Naturally, I’m very glad that the Senate vote to cut off debate failed. I’m even more glad to see that Republicans Olympia Snowe (Maine), John Sununu (NH), John McCain (AZ) and 3 others voted to block the amendment. This is receiving a lot of jubilant press today, with good reason.
But I can’t help thinking that we just did exactly what Frist and the Republicans wanted. Anybody who can count knew the amendment wasn’t going to get a supermajority, and might not even get a normal majority. Normally this would mean that an amendment might not even come up for a vote, which would have been preferable from the Democrat perspective.
The FMA came up for a vote anyway, and it’s not because the Republicans thought a miracle would happen. It’s because they can tar-and-feather everyone who voted against it from now until election day. Expect everyone who voted to block today to be painted as “an enemy of traditional marriage” or worse. We’ve seen what the Republicans are willing to say in the press and in campaign commercials, so I’m expecting it to be fairly ugly from here on out. Republicans have already said that the issue would come up in critical races and areas, to mobilize religious conservatives to turn out in record numbers.
We might have just walked into a trap — progressives couldn’t vote FOR the amendment, but voting to block it opens one to attack in the months ahead. And this may be the issue which motivates record turnout for Republicans. I’m just hoping that all the other issues — the economy, Iraq, and a record of rampant secrecy and lies — will motivate Democrats and independents to turn out in record numbers as well.
