Much to their chagrin, the GOP is learning that, in today's America, that old gay mare, she ain't what she used to be:

[T]he way in which the [Federal Marriage Amendment] proposal went down with a whimper - short of a simple majority, much less the two-thirds of the Senate needed for approval - raised questions about whether the White House had fundamentally misjudged the nation's attitude on the issue. And the vote left even some of Mr. Bush's own advisers wondering if his backing of the amendment did not hurt him politically more than it helped by further stoking opposition to him from the left.

"It's a net loss for Republicans politically," said one prominent Republican in Washington who works closely with the White House. "It does nothing for our base, because they're grumpy about not having it, and it energized a significant portion of their base. I guarantee you that the gay community will give twice as much money and work harder for Kerry now, not so much because they care about marriage per se, but because this effort plays to their fears that we're homophobic."

Yep.

MORE: Via Sullivan, Volokh refutes the legal arguments of the man-on-dog caucus.

AND MORE: Kevin Drum adds, "We all know that tolerance of gays increases steadily every year, which means that if FMA didn't pass this year, it's never going to pass. It's just plain dead."

STILL MORE: "Jackass."

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