ITS COUPLES RUNNETH OVER

For anyone wondering: Yes, it’s still in the Republican platform.

The Bush administration’s plan to spend at least $1.5 billion on a “healthy marriage initiative” -- meaning, as described by The New York Times, “training to help couples develop interpersonal skills” -- will confuse anyone thinking Republicans favor limited government.

But the “limited government” concept remains, even though the marriage plan sounds oddly like the stuff Republicans have bashed for so long as wastes of money when proposed by Democrats.

The contradiction also remains.

But at least “federal money for marriage promotion would be available only to heterosexual couples,” the Times notes. So there is some consistency.