Bush Seeks to Ban Gay Marriage

After years of speculation as to which Republican would have the audacity to attempt it in the land of the free, step forward George W. Bush. The leader of the war on terror has announced a new front as he attempts, yet again, to constitutionally seek a ban on gay marriages. This comes less than two years after Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter, spoke out against such a ban when Bush had previously backed a motion calling for a federal ban.

This could be an attempt to shore up key grass root Republican votes following recent opinion polls the latest of which had the Republican congress on only a 27% approval rating ahead of November's mid-term elections. One pollster Charlie Cook said:

"It's bad. It's very bad. All the diagnostic indicators suggest that 2006 will be Armageddon for the Republicans."

However, many people put Bush's victory over Kerry down to the ballot initiative in Ohio to ban gay marriage which brought out the narrow Republican victory there which secured Bush four more years. If Ohio's 20 electoral college votes had gone the other way Kerry would be the current occupant of the White House.

So is the resurection of this policy, plus repealing the estate tax and the congressional right to ban flag burning a sign of election year panic?

None of the three is currently expected to pass, but it is a marker for the nation.