And the winner is...

Gay Marriage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to everyone who picked it as Rove's distraction/wedge issue for '06. With their polls in the gutter, Bush and the Senate Republicans have decided to take the debate there as well. Instead of actually trying to address important issues that could help average Americans (gas prices, healthcare, rebuilding New Orleans, getting the hell out of Iraq, etc.), these cowards are forcing a floor debate over a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage.

Make no mistake kiddies; this is an act of political desperation. I can smell the panic sweat from here. The Right has lost the Independents and is losing the moderate Republicans. Iraq is dragging them down like an anchor. Hurricane season is coming. Most polls show between 60 and 70 percent of the country believes we are on the wrong track. Their only hope for fending off a disaster in November is to whip up the base with bigoted policies against homosexuals. And the legislation has absolutely no chance of passing. The whole issue is a big smoke screen for their failure to govern effectively. Assholes.

But putting aside the utterly despicable nature of the debate (and yes - whenever a group attempts to fan the flames of hatred and fear - that is despicable), the Right is attempting to codify a negative right in the Constitution. We tried that once with Prohibition. It was not a resounding success and was, of course, repealed. Americans generally appreciate the notion of “Don’t mess with me and I won’t mess with you”. Let’s hope that this principle wins out in November and we get a Congress that appeals to our better nature rather than our bigotry.