Palin makes gay marriage a campaign issue

Gov. Sarah Palin, who had previously sided with her running mate Sen. John McCain on the issue of gay marriage (supporting a ban at the state level but opposing a constitutional ban at the federal level), said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Monday that she would support a federal ban on gay marriage. Though she had tried in previous interviews and in her debate against Sen. Joe Biden to cast her stance on the issue in a moderate light, she was more forthcoming in her most recent appearance.

Here is a transcript of her remarks:

I am, in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that's where we would go because I don't support gay marriage. I'm not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can't do, should and should not do, but I certainly can express my own opinion here and take actions that I believe would be best for traditional marriage and that's casting my votes and speaking up for traditional marriage that, that instrument that it's the foundation of our society is that strong family and that's based on that traditional definition of marriage, so I do support that.

I will resist the urge to rip the statement more generally and confine may diatribe to why this is important:

1) It proves that Palin was not entirely truthful during the debate, and;
2) With just two weeks left in the race, we now have to spend the next few days talking about the issue of gay marriage.

My guess is that her resistance to admitting her true feelings was a strategic move to save the matter for the final weeks of the election. Now, instead of voting based on the economy, or energy, or national security, people will be reminded that Obama supports civil unions. If that sows a single seed of doubt in just one tenth of one percent of voters, then it could hand McCain the edge he needs to challenge Obama in states that Bush held in 2004, like Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Nevada or Colorado, and to a lesser extent Missouri, North Carolina and West Virgina (because Obama is likely not going to win those anyway, unless it becomes a land-slide).

I don't think this will turn the election. But, it does shift the focus from more important issues - something that none of us should want to see.