From Holden:

Looks like a few GOP thugs want to outlaw man-dates.

Senate supporters of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage said Monday they intend to press for passage in the new Congress, brushing aside mixed signals from the White House on the issue’s importance at the start of President Bush’s second term.

“Who’s to say whether we have enough votes or not,” said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., noting that the new two-year Congress has just begun.

He said he expects GOP leaders to call for a vote before the 2006 elections and added, “I think it would be foolhardy to back off when we’ve got a good head of steam coming out of the election.” [Holden note: Wayne Allard wouldn’t know good head if it bit him on his withered privates, but that’s one strange choice of words nevertheless.] The amendment fell far short of passage a year ago.

[snip]

Allard said he thought some opponents might reconsider more quickly in the wake of last fall’s elections. “I know the Democrats are reevaluating their position on a number of social issues, and I’ll bet this is one of those issues,” he said.

There was no immediate evidence of a switch among opponents, though. “The Democratic Party is still opposed to this amendment,” said party chairman Terence McAuliffe. “It is wrong to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution and it is shameful for Washington Republicans to attack gay and lesbian families for purely political reasons.”

[snip]

Bush pushed hard for a vote in both houses of Congress on the amendment during last year’s election campaign. This year, he said in a Washington Post interview he will not lobby the Senate to pass the amendment, adding there are not enough supporters to approve the measure. When social conservatives complained, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush was talking about the “legislative reality,” and will continue to push for the ban.

Additionally, White House strategist Karl Rove did not mention the issue when he spoke to GOP lawmakers earlier this winter and laid out the president’s top priorities.

Nor did the GOP leadership include the measure on its list of top 10 legislative priorities for the next two years, an agenda topped by Bush’s call for landmark Social Security legislation and an overhaul of the tax code. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the measure was omitted because it is an amendment rather than traditional legislation, and said he hoped it would pass.

That’s right, Sen. Allard, re-introduce the Hate Amendment. Add some more tension to Dear Leader’s right flank. Let the country see your side waste valuable time and energy in an attempt to write discrimination into the Constitution while more pressing issues like the deficit, the Iraqi quagmire, and the lackluster economy sit drumming their fingers in the legislative waiting room.

This is gonna be fun.