Gay Marriage Not A Winning Issue, Laura Bush Warns
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – Some election year advice to Republicans from a high-ranking source who has the president’s ear: Don’t use a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage as a campaign tool. Just who is that political strategist? Laura Bush.
The first lady told “Fox News Sunday” that she thinks the American people want a debate on the issue. But, she said, “I don’t think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously.”
“It requires a lot of sensitivity to just talk about the issue – a lot of sensitivity,” she said.
The Senate will debate legislation that would have the Constitution define marriage as the union between a man and a woman early next month, the majority leader, Bill Frist, said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
President Bush supports the amendment, but Vice President Cheney does not. Mr. Cheney’s daughter, Mary, is a lesbian and has been speaking out against the marriage amendment as she promotes her new book, “Now It’s My Turn.”
Asked yesterday about reports that Republican leaders want to use the issue to mobilize conservatives for the midterm election, Ms. Cheney said she hoped “no one would think about trying to amend the Constitution as a political strategy.”
