GOP Base Not Swayed by Bush's Stance on Gay Marriage

WASHINGTON -- The campaign against gay marriage is scheduled to get the administration's special treatment on Monday -- words from President Bush at the White House, an array of VIPs assembled to hear him, a bank of television cameras on hand to broadcast the proceedings.

Such marquee billing aims to confer the grandeur of the office on the push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But even before administration officials announced the event, some of the invitees, far from swooning at the honor, denounced it as a sham.

"I'm going to go and hear what he says, but we already know it is a ruse," said Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, which opposes gay marriage. "We're not buying it. We're going to go and watch the dog-and-pony show, (but) it's too little, too late."

Such comments have raised the prospect that the debate on gay marriage -- designed to galvanize one of Bush's most important constituencies, social conservatives -- could instead exacerbate the president's political headaches....