It's Terri Schiavo all over again.
And kudos to Senator Reid and the Democrats for refusing to take the bait on this one. The Republicans tried to sucker punch the Dems into a three-day debate on gay marriage. So, Harry Reid is giving them a three day debate on why they're afraid to talk about Iraq, gas prices, and the war on terror. Brilliant.
As an aside, our audience on this blog, and thus our strategies, are somewhat different than Senator Reid's. He has to convince the public that the Republicans are out of touch while the Democrats want to deal with the top issues of concern to Americans.
We, on the other hand, want to teach the Republicans a lesson in what's going to happen to them when they choose to gay-bait in the future. They'll be tormented (a la Mary Cheney), outed (a la... well... you know who), and incessantly pestered by phone and at public meetings about whether they abstain from the very sexual practices they demonize us for. Our strategy is: Once burned, twice shy.
From the NYT:
Matthew Dowd, who was Mr. Bush's campaign strategist in 2004, said it was a myth that emphasizing same-sex marriage in battleground states like Ohio was critical to Mr. Bush's re-election. He said turnout patterns were comparable in states where same-sex marriage was a chief topic and where it was not....
But one Republican strategist, Ed Rollins, said it was a mistake for the president and Senate leaders to focus attention on a marriage ban now, in what could look like a panicked reaction to shrinking public support.
"What the president needs to do is look like a leader, not be somebody who looks like a politician who is overreacting to polls," Mr. Rollins said. "If anything, he is reminding people of what they don't like about the Republican Party."
