Bush's Anti-Gay Marriage Campiagn "Desperation Politics"

Lou Dobbs Tonight 06-05-06

Lou Dobs is considered a conservative media figure and reporter. He is a self-described "lifelong Republican," although he is somewhat of a maverick in regard to international trade and immigration. He has a degree in Economics from Harvard and has a business/economic Republican pedigree.

An outspoken critic of the Bush administration, Dobbs has tackled the issue of Dubya's newest waste of time efort, the constitutional amendment campaign to "preserve the family" and define marriage as a consecrated social relationship between a man and a woman. Admittedly, not one Republican or ultra-conservative Christian believes that this will pass the 2/3 quorum requirement in both houses because the very concept of the amendment violates the constitutional principle of state's rights.

However, Dobbs took the issue to task for several reasons, devoting two longer segments of the show to commentary and reporting on the issue. The CNN Quick Vote Poll, which is not scientific or reliable as a predictor of overall views, but does offer some insight as to the thinking of the vastly conservative audience that watched Dobbs, reports that less than one percent of the Dobbs/CNN audience thinks the gay marriage issue is even remotely important in contrast to other issues. (See Poll Results image attached to this post.)

One viewer wrote to Dobbs, saying:

I am more worried about illegal immigration, Iraq and Katrina issues. All those issues that George Bush has failed at. If he wants to motivate his base, then he needs to lead on these issues and not play games with gay marriage. Get a grip, George.

The obvious political nature of this amendment campaign is not being overlooked even by the Republican/ultra-conservative base that Bush is attempting to motivate in preparation for the mid-term elections in November. Dana Bash, a member of the Dobbs Tonight team reported:

BASH: Proponents of a gay marriage ban say they do think they will get 52 votes this time around, a clear majority for the first time that they say will show they have momentum in the long term. But obviously there is also a short-term political goal here, and that is to try to appeal to conservative voters who are disillusioned with the job that the Republican leaders are doing here in Washington. But Democrats today accused Republicans of putting gay marriage on the agenda to try to divert attention from the issues that Americans really care about, things like Iraq and high gas prices.

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BASH: Now, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, actually put this measure on the Senate calendar at the beginning of the session, the beginning of 2005. But, of course, they are not bringing it up until now, five months before the election.

Lou, that is one reason why many conservatives are frustrated with their leaders here, because they feel that they only pay attention to their issues when they are in an election year.

DOBBS: And is there some frustration among the president's base, as best we can judge, that some might say that this president, the Republican leadership in the Senate, are being somewhat cynical and insulting their intelligence by driving a wedge issue into the forefront?

BASH: Well, some conservatives say they are happy no matter when the president -- or, more specifically, the Senate brings this issue up. They say it's long overdue, that this is, for many of them, one of the reasons, just one of the reasons why they voted for Republicans in 2004. But, you're right, others -- not just on this issue, Lou.

This issue, the fact that they see deficit spending here, immigration. They are very upset with the job that leaders here in Congress are doing.

What really speaks volumes about this push for a constitutional amendment is what is being ignored, as described by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV):

Will we debate the raging war in Iraq? No. Will we address our staggering national debt? No. Will we address the seriousness of global warming? No. Will we address the aging of America? No. Will we address America's education dilemma? No. Will we address the rising crime statistics? No. Will we debate our country's trade imbalance? No. Will we debate stem cell research? No. But what we will spend most of the week on is a constitutional amendment that will fail by a large margin.

More importantly--and you have to admire a conservative that looks at factual data to help make an informed decision on a politicalized issue--the data on marriage and the decline of the family in America demonstrates that the gay marriage issue has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on the average American family:

President Bush says gay marriage poses an imminent threat to the American traditional family. But the facts show something different. In fact, those facts show that most marriages that end in divorce in this country do so because of financial problems, not because of same-sex marriage laws.

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ask any divorce lawyer and they will say there are many reasons marriages fail. At the top of that list, financial problems and a lack of communication about those problems.

It is really important to note that issues outside of the marriage, as in anything political, is reported as the cause of divorce or family dysfunction. While alcoholism, infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse, mental illness, pornography, abuse, unemployment and communication all make the "hit list" of causes for divorce, gay marriage, immigration, abortion, and other issues championed by the Christian Right and other ultra-conservatives do not make the list. Indeed, even the ultra-conservative Bible Thumpers do not list gay marriage as an issue that undermines the family in such a way as it leads to divorce..

In the great scheme of things that go on in our world, the claim that homosexuality undermines the sanctity of the family doesn't hold up under scrutiny... despite the claims of Dobson, Falwell, Robertson, Swaggart, Hinn, Baker, Coulter, Coulson, et al.

JARED BERNSTEIN, ECONOMIC POLICY INST.: If you look at divorce rates, they are highly associated with bankruptcies, with loss of job, with some kind of negative shock to the income. So it seems to me that if we want to strengthen families, we ought to be looking at a whole set of policies that this administration has been more undermining than strengthening.

TUCKER: Millions of jobs sent by corporations to lower-cost labor markets, real wages depressed, the costs of education soaring, energy costs climbing. But neither Congress nor the administration is taking up those issues, nor the rising cost of health care insurance.

It appears that Big Business, and the workforce policies and impact that these businesses have on our families, are more important to the basic health and stability of the American family. But I have been harping that cause for the last two decades. Our large corporations--banks, agribusinesses, car makers, pharmaceutical producers, health care providers, oil companies, utility companies, etc.--have larger effects on the American family than any religious institution, social tradition, government institution or social policy. Surprise!
NANCY ZIRKIN, LEADERSHIP CONF. ON CIVIL RIGHTS: They are spending a lot of time on the House and Senate floor debating this very divisive amendment when we have 43 million uninsured Americans, and they are one serious illness away from poverty.

TUCKER: Nor is Congress looking at out-of-wedlock birth rates, where in Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi, Delaware, and South Carolina, the percentage of children born out of wedlock tops 42 percent. The national average is 36 percent.

Say what you want about the morality of same-sex relationships, the vast majority of them do not currently produce children that will be raised in a morally and financially bankrupt situation. The teen pregancy and unwanted pregnancy problems are of far greater importance than preventing gay marriage. But if you ask a member of the ultra-conservative Christian Right, the only answer you will get is "We need to teach abstinence." Well, folks, that, too, is an approach that ignores the very basic fact that children are already having sex and producing their own children... and the facts demonstrate that the "adstinence only" approach to sex education is a complete and utter failure... even by the measure of the ultra-conservative Christian Right programs that have been teaching the approach.

What we are really dealing with is a form of institutionalized denial of basic social problems. There are ultra-conservatives that believe that prayer and "proper" worship of God will conquer all the ills of the world. But this ignores the major tenets of Christianity... Faith and action are required to work together, and these have to be based upon love, compassion and charity.

I recently corresponded with Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun Magagzine, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and a congregation in San Francisco. In that exchange I outlined the first principles of spirituality that are common to most major religious traditions, but are especially accented in the teachings of Christ:

1. Faith: A belief that there is a divine plan for the good.
2. Hope: an earnest belief for the best of things in the worst of circumstances.
3. Charity: giving of one's self to improve the world, the community and others.
4. Love: acceptance of the person even when the behaviors are not in keeping with one's ideals and values.
5. Forgiveness: letting go of hate, anger, frustration and resentment.
6. Redemption: making amends for past mistakes.
7. Connectivity (Fellowship): all of us need to connect to each other.
8. Inclusion: allowing all people to be a part of our society whenever safe and reasonable.

And the greatest of these is LOVE.

Only one state currently allows same-sex marriage, Massachusetts, while Vermont and Connecticut allow civil unions. Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia have no laws explicitly banning members of the same sex from marrying.

While many marriages are cerremonies performed by a religious official, that religious official must be recognized by the state, there must be a "marriage license," and there are fees to be paid to the state as part of the process. Therefore, all marriages are civil unions, regardless of where or how the ceremony is performed. Calling such relationships "civil unions" only appeases the ultra-conservative ire at the entrie concept of same-sex relationships... which only proves that this is a matter of religious preference and should be governed by the tenets of the First Amendment.

None of those states appear in the top 10 states with the highest percentage of failed marriages. They are all at the bottom of the list. Currently, 40 states have legally restricted marriage to being between a man and a woman.

Which begs the question, what does the president mean when he says an amendment to the Constitution is necessary because the states are having trouble defining marriage in a way that's acceptable to him.

DOBBS: This is a -- an unusual time in Washington, D.C. The idea that the states that are permitting gay unions or gay marriage have the lowest divorce rates, or among those with the lowest divorce rates, and those traditional states are among those with the highest, median family income declining in this country, real wages declining, finances and communication about those finances the principal reason for divorce in this country, half the people in this country, half the families with two income earners in them, those who are lucky enough to have both parents in the same household, single family, single- parent families, on the rise, and we're talking about an amendment to the Constitution to ban gay marriage.

Now there is an interesting dynamic and fact... None of these "liberal" states that are tolerant of alternative lifestyles are the leaders in the divorce game... and family stability.

So much for the claims of the ultra-conservative religious folks.