell for the same old, same old slop about gay marriage. What’s in a word—or two? If you’re a girly-man Conservative or even a conflating Republican, then glop is all you’ve got to eat in the approaching summer heat.

The folks who brought you Iraq, Katrina, and disinformed immigration reform are going back to the future by bringing gay marriage to a vote on the Senate floor June 5, a move masterminded by Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the medical doctor who did a Ben Casey via video on a brain-dead woman in Florida.

Remember Terry Shiavo? May she rest in peace. If she had been a partner in a gay marriage would Frist and his minions have fought so hard to save her life? Or would they have just let go to hell?

The Republicans, of course, have got nada today or manana. The military is weaker than ever. The deficit is bigger than ever. Corruption is worse than ever. Even good economic news is fraying in the wake of astronomic prices for oil and the burble of inflation. Iraq is, well, Iraq—a civil war all but impervious to good news. Seven out of ten Americans surveyed are sick to death of President George W. Bush and all the Republicans have bought and wrought.

Which brings us to a pass and a prayer. The prayer, of course, is the continuing dependence of the mainstream Republicans on Christian Conservatives for support. The pass way, way downfield is gay marriage. According to the Pew Research Center, barely half of Americans oppose gay marriage, and that’s down fro 63 percent opposed just over a year ago. Gay marriage is simply not the huge deal that Conservatives want it to be, and most people who oppose gay marriage have no problem with the real issue, equal rights for homosexuals.

But these are dangerous times for the Hard Right that require at least the illusion of danger. That explains why Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania brought the notion of a Constitutional ban on gay marriage to a vote Thursday in the Senate Judiciary Committee—a measure that passed 10-8 on strict party lines, with all the flubbing Republicans voting to protect an institution that needs no protection.
"I didn't realize marriages were so threatened,” said Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. “Nor did my wife of 44 years.”
Specter held the vote in the no-look President’s Room just off the Senate floor, rather than in the more commodious—and open to the public—space the Judiciary Committee generally favors in the Dirksen Office Building. Specter voted to bring the gay marriage ban to the Senate floor even though he thinks it’s a lousy idea to begin with.

In a way, you can’t blame the Republicans and the late, great Conservative movement. They’re all shooting blanks when they’re not shooting each other—or Iraqis of various persuasions. By turning the spotlight on gay marriage, they are hoping to turn the light of day away from issues that matter far more. That’s the way it goes when you don’t stand for anything that matters any more. And that is just so gay.

Entry Filed under: Politics, Con Games, Family, Homosexuality