The Department of Homo Security

Just when you think this administration can't get any more pathetic, they find a way to surprise you.

The Bush Administration is in free-fall. Their mendacious military adventure in Iraq has been a fiasco that has brought shame and dishonor to this country and its military. Marines have been accused of war crimes concerning a massacre in Haditha, brought on, if the stories are correct, because troops are being forced to do multiple tours in combat zones at a severe cost to their mental health. The government's response to Hurricane Katrina was pathetic, and proved to many people that this administration doesn't give a shit about people of color or the poor. Our border with Mexico is porous, and a significant percentage of the legal population of the country is up in arms over illegal immigration and wants something -- anything -- done about it.

Yet Bush knows that getting draconian over immigration might very well alienate Hispanic voters to the point where it could render the Republican party electorally impotent for a generation or more. And God knows that there's not much he can do about Iraq at this point, except hold on, try not to lose until 2009 and then pawn the whole disgraceful mess off on his successor.

So what's a president to do when his poll ratings are falling into the Nixon zone? How to salvage his popularity with his right-wing nut-bag base?

You guessed it, folks -- bring on the homos!

Peter Baker in The Washington Post is reporting that: "For the first time in his second term, President Bush will revisit the emotional debate over same-sex marriage. In two speeches, he will press the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment this week defining marriage as the union of a man and woman."

I guess you could call this a Hail Mary pass on the president's part, and it's a true sign of his and his administration's utter desperation. When in doubt, his motto appears to be, beat up on the fags.

And the really sick part of it is that I'm not so sure it won't work. There's little doubt that the anti-gay vote was a big factor, perhaps even a determining one, in Bush's reelection victory in 2004. The Bush administration is clearly hoping that history will repeat itself, and the cynical fag-bashing that served them so well two years ago will distract the voters from the real issues and help the Republicans stave off disaster in the midterm elections in November.

Peter Baker in the Post writes that "critics said the only reason that Bush and [Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist are reviving the issue is for election-year pandering to conservative voters, who, polls show, have grown disaffected with the president for various reasons."

Gee, ya think?

Like I said, could this administration get more pathetic if it tried?

Tom Moran