Refreshing if true:
But how much of the Republican party do these people represent?
Fiscal and Libertarian conservatives see less of an issue, as do young conservatives.
The GOP got their ass handed to them in the last election and this was one of the major reasons why. They damn well better adapt if they want any hope of staying viable.
Nothing new for the writers of the linked article. The real story is that the latest poll showed more supported SSM than opposed it, the support from those under 30 is overwhelming, and many more have switched in favor than have switched to being against. What is surprising is that the Republican leadership is hidebound enough to oppose this obvious trend. That is idiocy, fanaticism, or both.
They do seem to be coming around on immigration reform, but I guess there are no bigoted preachers standing in the way of that one.
Nah, they seem to be applying a fresh coat of lipstick to the pig.
No, no. They just have to be better at telling the voters what they stand for 
In the last decade a lot of people who used to oppose gay marriage changed their minds and now support it, and a lot of people who used to oppose gay marriage died and the younger voters who replaced them support gay marriage.
And so we have a continuous growing wave of support for gay marriage. Which leads to a trickle of politicians changing their minds on gay marriage. Contrary to what people it’s very rare for politicians to change their positions whenever the wind blows. They change their minds eventually, years after it doesn’t matter anymore. But they tend to stick to the positions they choose, even if they originally chose those positions to conform to their constituency.
This is especially true in movement conservatism, where you can’t “evolve” without being kicked out of the movement.
This is an interest graph showing support for SSM by Democrats, Independents and Republicans.
Note that support is pretty flat across the board until about 2007 where it starts to climb among Democrats and then at about 2010 where it starts to climb among Independents and Republicans. I think you are going to see a slower rise, and lower peak for Republicans (not that that’s any great revelation).
My opinion is that the real leaders of the Conservative Republican movement are the corporate conservatives - they’re the ones in the driver’s seat. And they expect results and not just promises on the issues they care about like tax cuts and deregulation.
But the corporate conservatives are not numerous to win elections by themselves so they need to form alliances with other interest groups like the national security conservatives or the family values conservatives. They’ll make promises (which may or may not be kept) to these groups in exchange for the votes they need to win elections.
But “it’s just business” to them. They have no ideological bonds to these other groups. If they start costing them more votes than they gain, the corporate conservatives will cut them loose and look for a new alliance. Which may be what we’re seeing here. The corporate conservatives may have counted heads and come to the conclusion that the pro-equality pro-choice crowd is larger than the anti-gay anti-abortion crowd and it’s time to switch sides.
This change is going to fascinate historians for years to come, a major and dramatic shift in public acceptance over a very few years. Sort of thing that provokes an odd feeling in my chest, rather a warm tingle…my God, I think that’s hope! So, *that’*s what if feels like!
Huh! Rather pleasant. Kinda like it.
Well, crap. Does this mean I have to switch parties . . . again?
If this is true it’s ironic because IIRC the gay marriage issue was a significant factor on John Kerry’s defeat in 2004.
I’m not sure about that. This faction were big Romney supporters, and look how that turned out. These are the people the Tea Partiers are objecting to when they say they will win by being even more right wing. And these are the guys who spent a lot of money with Rove for nothing.
If they really had the power, SSM would be a done deal for Republicans. They’re pragmatists, and they know which way the wind is blowing. But they know if they came out for SSM they’d lose the radical religion vote. When they do, it will be when things are so far gone that only very few Republican candidates would have a hope of winning opposing SSM.
25% is a sizeable minority, and I’m confident it’ll grow.
Lately we’ve seen a lot of states pass anti GM laws and amendments. IMHO, this is their last gasp attempt to stall the inevitable, but that’s all it will achieve. As the older generations die off, this will become less of an issue.
That’s good news in the long run, but not much help for gays who want to get married now.
If I’m wrong, it’ll be because of a religious groundswell. But things sure have changed in the last 40 years. As a kid in school in a somewhat liberal area (at the time), most gays were in denial, and peer pressure against gays was extreme. When my son was in high school in the 90’s, he had gay friends (more female than male, showing a pretty clear bais in that regard). But I couldn’t help but think how much more healthy that was for the gay kids. I suspect both data points are fairly typical, and the days of those of the old school are numbered.
About 10 years ago, I was against gay marriage (though not strongly). A younger friend challenged me on it, and after thinking it through, I found my reasons didn’t hold water.
I don’t think you’re really contradicting Little Nemo’s point. I think that he’s right that many of the leaders are of the corporate conservative ilk, but that they’re facing right to appease the tea party.
I wonder how long it’ll take the Republican Party to really figure out that by facing the right, they lose us moderates, and lose elections as a result. McCain had my vote – until I saw his campaign and his choice of running mate. Mitt had a good chance of winning my vote, but again he faced Right and lost it. Now, I doubt I’m typical in general, but I bet in this particular, I represent a sizeable segment of the swing vote.
“Corporate conservative”? Really?
Commune Socialist
I would say it’s less support than are willing to tolerate. And some are also seeing new ways to make money off of it, which may help support (kind of like Homer Simpson) 
My objection was to saying that they were in the drivers seat. If they were they wouldn’t be trying to appease the Tea Partiers. I’m sure there are extremely left wing Democrats out there but the centrists, who are in the drivers seat, can pretty much ignore them.
The corporate conservatives want to get back, which is why Rove is trying to fund more mainstream candidates against the TP (hey, that is an appropriate abbreviation, isn’t it) loons who lose what should be safe elections. And who have no discipline when they do get elected.
I don’t think you can really claim that support was flat and started to rise in 2007 without knowing the margin of error for that survey. That could just be statistical noise.