April 25, 2006--Wedgies
Have you heard about Karl Rove’s insurance policy? Not the one on his life but a strategy he devised to insure that the Republican base turns out to vote.
Here’s how it works—after losing the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election and thus needing to win the election in the Supreme Court, Rove vowed this would not happen again. His analysis of what occurred indicated that many Christian Fundamentalists stayed home in 2000 rather than vote for a candidate (George Bush) who had been arrested for DUI.
How then to mobilize this key constituency? By getting them so riled up about “values” issues such as abortion, school prayer, and the big one in 2004—gay marriage—that they would pull themselves up off their couches and drag themselves to the polls. To assure this, he came up with a tactical strategy to have local initiatives up for vote on these hot-button subjects. By having referenda on gay marriage in key states such as Ohio and Florida he would be certain that the base would turn out to vote against same-sex unions and while there they would stay long enough to vote for Republican candidates. We all know how well that worked.
Enter the Democrats. They feel they have come up with a wedge issue of their own for this year to insure turn out in states that are key for them—Maryland, Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, etc. Their wedge issue is stem cell research. A referendum to make it legal in Missouri will be on the ballot there in November if enough signatures can be secured (see NY Times article below). If the Democrat candidates for the House and Senate in Missouri are perceived to be behind this initiative, Democrat strategists are hoping that swing voters will not only turn out in support of it but will also vote for their candidates.
Not to be beaten at their own game of wedge politics, Republicans around the country still feel there is mileage left in amendments to ban gay marriage. (See second linked article from the Times.) They are very worried about close races in Pennsylvania (Rick Santorum is in trouble) and Ohio (where Mike DeWine is in a very tight contest—though in Ohio, opposition to gay marriage is down from 63 percent in February 2004 to just 51 percent now).
Thus, an ecumenical assortment of Evangelical and Catholic clergymen has come together in support of a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of a man and a women. I don’t quite where that leaves Mormons, but they will probably vote Republican anyway. What is striking about this effort is the totally out-of-the-closet (forgive me for that) direct involvement of high-ranking Catholic officials.
Maybe playing the wedge game will work for Democrats. If not, I'm afraid it will take us one step closer to an American Theocracy (everyone needs to read Kevin Phillips’ new book on the subject) where the very separation of Church and State is threatened.
Here’s how it works—after losing the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election and thus needing to win the election in the Supreme Court, Rove vowed this would not happen again. His analysis of what occurred indicated that many Christian Fundamentalists stayed home in 2000 rather than vote for a candidate (George Bush) who had been arrested for DUI.
How then to mobilize this key constituency? By getting them so riled up about “values” issues such as abortion, school prayer, and the big one in 2004—gay marriage—that they would pull themselves up off their couches and drag themselves to the polls. To assure this, he came up with a tactical strategy to have local initiatives up for vote on these hot-button subjects. By having referenda on gay marriage in key states such as Ohio and Florida he would be certain that the base would turn out to vote against same-sex unions and while there they would stay long enough to vote for Republican candidates. We all know how well that worked.
Enter the Democrats. They feel they have come up with a wedge issue of their own for this year to insure turn out in states that are key for them—Maryland, Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, etc. Their wedge issue is stem cell research. A referendum to make it legal in Missouri will be on the ballot there in November if enough signatures can be secured (see NY Times article below). If the Democrat candidates for the House and Senate in Missouri are perceived to be behind this initiative, Democrat strategists are hoping that swing voters will not only turn out in support of it but will also vote for their candidates.
Not to be beaten at their own game of wedge politics, Republicans around the country still feel there is mileage left in amendments to ban gay marriage. (See second linked article from the Times.) They are very worried about close races in Pennsylvania (Rick Santorum is in trouble) and Ohio (where Mike DeWine is in a very tight contest—though in Ohio, opposition to gay marriage is down from 63 percent in February 2004 to just 51 percent now).
Thus, an ecumenical assortment of Evangelical and Catholic clergymen has come together in support of a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of a man and a women. I don’t quite where that leaves Mormons, but they will probably vote Republican anyway. What is striking about this effort is the totally out-of-the-closet (forgive me for that) direct involvement of high-ranking Catholic officials.
Maybe playing the wedge game will work for Democrats. If not, I'm afraid it will take us one step closer to an American Theocracy (everyone needs to read Kevin Phillips’ new book on the subject) where the very separation of Church and State is threatened.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:46 AM
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