If I trick you, it's not a lie.

CNN.com - Gay families among thousands participating in White House egg roll: "More than 10,000 people were expected throughout the day, including hundreds of gay and lesbian parents who lined up for first-come-first-served entrance tickets over the weekend."

It's not exactly a lie.

LGBT families wait all night for Easter Egg Roll tix, White House shuts them out of opening ceremonies.: "This year, at the last minute, for the first time, the policy for distributing tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll has changed, with the families waiting outside all night to get opening time tickets receiving tickets with an entrance time of 11AM or later -- after the cameras have rolled for the opening ceremonies of the event. The egg roll is slated for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m, according to the White House press release". (From Pandagon.)

It's a point of pride for magicians to not come out and say that they-pulled-the-bunny-out-of-nowhere. That's what it looks like. And that's what you are free to assume.

The White House has once again showed their incredible ability to not entirely please anyone. They have not pleased the Religious Right, who would like to see same-sex couples banned from all areas of American life. They have not pleased Americans sensitive to the human rights aspect of shutting out these families. What is the reality of this situation?

The White House would like to pander to their base, who are blatantly hostile to same-sex parents. Why don't they? They don't have the strength. Like it or not, the Religious Right is not enough to keep getting GOP candidates elected. They have to soften their appeal to scoop up people on that side of the bell curve, but not at the skinny end.

I find this a heartening development. Yes, they behaved shabbily. But they did not behave outrageously. They do not have the strength to do that. Bush has said he "doesn't care about polls." But apparently, somebody does.

With Bush popularity ratings dropping like a rock in a pond, they are pathetically trying to fool everyone, all the time.