Hi Skunks,
Thanks for your post. I completely agree with you. Gay marriage was not the reason Kerry lost.
I hope nobody minds if I put in my two cents on this sensitive gay/political issue. After the election the common perception was that gay marriage was the main reason the Dems lost. But common perceptions are often wrong. Several days after the election Carl Rove himself (Bush's political genius) said it wasn't the gay issue. He said the number one reason Kerry lost was because he chose not to make the following statement: "If I knew then what I know now about the Iraq war, I would never have voted for it."
Rove said that the Repubs had already successfully painted Kerry as a flip floper. Kerry had voted for the war. Later he began to criticize the way the war was being waged, and question how we got there in the first place. Bush kept hitting him with the f/f lable, and kept reminding everyone that Kerry voted for the war. Kerry could have said that he was misled into voting for the war, and that if he knew then what he knows now, he never would have voted for it. But Kerry's advisers were afraid that if he made that kind of statement it would be seen as more flip flopping. So he decided not to take that stand. As a result, according to Rove, the Repubs were able to completely neutralize the war issue that otherwise would have greatly helped Kerry. Rove said that Kerry's failure to separate himself from his Iraq war vote was the number 1 reason why Kerry lost, and called Kerry's war vote and subsequent decision not to divorce himself from it "the biggest Christmas present I ever received."
To keep the political aspects in perspective it also helps to remember that Rove used the gay issue to defeat Ann Richards when Bush was running for Governor of Texas. And Rove used the gay issue in the 2000 campaign.
Anyway, that's what Rove said. According to Rove it wasn't gay marriage that gave Bush the second term. But of course in politics the reality is more what people perceive it to be than what it actually is. So, at least for now, it looks like we gay folks are going to take the blame for the election. I certainly hope we don't start shooting ourselves in the foot. Remember folks, people are just trying to get married. It's not the worst thing in the world for someone to do.
Sorry to engage in political debate on such an inflammatory subject. Just felt I had to respond.
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