the rix mix

This guy is a clown:

RNC chief: Gay marriage will burden small business
By RUSS BYNUM

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.

"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."

As Steele talked about ways the party could position itself, he also poked fun at his previous pledge to give the GOP a "hip-hop makeover."

"You don't have to wear your pants cut down here or the big bling," he said.

Steele merely expressing national Chamber of Commerce view. Note that he doesn't tell how the college student reacted. A socially liberal (or even moderate) person supports equal rights in the form of civil unions or marriage, both of which extend (or ought to extend) the same basic spousal & family benefits in the workplace. In exacting civil union legislation like Great Britain has, the legal & contractual benefits & obligations are identical to marriage. Supporting marriage equality over civil unions tends to go to other matters. It also recognizes that America isn't Great Britain, & our tentative approach is resulting in a patchwork of conflicting & unfair laws. So the young "socially liberal" student would have to oppose both unions & marriage, which we can be certain she will not do on the counsel of The Party of Homobigots. Same sex marriage is better for small business than civil unions because it opens up the vast wedding industry to a new, affluent clientele.

The argument, "You just cost me money," sounds like the gripe of an unhappily married heterosexual man headed for divorce court. The young woman on the plane must have picked up on that tone & thought, "Here's an a-hole who won't pay his child support on time." Hey Mikey, remember, "It's cheaper to keep her."

Labels: count the yoyos, culture, in the news