Don’t get me wrong — it’s great that several conservative Republicans are finally speaking up against the marriage discrimination amendment. As Jim Morrill of the Charlotte Observer reports, former Queen City mayor and Republican gubernatorial nominee Richard Vinroot joined the “nay” chorus yesterday. Good for him. The tide of public opinion is clearly turning against the damned thing and it may well still be defeated.

The only problem is this: Where in the heck were Vinroot, John Hood, the incomprehensible Thom “We’ll repeal it in ten or twenty years” Tillis and the others last year when the legislation was being rammed through the General Assembly? How did it come to pass that these pillars of corporate capitalism are only just now getting around to voicing their concern, i.e. after the cow is already out of the barn? They knew the deal then — why didn’t they speak up forcefully when they could have made a much bigger difference?

There are really only two possible answers: Read More…