IT'S CALLED GOVERNING:

GOP Pressing Cultural Issues (DAVID ESPO, 3/27/04, AP)

Passage [of the fetus protection bill] was not in doubt, only the size of the split within the Democratic ranks.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who will be Bush's challenger this fall, opposed the bill, which passed on a vote of 61-38. But 13 Democrats voted for it, including Sen. Tom Daschle, the party leader seeking re-election in conservative South Dakota. [...]

The vote occurred two days after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a second contested social issue, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.

Bush has called for action on the measure. Republicans appear far short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, and Daschle charges them with using the Constitution for partisan purposes.

"There are those who would like to politicize this issue and they'll use whatever means available to them to maximize whatever value they find politically," he said recently.

Republicans sense the potential for gain in the presidential race and in the battle for the Senate, where Democratic retirements have created open seats in five culturally conservative southern states.

A recent national CNN poll put opposition to gay marriage at 64 percent to 32 percent.

Why would anyone be surprised when the governing party enacts laws supported by 60%+ of the electorate?

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 28, 2004 5:04 PM