The more I think about it, the clearer it is that one sentence in president Bush’s endorsement of the amendment to ban gays from marrying stands out. It is this one:
“Furthermore, even if the Defense of Marriage Act is upheld, the law does not protect marriage within any state or city.”
So this amendment isn’t really about restraining a federal judiciary. It’s about preventing even one state from doing what it wants on marriage rights, regardless of how it impacts any other state. The federal government is determined to stop a state from regulating its own affairs within its own borders, even if it doesn’t affect anyone else, in an area long regarded as within a state’s autonomy. Why? Because in today’s increasingly sectarian Republican party, where all non-evangelical Protestants are suspect, the dictates of the religious right trump traditional states’ rights conservatism. No wonder McCain will oppose this. Any true conservative would be appalled.
The Dish 