The True Significance of Gay Marriage?

David Brooks' much discussed NYT coloumn debunking the "gay marriage" election theory includes some valuable insights and accurately criticizes Democrats for blaming gay marriage (not that that exculpates Republicans for taking advantage of a morally murky issue). The truth, as I said originally, is that Bush won on terrorism and 9/11.

At the same time, to say that gay marriage didn't have a significant impact is absurd.

An Andrew Sullivan emailer (doesn't he always seem to have good emailers? His blog is worth reading for the reader emails alone) says, "Have to disagree with David Brooks and evidently you. To point out that the evangelicals voted in the same proportion for Bush as they did in 2000 gets a fact right and misses the point. What matters is that the Bush vote by these folks did not erode in the face of catastrophic management of post-invasion Iraq, prisoner atrocities, transformation of the surplus into a suffocating deficit and terrible job performance. It seems to me that their religious views trump everything. You switched your vote - why didn't they? The answer is complex, but you can bet it includes homophobia deftly catalyzed by Mr. Rove et. al."