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Why Bush raised gay marriage issue (Carolyn Lochhead, August 1, 2003, SF Chronicle)

President Bush's headlong dive into the gay marriage question Wednesday squarely positioned the Republican Party against one of the nation's most emotional issues, anticipating a potential Massachusetts court ruling to sanction same-sex unions.

A decision is expected any day in Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health that could find Massachusetts' marriage laws discriminate against gays and lesbians, ushering in same-sex marriage for the first time in U.S. history. [...]

Jim Pinkerton, a former political adviser to the first President George Bush, said the current president's comments reflect a calibrated political move.

"After an initial hesitation based on his own somewhat libertarian live-and-let-live instincts," Pinkerton said, "Bush has now decided to join the Republican herd and will probably sign on to an anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment, figuring that it's a great wedge issue, especially if Democrats nominate Howard Dean."

That bland description of Mr. Pinkerton is a tad disingenuous, given how vituperative has been his criticism of the President for the Iraq War, his comparison of Mr. Bush to Richard Nixon, and what seems an accusation that the President is intentionally killing people by not supporting bio-engineering. Mr. Pinkerton apparently sees himself as the next Kevin Philips, the conservative gone nutty who can be reliably turned to for an anti-Republican quote. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 4, 2003 8:04 PM