CNN's Don Lemon Sunday evening compared Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to former Alabama governor George Wallace.
At the beginning of a CNN Newsroom segment he calls "No Talking Points," Lemon played a clip of Wallace saying in 1963, "I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever" followed by Romney saying Saturday, "Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DON LEMON: It is time now for No Talking Points. Alright, I'm going to warn you because I'm going to tick a whole lot of people off here. The subject tonight: words that come back to haunt you.
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LEMON: Honestly, can you imagine having uttered those words in front of television cameras or being one of those people in the crowd cheering on Alabama's governor George Wallace? That wasn't so long ago. It was the 1960s. Now think about how far we have come, and think about what this might sound like a few decades from now.
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MITT ROMNEY: Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.
There of course are a number of serious problems with this comparison.
First off, for many Americans opposed to same-sex marriage, it's a religious issue and not merely homophobia.
Lemon should know this because during his program Sunday evening, he interviewed black religious leaders about this very subject. Some of their quotes were included in this NTP segment.
Let's be honest. The concern Barack Obama has had with divulging his true feelings about this subject, and why he first flipflopped on it in 2008, is the fear that Evangelicals not enthused by John McCain four years ago or Romney today would be energized by him coming out of the closet so to speak.
Syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan said on this weekend's McLaughlin Group Obama has "instantly solved the biggest problem Mitt Romney had which is how to energize and rally the social conservatives and the Evangelicals. They are now singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers' and riding to the sound of the guns on this issue."
Gallup reported Friday that twice as many people are less likely to vote for Obama because of this flipflop than are more likely.
On Monday, Gallup revealed that 42 percent of Americans still view gay or lesbian relations as "morally unacceptable."
As such, for many in this country, same-sex marriage is a religious issue and not a civil rights matter.
Sadly, as America's secular press do a victory lap for Obama's flipflop, they're missing this distinction.
Also of concern regarding the blending of this issue with civil rights is the implication that folks opposed to same-sex marriage are racist.
With America's first black president seeking reelection, this acts as a double whammy to gin up anger on the Left.
But will it work?
The reality is Obama and his devoted media would like nothing more than to discuss anything but the economy for the next five and a half months.
If the headlines and airwaves are filled with the culture war right up to the first Tuesday in November, they think they've got a winning hand.
The polls at the moment certainly don't reflect that, and one can hear those guns Buchanan talked about all over America's heartland.
This might very well be one of those times that liberal elites on the coasts, particularly in Manhattan, have once again badly misjudged the temper of the nation, and are miles ahead of the parade unable to hear the music.
We will know in the fullness of time.
