By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
The usual suspects erupted with predictable outrage over the California Supreme Court's ruling striking down a ban on same-sex marriage.
But can outrage be transformed into political capital for Republicans, as it was four years ago?
Probably not as easily, or as much.
John McCain voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment. He's not in a strong position to rail about the California decision.
Most states, including Missouri and Kansas, have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions. Conservative candidates can bash their opponents for being friendly to gays--Congressman Sam Graves of Missouri is doing this already--but the tactic has lost its sting.
Meanwhile, thousands of gay adults have lived as couples the last four years, and still the sky hasn't fallen in. With any kind of luck, Americans will decide that energy, jobs and a stable mideast are more worthy of campaign season attention than gay unions.
"Sometimes when courts overturn the overwhelming will of the people, the people get upset."
Brown v. Board of Education pissed off a lot of folks.