Ban Baby, Ban

The GOP may be divided over the question of immigration, but with his once touted “political capital” dwindling to mere pocket change, Bush is banking on the fact that his party is still united in homophobia.

Via NYTs:

President Bush on Saturday urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying in his weekly radio address that marriage "cannot be cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots."

Mr. Bush's radio address was the beginning of what White House aides had said would be a major push to support the marriage amendment, which the Senate is to begin debating in the next couple of days. The effort comes after weeks of increasingly vocal complaints from cultural conservatives that Mr. Bush and Congressional Republicans abandoned their issues after relying on them to win in the 2004 elections.

It’s political ploy through and through, considering that such a marriage amendment will never make it out of the gate.

It does not have anywhere near the two-thirds support it would need for approval in the Senate, let alone the two-thirds it would need in the House of Representatives before being taken up by the states — three-fourths of which would have to approve the measure for it to become law.

But rhetoric or otherwise, Bush is drawing another line in our nation’s cultural sand. The real showdown may be differed for now, but Bush’s speech prods both lawmakers and the rest of us to start choosing sides.

Though my posts have been scant for the past several months, expect to see a few updates on this issue as the Senate takes up debate this week.

--MM