In E.J. Dionne’s latest piece, he brings up the current pandering by the Republicans and Administration to their base and explains who should really be angry about it:

This month’s offensive by President Bush and his allies in Congress against gay marriage and flag burning proves one thing: The Republican Party thinks its base of social conservatives is a nest of dummies who have no memories and respond like bulls whenever red flags are waved in their faces.

The people who should be angry this week are not liberals or gays or lesbians, but the president’s most loyal supporters. After using the gay-marriage issue shamelessly in the 2004 campaign, Bush and Republican leaders left opponents of gay marriage out in the cold as they concentrated on the party’s real priorities: privatizing Social Security and cutting taxes on rich people.

When Bush was at his position of maximum strength after the 2004 election, did he use his political energy on behalf of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage? Not at all. In an interview with The Post on Jan. 14, 2005, he dismissed the question, arguing that since many senators felt that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was already an effective bar to the spread of gay marital unions, there was no point in fighting for a constitutional change.

You got it right there Dionne – the loyal supporters of Bush should be pissed off as hell about this current round of pandering. One year ago Bush dismissed the need for a gay marriage ban, so what has changed in that time? The only thing that has changed is his and his Republican parties approval rating.

So what about the other issue coming up – flag burning? Dionne also looks at that:

The constitutional amendment to ban flag burning is also about electoral politics. As a Senate Republican leader said happily, a vote against the amendment “would make a good 30-second spot.” An official of the National Republican Congressional Committee said that “if Democrats choose to vote against a Constitutional amendment” banning flag desecration, “I think they’ll pay a price.”

Again, proof that the Republicans do not care one bit about America – only about their votes. Screw the vast majority of America, the Republicans are only worried about whoring themselves to the small percentage of their base. We are the employers of Congress and I demand we dock their wages for this atrocity they are committing this month.