We're the deciders now

Today, we fight. Tomorrow, we win.

Today, the president took a stand against gay marriage. Today, the president officially declared his priorities at odds with America's. Today, the president pandered do his bigoted, extremist base when there are so many far more pressing issues to address. Today, the president declared the Republican Party irrelevant.

How did the president get to this point? He got here by squandering the world's goodwill in the days following September 11. He got here by rushing America into an unjust war based on a pack of lies. He got here by abandoning millions of Americans along the Gulf Coast. He got here because he knows his party's prospects this fall are dim.

Knowing this, he's taking a stand on an issue his friends admit he doesn't "give a shit" about. Knowing this, he's again appealing to a base to which he's promised so much, yet delivered so little. Knowing this, he's declaring war on millions of hard-working, tax-paying Americans. He wants a fight. Let's give it to him.

Today, President Bush declared gay marriage America's most pressing issue. More pressing than Iraq. More pressing than Iran. More pressing than terrorism. More pressing than immigration. In other words, the Bush administration has cured all that ails America except the threat to our democracy two loving individuals pose.

Today, on the 25th anniversary of the first mentions of AIDS, the president has decided that instead of vowing to redouble our efforts to combat this terrible affliction, he would rather further stigmatize a community needlessly stigmatized nearly 30 years ago. Bush's predecessor and idol, Ronald Reagan, did little then. This president, accordingly, would rather appeal to people's hatred than people's power to affect change.

Today, the president considers banning gay marriage so important that he wants to see the U.S. Constitution amended to make it so. He wants a ban on gay marriage to join amendments that gave us rights. That gave us freedoms. That carried us out of slavery. That shaped our American identity. Funny how the president wants to add to the Constitution when his administration has done so much to shred our nation's most important document, don't you think?

Today, the president declared his allegiance not to every American, but to a radical minority. An extremist fringe that not only doesn't want gays to marry, but also doesn't want them to adopt and, quite likely, even exist. An extremist fringe that wants to relegate women to second-class citizenship, taking away their right to choose and, if they had their way, their right to contraception. An extremist fringe that hates science as much as it hates gays, women and Mexicans. An extremist fringe that would rather be a thorn in our collective side than an instrument of progress.

Today, the president willfully brought hate to the White House. The party that couldn't even unanimously oppose doing nothing about lynching is poised to hang gays in effigy on the White House lawn. Would so many Americans turn such a blind eye toward today's events had the president set a cross ablaze before a national audience? Would so many Americans seek to "defend marriage" if what the president spoke out against was interracial marriage, not gay marriage?

Today, the president hammered yet another nail in the coffin of traditional conservatism. By seeking to amend the Constitution, Bush gives lie to the notion that the Republican Party is the party of state's rights. But what else would you expect from a "conservative" that has brought us unprecedented big government? Or from a "conservative" that has presided over an explosion in spending? Hypocrisy, thy name is George W. Bush. But, then again, only a hypocrite would support such a hateful piece of legislation and then speak to the nation about treating everyone with "tolerance and respect and dignity".

Today, the president openly spoke out against two states - Massachusetts and California - in the union. His union. Using coded language, he appealed to his base's bigoted nature by again maligning the Northeast's Democratic bastion and San Francisco's progressive atmosphere. Make no mistake, every round of applause came at the expense of Americans, the very Americans this president is supposed to represent. Americans that, to the delight of those present for Bush's speech, this president today considers the enemy.

Today, the president sealed his party's fate. By declaring a constitutional ban on gay marriage his top priority, he insulted Americans' intelligence. How is this a priority over, say, Iraq? Or Iran? Or the floundering economy? Or rising gas prices? Or the Atlantic hurricane season, which just began? Or the fact that too many Americans don't have health insurance? No, banning gay marriage only matters to those few individuals still supporting this president. This amendment is the White House's attempt to keep that group politically active, because only they can save the Republican Party this fall. But it's too late. This amendment will fail. So will the Republican Party. We're the deciders now.

Today, the president picked a fight. His supporters in Congress did, too. A fight that places often-divorced, often-philandering Republicans on the side of "protecting marriage". A fight that the president admittedly doesn't have the heart to pursue. A fight that again brings us the Republican politics of division, not dialogue. A fight that further reveals the Republican Party to be the home to backwards, bigoted racists it is. A fight we didn't ask for but now face. A fight we can, and will, win.

They wanted this fight. Let's give it to them.