Platform for Propaganda
Strategizing has begun in earnest on a planned same-sex marriage vote in the Senate next week. Roll Call reports that Republicans are working on a whip count, specifically focusing on 10 on-the-fence Republicans who could lean either way.
No one disputes that the impetus behind the vote is to get Democrats "on the record" as supporters of gay marriage, ostensibely inferred from their "yea" vote on the Senate floor next week. But on the other end, Republicans are telling their own that they should support the procedural cloture vote "even though you may not support [the Federal Marriage Amendment] at the end," according to Senator Trent Lott (R-MS).
I'm not sure Lott cleared that theory, however, with his very pro-FMA colleague Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), who noted "you can call it a procedural vote, but it is a vote as to whether you believe that marriage should be protected."
Either the cloture vote means something, or it doesn't, right? Not quite. Republicans are betting on the fact that the American people A) don't know and B) don't care what the difference between the procedural cloture motion and the "real" vote is. A safe bet, for sure.
The boys and girls across the aisle are responding with a little twist of their own, however, as Democratic sources tell Roll Call that they're considering dropping their objections to an up-or-down vote on the FMA. This would essentially remove the "safety" of a cloture motion for moderate Republicans who aren't sure they want to be on the record supporting the measure.
Don't worry, though: in the end, both parties will be more than happy to tell us all what, exactly, the vote meant.
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No one disputes that the impetus behind the vote is to get Democrats "on the record" as supporters of gay marriage, ostensibely inferred from their "yea" vote on the Senate floor next week. But on the other end, Republicans are telling their own that they should support the procedural cloture vote "even though you may not support [the Federal Marriage Amendment] at the end," according to Senator Trent Lott (R-MS).
I'm not sure Lott cleared that theory, however, with his very pro-FMA colleague Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), who noted "you can call it a procedural vote, but it is a vote as to whether you believe that marriage should be protected."
Either the cloture vote means something, or it doesn't, right? Not quite. Republicans are betting on the fact that the American people A) don't know and B) don't care what the difference between the procedural cloture motion and the "real" vote is. A safe bet, for sure.
The boys and girls across the aisle are responding with a little twist of their own, however, as Democratic sources tell Roll Call that they're considering dropping their objections to an up-or-down vote on the FMA. This would essentially remove the "safety" of a cloture motion for moderate Republicans who aren't sure they want to be on the record supporting the measure.
Don't worry, though: in the end, both parties will be more than happy to tell us all what, exactly, the vote meant.
Related Posts:
Some of these kids are not like the others
Congratulations! It's a... net gain?
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