http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1317&ncid=742&e=11&u=/uclicktext/20040202/cm_ucas/campaignagainstsamesexmarriageplaystohateandfearIn Massachusetts, Karl Rove has unearthed a weapon of mass distraction-related program activity. You may recall that the state's Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling in November legalizing gay marriage.
That ruling allowed Rove, President Bush (news - web sites)'s political handler, to change the subject. He didn't want to go into the presidential campaign talking about the issues that matter most in the life of the republic: the failure to find WMDs in Iraq (news - web sites), the gargantuan (and growing) budget deficit, millions of lost jobs. He didn't want President Bush to have to defend his decisions on the environment, his pandering to Big Business, his knee-jerk allegiance to the wealthy. On those issues, the president is vulnerable.
Now, Bush can run a campaign that whips up fear and hate, primal instincts that often overrun common sense. Gay marriage doesn't affect the household income of the average voter or his children's chances for getting into good colleges. It doesn't outsource jobs to India. And it doesn't contribute to the decline of heterosexual marriage. (We haven't needed any help with that.)
But it does stir the blood and cloud the judgment of many Americans, persuading them to vote for the candidate who pledges to protect them from it. At the very least, Bush believes his signal of support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will inspire conservative Christians, whose legendary organizational skills could give him the margin of victory in November.