Sane Republican of the day, and more

The Washington Post has a story about how even those who don’t support gay marriage aren’t wild about amending our constitution. It contains this gem of a ‘graph:

Brian Trader, 25, of Stafford said he doesn’t think the Constitution is the place to make such changes. Trader, a Republican, said same-sex marriage shouldn’t enter into presidential politics. “I don’t believe in gay marriage, but it doesn’t affect me at all,” he said.

Further: According to a story in the LA Times, my home state is pretty evenly divided on the idea of an amendment. But there’s also a question of how much this debate will hurt or help either party. Here the notable ‘graphs are these:

“Democratic political consultant Bill Carrick said that, although the public’s opposition to gay marriage might present a problem for his party this year, the support for gay rights positions among younger people suggested that focusing too heavily on the issue could come back to haunt the GOP in the future.”

and

“Although most Democrats opposed such a constitutional amendment, a sizable portion, 36%, did not. Republican political consultant Dan Schnur suggested that those numbers indicated same-sex marriage was the type of moral issue that could splinter Democratic support, particularly if it continued to receive prominent publicity.”

Still further: But, why a Constitutional Amendment? And why now? Funny you should ask. All together, now: Ohhhhhhhhh.

Ben Varkentine