Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona broke forcefully with President Bush and the Senate GOP leadership Tuesday evening over the issue of same-sex marriage, taking to the Senate floor to call a constitutional amendment to prohibit the practice unnecessary -- and un-Republican.
"The constitutional amendment we're debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans," McCain said. "It usurps from the states a fundamental authority they have always possessed and imposes a federal remedy for a problem that most states do not believe confronts them."
Out with a Wimper.
So the Bush-backed anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment sailed toward its doom in the Senate, where GOP mismanagers at the last minute, and to no avail, tried to increase its appeal by removing a clause that would ban "marriage or the incidents thereof" (i.e., domestic partnerships and civil unions). They thus succeeded in angering the religious right (which has held that "marriage by another name" must also be banned) in addition to driving away the 1 million gay votes Bush garnered in 2000.
This isn't the end. House Republicans vow to bring up the amendment and possibly other anti-gay legislation before the election. And Senate majority leader Bill Frist insists that the measure will be back in his chamber for another vote. Split the party, burn the big tent, drive out moderates -- all worth it to prevent gay equality under the law.
Because the amendment died in a "procedural" vote, Kerry/Edwards will get a free ride for not voting. They had interrupted their campaigns in the past to vote on issues vital to what they consider their key constituencies in need of courting -- labor, Hispanics, etc. Shouldn't that tell gay activists something? Dream on.