New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro hyped up on Tuesday the less-than-earth-shattering news that Barbara Bush, one of President George W. Bush’s twin daughters, has made a video in support of gay marriage: “Daughter Of Bush Endorses Gay Marriages.”
Barbaro managed to compare the video Bush made for a gay rights group to such “weighty issues” as the Iraq War:
The Bush dynasty is no stranger to generational conflict: father and son differed over deposing Saddam Hussein, raising taxes and the role of the United Nations.
Now it is father and daughter who find themselves at odds over a weighty issue.
Barbara Bush, one of the twin daughters of George W. Bush, will endorse same-sex marriage on Tuesday, publicly breaking ranks with a father who, as president, pushed for a constitutional amendment banning such unions.
Bush taped a clip calling on New York state to legalize gay marriage.
Ms. Bush is the latest child of a prominent Republican leader to embrace same-sex marriage, long considered anathema to the conservative movement. Gay rights advocates have been quick to seize on the generational split as evidence that the acceptance of same-sex marriage is blind to party affiliation and family values.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has become an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage, despite her father’s opposition to it. And Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has forcefully backed it as well -- and is widely credited with helping to persuade her father to do the same.
Barbaro then cited noted political analyst and brave Times-beloved Ugg Boots wearer Meghan McCain before returning to Barbara Bush’s “striking” “foray into the same-sex marriage debate” (she has gay friends!) that has evidently silenced her father, or so the excitable Barbaro would have us think.
C. Brian Smith, a friend from college who is gay, recalled that the Yale Ms. Bush inhabited was filled with openly gay students and unbothered by questions about sexuality. “She had that mind-set,” he said. “She was loved by the gay community at Yale.”
Members of the Bush family seemed uneager to discuss her entry into the marriage debate. Ms. Bush declined an interview request. A spokesman for Mr. Bush said he had no comment. Her sister, Jenna Bush Hager, a correspondent for “Today,” has not publicly discussed the topic.
Allahpundit at HotAir wonders what the fuss is about, considering it’s hard to find a family member of a Republican president or presidential candidate that doesn't support gay marriage: Besides President Bush’s wife Laura Bush and his former Vice President Dick Cheney (and Cheney's daughter Liz), there’s both Cindy and Meghan McCain.
