Bush wants gay marriage amendment

The Washington Post says President Bush will support a constitutional amendment which would prohibit gay marriages:

President Bush plans to endorse a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman in response to a Massachusetts court decision requiring legal recognition of gay marriages in that state, key advisers said yesterday.

Bush plans to endorse language introduced by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) that backers contend would ban gay marriage but not prevent state legislatures from allowing the kind of civil unions and same-sex partnership arrangements that exist in Vermont and California.

Bush has moved incrementally over six months toward embracing a ban on gay marriage, and the advisers said he will clarify his position with a public statement shortly.

"We'd like to see Congress take it up, and the president will be supportive," a top Republican official said. "We would like to see both chambers act sooner rather than later."

Bush's move could put cultural issues at the forefront of an election year that had been dominated by economic and national-security issues.
[...]
Republican officials said Bush's embrace of an amendment is one facet of his reelection campaign's plan to portray the Democratic front-runner, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), as a liberal who is outside the nation's mainstream.

Kerry opposes gay marriage but does not support a constitutional amendment, his campaign said yesterday. "I believe and have fought for the principle that we should protect the fundamental rights of gay and lesbian couples, from inheritance to health benefits," he said in a statement. "I believe the right answer is civil unions. I oppose gay marriage and disagree with the Massachusetts Court's decision."

Jim Jordan, a Democratic strategist and former Kerry campaign manager, said the issue carries risk for Bush. "When Republicans are in a pinch, they always look for the cultural wedge issue," he said. "Bush's margin of victory in 2000, such as it was, came from moderate suburban voters taking Bush's word that he was a different kind of Republican, a compassionate conservative. Issues like this look mean-spirited."

Is Bush trying to lose the election?

People who'd support changing the U.S. constitution to prevent gay marriage are going to support Bush anyway; it's not like there's a major ultra-right candidiate, like Pat Buchanan, to whom they can throw their votes. It's the moderate voters - people who support the war on terror, but are deeply worried about the GOP's regressive positions on social issues and Bush's handling of the economy - who will be scared away by this sort of thing.

Just like in 1992, when the President's father let Buchanan set the agenda for the Republican campaign that year, and would up getting only 39% of the vote. George W. Bush has learned nothing from that year, has he?

Posted by damian at February 11, 2004 07:22 AM