Panderer-In-Chief

Shameful.

Breathtakingly shallow.

Frankly, embarrassing.

I refer, of course, to President Bush's recent initiative to demonize gay marriage in a blatantly-transparent effort to pander to the Bible-abusing knuckle-draggers who form the base (an appropriate term if there ever were one) of his Republican constituency. With all the other national, international, and societal problems facing our country, he proposes that we turn to the sacred institution of marriage between a man and a woman, and save it from attack, to "protect families and children." Attack from “activist judges,” many of whom have been put in place by Republican administrations.

And all this expenditure of Senators’ energy, time, posturing and blather for a proposed Constitutional amendment that has zero, zip, no change of making it out of the Senate, simply to give the appearance of throwing a bone to the conservatives. Memo to the Conservatives: are you so blind in your hatred of gays and lesbians that you can’t see through this latest proposal? Or are you salivating so much that you just don’t care? What’s next, sending the National Guard to Provincetown or San Francisco?

Last I checked, heterosexual couples aren't exactly doing a bang-up job preserving the sacred institution. Why not a constitutional amendment preventing divorce, Mr. President? How about seriously cracking down on spousal abusers, deadbeat dads, etc.? Something, anything, to show some depth of actual, living, breathing concern behind the façade.

Let's get the government out of private lives, shall we? Let's allow the tax and legal benefits extended to heterosexual married couples be extended to all couples in committed, til-death-do-we-part relationships. Let’s treat all love and commitment with dignity. Let's honor ALL people. Let's allow gay couples the same opportunity to live the lives of quiet desperation that heterosexual married couples do.

(Well, maybe we don't put the last part in any legislation...)