From the Wall Street Journal:

Senate Republicans are pushing ahead with votes this week to repeal the estate tax and to ban gay marriage. Neither measure is likely to pass.

These are both dumb ideas. The estate tax is a good thing and the implications for the family farm or the family business that the Republicans always hammer on can be and in fact has been addressed. I don’t know what the rate is right now but it is millions of dollars that you can pass on tax free to your heirs. The proposal I heard was 15 million or something. The question is not whether or not there should be an estate tax, the question is what amount should be exempt.

Gay marriage is not only harmless, it is a good thing. As good of a thing as traditional marriage. People loving and being committed to each other is a good thing! Duh. Yes, I can understand that Grandpa’s sensibilities are a little ruffled by this, but don’t expect to convince me with some Bible-based rationale that love is a bad thing.

No, the Republicans just want to have the Democrats chalk up some votes that they can campaign against. The government taking the family farm and faggots are issues that get the Republican base fired up. It’s going to be funny considering the spend-and-spend Republicans can’t really blame the growing deficit on the Democrats. The tax-and-spend label is not going to stick too well compared to the spend-and-spend Republicans. So they will go with the ol’ standbys: taxes, gays, religion, war. I’m hoping this time we don’t buy it.