One of the more interesting developments of the past few days has been Bush's discarding the gay vote. Andrew Sullivan has been one of GW Herbert Hoover Bush's biggest supporters and he's finally turned on Shrub. From the emails Sullivan has posted, one would think that Andrew is one of many.
One of the more interesting emails Andrew re-printed yesterday came from a Jewish Republican who had just come from viewing The Passion of the Christ and likens the current gay bashing in vogue in the Republican party to historical anti-semitism.
I quote, "I'm straight and also a Jew and, to me, the Bushes - sensing defeat in November - are going to tap into homophobia, anti-Semitism and whatever else it takes to secure their base.
I was never part of that base. Jews, gay Republicans, African-American Bush voters, Hispanics are not part of the base but, add our votes to that of the base, and the GOP wins.
But now it loses. Jews used to be the canary people. Jews still play that role but today, even more so, that role is played by gays. You can judge a party or a leader by how he treats this group, the one group it is still safe to hate in America."
This man is 58 and has supported every Republican since Nixon, but no more. I quote again, "Well, Bush has failed the test. I will not be part of the gay-bashing, Mel Gibson adoring, xenophobic America that the Bushes consider their base. This canary has no intention of dying from the poisonous gas of hatred. I'm 58. I have voted for every Republican nominee since Nixon and without regrets. Until now. I wish I could take back my 2000 vote. But, in any case, I will work to get out the vote for Kerry or Edwards. I will not vote for a President who secures the basest elements of his base by dividing Americans.
And you know what: he is going to lose. That gay marriage announcement was the desperate act of a desperate man."
According to one article I read yesterday, some 4 million gays voted in 2000, 25% or 1 million voted for Bush.
I don't know why Bush did this. Perhaps an attempt to placate Roy Moore and keep him out of the race. (A post this morning on the Constitution Party website lambasting Bush for putting Bill Pryor on the federal bench suggests that this attempt has failed.)
So how many votes did Shrub toss in the Democratic hopper with his announcement Tuesday. Remember when voting, that these 1 million gay Republicans have friends and families, and sympathizers like the Jewish Republican quoted above.
BTW, you can find Sullivan at andrewsullivan.com. His latest post is a scathing trashing of The Passion of the Christ.