Shoring Up the Base - So Karl Rove (er, George Bush) has proclaimed Marriage Protection Week. Here's a link to the White House's statement at the United States Department of Faith. (Oh, damn, that's not it, here's the real link.) The proclamation is a sop to the usual suspects on the right wing -- who seem to have found renewed vigor in their stand against unholy gay marriage.

I have to wonder though. Is it just me or does the claim that Lawrence was a new Roe ring hollow? There may be something visceral in the reactions of many homophobes to gay PDA, but it hardly has the same impact as aborted fetuses. Maybe plenty of people have a hard time agreeing with gay marriage, but could more than a handful possibly buy the rhetoric that it would mean the end of civilization? I hope not, but the amount of political energy flowing into the "marriage protection" project is impressive. After a summer of remarkable gains, we probably shouldn't rely on social inertia to keep the backlash at bay.