As several blogs/websites have now shown, it looks like Bush doesn't have anywhere near the votes and support he would need in Congress to make the gay marriage ammendment happen.
Which got me to thinking: Bush must have known this. And perhaps the Rove team was being shrewder than I thought.
By floating the idea, Bush and the Repubs sent the message to the evangelical base they needed to fire up the troops on the voter registration drives they are launching next week.
But the measure will clearly stall out -- allowing Bush to move to the center in the summer with some "compassionate conservative" platitudes and initiatives (which he of course has no intention of funding, but that's another matter).
At first I thought this gay marriage thing was a blunder of the first order for the Bushites. Now I'm not so sure ...