Hate crimes and the GOP

I guess my post about Rick Santorum vis-a-vis the federal hate-crimes law was timely:

Senators Want to Expand Hate Crimes Law

The legislation, sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., would include protections based on sexual orientation, disability and gender to existing laws that target violence because of race and religion.

Supporters pushed anew for passage of the bill as Republicans grapple with political relationships with gay groups in the wake of recent comments by Sen. Rick Santorum, chairman of the Senate GOP Conference, who compared sodomy to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery during an interview with The Associated Press.

Note that Specter denies he's pushing this now as an antidote to Santorum's remarks:

"I've been for this bill a long time before what Senator Santorum said," Specter said. "I'm not going to get in the business of amends."

The only question about this is why Specter didn't rescue this bill from the clutches of Orrin Hatch last fall, when it was bottled up in the Judiciary Committee. But better late than never.

Of course, the real test for Republican "inclusiveness" will come when this legislation hits the House. There's practically zero chance that The Bug Killer and his gang of rodents will let it survive the gnawing they have in store for it.

Democrats have so far let this issue slide into the GOP's lap. One wonders if they'll have enough sense to exploit its imminent excursion into the Valley of Death. Considering the way they've handled it thus far, there's little reason for optimism.