Bush Expected to Endorse Amendment Defining Marriage By RICHARD W. STEVENSON, NYTimes

The ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ”is deeply troubling,” Mr. Bush said.

”Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman,” he said. ”If activist judges insist on re-defining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process. We must do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage.” …

Many social conservatives, though, have been impatient with the president on the issue, pressing him to take a stand. Mr. Bush’s conservative base is especially important to him in this election year because his political strategists say that his re-election could hinge much more on his ability to turn out the vote among conservative voters than on winning over a diminishing pool of more moderate swing voters. …

White House officials have always been more concerned about religious and social conservatives at the grass-roots level. Mr. Rove has fretted publicly on a number of occasions about Mr. Bush’s failure to motivate more evangelical Christians to vote in the 2000 election, saying millions of them stayed home that year.

When Christian Extremists start appointing judges and amending the Constitution, we’re all going to Hell. mjh