It’s looking more and more like the bigots in the Republican party are going to get left at the alta on their push for a vote on the FMA.
On Tuesday, a maneuver by Senate Republicans to paint presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry into a political corner went awry amid internal GOP divisions.
Facing the prospect that the amendment as originally drafted wouldn’t get a simple majority — let alone the two-thirds vote needed for approval of a proposed amendment — Republican leaders decided to move to a second version of the measure, stripped of language that troubled some GOP moderates.
But Democrats refused to go along.
That means supporters of the amendment will need to get 60 votes in a procedural vote Wednesday to cut off debate and move to a vote on the amendment itself — a hurdle they are unlikely to overcome with most Democrats and some moderate Republicans opposed.
The death of the amendment would be a blow to social conservatives, who have been pressing hard for the measure after same-sex marriages were legalized in Massachusetts in May.
Serves ‘em right, but here something I want to know. What the hell happened to the Republican Unity Coalition? You know, that group of Republicans that made such a big splash at the beginning of the Bush administration? The one’s who wanted to make sexual orientation a “non-issue” in the Republican party? Here’s what they say on their website:
We vigorously oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment, and will speak out against it…we will fight the Amendment, and encourage– in every way possible –all Republican lawmakers to see the light and consider better alternative paths which will not interfere with states’ rights to pass whatever legal protections they choose for gay and lesbian relationships.
But they’ve been conspicuously silent and absent while the Bush administration—the guy who promised to be “a uniter”—has been beating the drum to add bigotry to the constitution. So, where’s their opposition, beyond the statement on their website? Or am I missing something?
It’s just one more reason I guess I just don’t “get” gay Republicans, expescially those who remain silent at a time like this.