You Done Messed Up, Son.

America's Shittiest Newspaper^TM:

Last weekend, Republican John McCain told The New York Times he is against gay adoption. Today, his campaign clarified that position in a way that seemed to qualify it.

Communications director Jill Hazelbaker told Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic's Daily Dish blog that McCain believes that states should decide adoption policies and that a gay home beats abandonment. "McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative," Hazelbaker said. See the full statement here.

The Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody says the "clarification" signals trouble ahead with social conservatives. "That sound you just heard was a can of worms opening up," he writes at The Brody File. "If you’re going to say that you’re against gay adoption then why not just stick with that view rather than trying to massage it? The qualifier after the interview does some damage."

Oops! That's the price you pay for not being enough of a bigot. I give it, oh, a week til he reverses course.

...For the most part, the social con blogs haven't addressed the issue, possibly out of a desire not to look publicly so homophobic. Allahpundit takes a reasonable stab, and it's clear that a goodly chunk of his readers are anything but happy:

-- "For this social con there isn’t any question about gay adoption or abortion. I am in mourning that the “conservative” candidate is gutless political traitor and the liberal one is even worse."

-- "Can straight co habitating couples who aren’t married adopt? Um no. Why don’t we just let EVERYBODY adopt? Even the pedophiles?"

-- "Well, I guess that if a pedophile did adopt, we’d at least to hope that he tries to remember the old saying: you don’t crap where you sleep."

-- "The “Gay People” I have known over the years do have their own kind of “Sub-Culture” but they have always been, at the same time, cogniscent of the larger culture around them. For example, I’ve been to many “Gay Bars” with my sister. Most of these places charge a cover charge to keep out the riff raff. But, interestingly, when they find out I’m a sibiling of someone gay, they usually (most of the time) refund the cover charge! Further, THEY usually get mad about the nuts who parade around in drag or nothing at all!"

-- "Stability is the key to raising an emotionally and mentally healthy child; unmarried and homosexual partners simply cannot provide the stability that married heterosexual couples can give. Children need a role model, both male and female. These are nothing but homosexual activists putting their personal desires above the rights of these children to have a chance at a normal family life with a father and mother."

Etc.