ANDREW SULLIVAN RESPONDS to my earlier post on Ford and Corker: “The difference between the GOP and the Dems on gay issues nationally is vast, as Glenn knows.”

Unlike Sullivan, I’m not a “single issue voter” on gay issues. But I wonder if that’s true about the Democrats vs. the Republicans. As is widely recognized in the blogosphere, Sullivan has sided with the Democrats over gay marriage. But what has he gotten for that?

John Kerry, who Sullivan supported, isn’t for gay marriage: “The president and I have the same position, fundamentally, on gay marriage. We do. Same position.” Or, as he said on another occasion: “”I’m against gay marriage, . . . Everybody knows that.”

Are there any Democratic candidates in contested races who are pushing gay rights and gay marriage? I can’t think of any. Certainly, as I noted before, Harold Ford isn’t among them. And Hillary Clinton isn’t beyond reproach: “The executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda gay rights group has described Sen. Hillary Clinton as ‘a complete disappointment.’ . . . Clinton opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions between members of the same sex. During her husband’s administration, she supported the Defense of Marriage Act.”

And it’s not the GOP that’s circulating a “list” of gay Congressional staffers in the hopes of getting them fired.

As I say, I’m not a single-issue voter on gay rights. But Sullivan clearly is. So what, exactly, are the Democrats actually offering in exchange for his rather vehement loyalty?

More here and here.

And, yes, it does lapse into self-parody. And here’s more on Democrats and gay marriage:

In TN and VA, Democrats Ford and Webb say they oppose gay marriage. Webb supports civil unions, though, and he plans to vote against Virginia’s so-called “Super-DOMA,” which, according to gay rights activists and some legal scholars, would make it harder to establish civil union-type arrangements. Ford supports the Tennessee constitutional amendment. He also supported the FMA in the House.

Not overwhelming evidence of the Democrats’ superiority on this issue. Meanwhile, Corker is better on the Second Amendment, at least.