From the Horse's Mouth

Transcript of Bush statement

No need for media spin; the link above leads to the text of what President Bush had to say this morning.

Here's my spin, though: notice how the announcement offers no justification other than polling and voting data. Mr. Bush speaks as though this data, and the fact that his views have been favored by history, mean that he is right. Yet this is the same sort of argument a slaveholder would have made, the same argument as was made against allowing women to vote. The fact that an opinion is popularly held does not make it right.

The president says we must protect marriage; he does not say from what it must be protected. He does not say how the changes to marriage that he opposes represent a threat to the institution; we are told that they do, and we should believe. But were we not told that there were weapons in the desert, and should we have believed? Were we not told that the tax cuts were for economic stimulus, and do we not face red ink and joblessness? Should we take this statement at face value? Should we not demand justification, a rationale?

I can only hope that the "difficult debate" ahead is conducted with as much "kindness and good will and decency" as the president asks. If it is--if we speak truth instead of lies, speak from experience rather than fear--then this amendment will not pass. If the debate about this is conducted the way this administration conducts most of its affairs, though, we're at the start of a very ugly time in America.