Priorities

The Republicans' constitutional amendment banning gay marriage got just 49 votes this morning, far short of the two-thirds majority it needed -- and was never going to get -- for passage. Along the way to the vote, Republican Sen. David Vitter defended the GOP's efforts on the election-year measure by saying: "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one."

We don't mean to speak for anybody else, but we're wondering if any of Vitter's displaced constituents in New Orleans -- or, say, the 57 Louisiana families who have lost loved ones in Iraq -- might see America's priorities just a little differently.

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