This is not FGB

This is Wingnut Watch. Via Crooks and Liars Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard:

“He needs to touch on, and - some of the social issues which energize the right. In particular, gays in the military for one. We know Barack Obama is for allowing gays in the military, and Bill Clinton tried to do and then backed off. This is not a popular issue. Gay marriage is another one. These are both issues that I think McCain’s gonna have to use. He can’t ignore the right. If he does, he’ll lose.”

First of all, Barnes is flat-out wrong: clear majorities of both the general population and serving military personnel support repeal of DADT, and that's a trend that's been growing for years. Gays in the military is unpopular with Elaine Donnelley, maybe, and I guess Fred Barnes, but most people don't care. As for marriage, he's bucking the trends again -- there's a plurality opposing it, which is falling, and the percentages of the population supporting it are rising.

This is the face of desperation: the Republicans have no solutions for the mess they've made of the country, and can only come up with "let's do it some more" on the issues that most voters are concerned with. Time to haul out the hate campaigns, I guess.

Here's a good, brief article from McClatchy on the marriage issue (cited by C&L).