Feingold, Specter clash over gay marriage
As I pointed out on Wednesday, there was a dreary inevitability that, with Bush tanking in the polls, it was only a matter of time before the Republicans hit the gay marriage button after they had played their immigration card.
What I didn't expect was that they would do so behind closed doors and approve a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage.
Thankfully, a voice of reason was present in the form of Sen. Russ Feingold who stormed out of the meeting after a heated exchange with Sen. Arlen Specter.
Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush's judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment -- which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages -- to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing.
Democrats complained that bringing up the amendment is a purely political move designed to appeal to the GOP's conservative base in this year of midterm elections. Under the domed ceiling of the ornate and historic President's Room off the Senate floor, senators voted 10-8 to send the measure forward.
Among Feingold's objections was Specter's decision to hold the vote in the President's Room, where access by the general public is restricted, instead of in the panel's usual home in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Specter later said he would have been willing to hold the session in the usual room had he thought doing so would change votes.
Not all those who voted "yes" support the amendment, however. Specter said he is "totally opposed" to it, but felt it deserved a debate in the Senate.
It's a case of using the Senate simply as a place to conduct the crudest form of electioneering, as by their own admission it has no chance of being passed. Indeed, Specter himself intends to vote against it.
They Republicans really are scraping the bottom of the barrel now.
And thank God, for a Democrat with balls like Russ Fiengold. He's my choice for an ideal Democratic President. If the Democratic Party would ever have the balls to elect him.
This is all being done by the republican majority in an effort to appeal to Right-wing nuts in the Republican Party ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections. Ignore all of the pressing issues facing the country, and instead go grovel at the feet of the lunatic fringe.Amen to that.
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