So, I’ve held off commenting on this, state Sen. Mike Brubaker’s withdrawal of his Keep The Gay Down bill, because I’m coming to hate these threads - they always devolve into exactly the same thing.

But, the more I think about this - the more I begin to think that Brubaker, and maybe the state GOP on the whole - planned it exactly this way.

At the outset, it was reported that Brubaker’s bill had little to no chance of passing, that it would have to go through years of rigor and probably come to nothing in any event. Brubaker obviously knew this from the get-go. But, you know, perhaps he decided to follow his moral calling and go for broke anyway.

Or perhaps this was all calculated to get you, the values voter, squarely in his camp.

Maybe you, the values voter, didn’t know a whole lot about Mike Brubaker before any of this happened. And indeed, you’ll remember that when East Hempfielld supervisor Heidi Wheaton ran against Brubaker for the GOP nomination, it was she who staked out the explicit “values” territory. Which maybe led you to the conclusion that Brubaker was a little soft, or softer, on same.

But now you, the values voter, probably do know more about Brubaker. Now you know that he “stands up for your values,” or however you might want to phrase that.

And now, based on his “standing up for your values” - you’ll probably vote for him next time around. Right?

Well, maybe that’s too simplistic. Maybe values voters, or most values voters, aren’t this shallow; maybe they’ll take a look at the entirety of his term before deciding on whether they’re in his corner or not.

But I tell you that Brubaker’s ruse was entirely designed to get those who believe that moral issues trump all others squarely and permanently behind him. He can be their champion now - even if, from the outset, he knew his bill would get scuttled, and he really had no interesting in pushing it over the course of years.

In other words, you’ve been used. I just wonder when people are finally going to get tired of it.