corrente

And we all thought they had put so much thought into it! Who knew?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said there was "great interest" among Republicans for a simpler approach that would add only one line to the U.S. Constitution: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman."

Democrats rejected Frist's request to hold votes on both it and the original version that included another sentence: "Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidence thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman."

Proponents of the amendment said they included the second sentence to clarify that state legislatures - but not courts - could still establish laws recognizing civil unions and domestic partnerships between two people of the same sex.

No, proponents of the bill included that line to make sure gay marrieds couldn't get work benefits, or hospital visitation, or visitation rights, or adopt children. For heaven's sake.

Beware of Republicans bearing clarifications...

Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political organization, said the last-minute effort to get votes on two different versions reflected a lack of care in drafting the amendment.

"I think it is outrageous and frankly surreal that at the 11th hour in this debate, they are literally rewriting the Constitution on the back of a napkin," she said.
(via AP)

Good shot, Cheryl! But with Bush all in a muck sweat to fluff a few more thousand votes out of the base, what's a little ol' thing like our Constitution matter?