It's official: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a tin ear.
His decision to veto same-sex marriage legislation passed by the California legislature is a silly and a foolish sop to the Republic Party's conservatives.
Those folks are going to vote for Schwarzenegger anyway - providing he runs which is looking a lot less likely. It's the great undecided that Schwarzengger - in keeping with his election message - should be calling to his side and to the Republican Party. Particularly now, when Republicans are in such trouble.
This isn't hard: Folks who don't care about gay marriage as a political issue aren't all that political, for starters. Right now, they're thinking Katrina not Kate and Allie. Or, since they don't care about the idea of same-sex couples, they not opposed to the idea. (For more a look at the internal politics of gay marriage, please read our own Deborah Klosky).
None of this is hard to figure. Unless you're one of Schwarzenegger's Pete Wilson retread advisors. Those are the guys who undoubtedly suggested that supporting wack-job outfits like the Minuteman border patrol was a good idea but joining with the Democratic Governors in Arizona and New Mexico to declare a federal emergency along California's Mexican border is a bad idea.
Following that logic, I guess it makes perfect sense to alienate moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats at a time when the Republican Party - from the state house to the White House - needs to show a bit more compassion and a lot less conservatism.