the headline about battle lines makes NO Sense.
The only battle lines that are new is for the 4 incumbent GOPers who voted Yes. They need opponents to primary them and run on the Conservative Party line.
The 4 RINOS should seek the DEM nomination when they run for re-election. Dump ‘em.
This was not about four New York State Senators. It was about the finance and real estate establishment in New York City deciding that the time for gay marriage was now. The New York GOP cannot say “no” to them, because they are the GOP’s only source of real support in a state without a meaningful social conservative base, and with a huge combination of Democrat interest groups (public employee unions, trial lawyers, and New York City social service organizations) and the 21st century yellow dogs (upscale Manhattanites and suburbanites who think Republicans are all backwoods bigots).
The bottom line is that the real vote wasn’t 33-29, it was really something more like 48-14; a clear majority of Republican State Senators wanted it to pass, but were allows a symbolic “no” vote for consumption at home.
Sorry Pete, the NY Republican Party leaderhsip really wanted to pass this, it just took this long for them to figure out how. My Senator Steve Sellout Saland is probably retiring, this is his scorched earth lovely parting gift to the NYSGOP heirarchy.
The blame here is to be spread far wider than the core-4. What is an appropriate conservative response when the GOP wants to sell us out in favor of the GLBT vote?