Ponnuru indulges in liberal cheap shot on homosexual marriage

Ramesh Ponnuru writes at The Corner:

REPULSIVE REPUBLICANS [Ramesh Ponnuru]
1) Republicans are preparing to bring the Federal Marriage Amendment to a vote. So I guess the plan from now on is to do this in all even-numbered years, and then throw the idea aside in odd-numbered ones? I know a lot of people support the FMA for principled reasons, but a decisive number of Republicans are clearly just picking on gays for political profit.

Now I agree that some Republicans, including Ramesh Ponnuru’s favorite president, have no principled opposition to homosexual marriage and only go through the motions of supporting the FMA from time to time in order to appeal to their constituents. But how does that add up to “picking on gays”? Ponnuru acknowledges that “a lot of people support the FMA for principled reasons.” So why does Ponnuru say that when the principled ones support the FMA, they are supporting the FMA for principled reasons, but that when the cynical ones support the FMA, they are “picking on gays” for political profit? The simple reality is, some people are serious in their support for the FMA, others aren’t. The cynical ones are not “picking on gays” any more than the principled ones are. By reverting to the cheap shot about “picking on gays,” which happens to be the standard liberal attack on all supporters of the FMA, Ponnuru demonstrates the irresistible tendency of National Review conservatives to think in liberal categories.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 03, 2006 09:46 AM | Send