Sunday, May 14, 2006

A Bush and A Cheney Warn on DOMA Amendment

Two politically connected women had warnings on the pending one-man/one-woman federal legislation effort. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush said the GOP shouldn't use this as a campaign issue and Mary Cheney said such an amendment would be "fundamentally wrong."

Neither the First Lady nor the Vice President's daughter (is lesbian daughter one word for her?) are elected officials. Yet both are likely influential in their family and the party.

Host Chris Wallace noted that the amendment would be coming up and asked whether the GOP should campaign on it. Bush replied:
Well, I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously. But I do think it's something that people in the United States want to debate. And it requires a lot of sensitivity to talk about the issue, a lot of sensitivity.

People, I have found, over the country don't want the governor of Massachusetts or the mayor of San Francisco to make the choice for them — the courts of Massachusetts, I should say. So I think it deserves debate. I think it's something that people want to talk about.
Obviously, she's unclear and ignorant of how we got where we are in Massachusetts. It is amusing that she would attribute SSM here to Mitt Romney's action (inaction would be more accurate).

Her hubby favors such an amendment. VP Dick Cheney does not.

Mary Cheney has more of an investment in the issue and was plainer. The Washington Post quotes her as sounding pretty American and liberty loving. "But you know, what I can say is look, amending the Constitution with this amendment, this piece of legislation, is a bad piece of legislation. It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong."

That issue, of course, has played out for the past several years at the state level. Two years ago, a paranoid flurry of 11 DOMA-style amendments went into state constitutions. Some are likely to be overturned in court or by legislation. Yet how sad it is that these states would enable such regression. They have rubbed their fundamental legal document with the dirt of bigotry.

The frequently noted irony on the federal level is that for several centuries, self-identified conservatives, much like today's GOP, have claimed great respect for states rights. Each state is to have control of laws and regulations within its borders -- criminal and civil, including who can marry, who can drive a car, whether the government can execute criminals and on and on. Now there's Senator Bill Frist and others wanting to take away the states' rights to define marriage.

Hmm. Perhaps even Republicans won't be able to swallow that one. Laura appears to be onto something. With a bit of luck for the Democrats, maybe the Republicans up for election will try the DOMA amendment ploy, thus alienating the middle.

It's possible that if you average the Bushes' IQs, George and Laura's, she might bring up their score to normal.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

They are two or three years too late, no?

massmarrier said...

...but not for the midterms. Bwah ha ha.