Gay Marriage. It is huge news right now. North Carolina voters just rejected it, and President Obama has decided that he can score political points by dramatically flip-flopping from his previous opposition to support.
This post is not about whether it is a good idea for gay couples to be inviting the government into their private lives in order to prove that they are the equal of heterosexuals. I just thought it might be time to remind people of what I have said before: gay marriage is not the sort of issue which is likely to decide an election. It ranks twenty-somethingeth in the minds of most voters. (It ranks last, in fact.) Very, very few people (mainly dedicated gay activists and dedicated anti-gay activists) use it as a single issue, dividing line litmus test. I’m not saying it isn’t important and that ordinary people don’t have opinions one way or the other, but it is just isn’t going to be the pivotal issue of the next presidential election (much as the Democrats might hope it will be).
Voters may be against it in some states, and for it in others, but they are less likely to use it as a basis for selecting a president than they are abortion, and even that isn’t enough to win or lose the White House.
If Obama and his team really think this particular flip flop will make the difference in November, they’re scraping.
Comments
4 responses to “Desperate for distractions”
With BO’s making gay marriage an issue, what if BO/the Dems go anti-Drug Prohibition at the last minute with the Republicans totally unprepared? What if the gay marriage thing is just a test?
Ron Paul supporters are only loosely attached to the R Party and Drug Prohibition is one of their Big issues. Might they be enough to squeak him in? Classical Values is prepared but by and large most Republicans are not.
Key point: between 65% and 75% say prohibition is not working.
The WODs is an avalanche waiting to happen. And Romney is not in a very good position to deal with it – let alone the rest of the Rs.
[…] has been looking at the Gay Marriage Distraction which has prompted me to repost a comment I just posted in several places (modified). I’m […]
No matter how you slice it, the Republican Party comes across as vindictive. If you can live with it, fine. I can’t.
After reading a number of blog comments at various right of center sites in the aftermath of the NC vote, and the shenanigans in Colorado, it’s obvious people feel emboldened. The spite and mockery is open, especially after Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage today.
You are right of course that it’s being used as a distraction. They are isolating the Republican Party.
Rule 13, Tactics:
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
Saul Alinsky
But they have unfortunately found a perfect target eager to accommodate them.
I will not support or vote for a party that openly tolerates and promotes bigotry.
And that applies equally to both major parties right now.