Editor:
Updated: Today
Topic:

George W. Bush

George W. Bush, "man of principle"

An "old friend" says Bush doesn't "give a s--t" about gay marriage."

The New York Times checked in over the weekend with the sort of folks who still really love George W. Bush, and the words of praise we heard were pretty much the ones we'd expect. The president is "God-fearing," said one young woman. He's a "man of principle," said a man. "I'm not sure of anything he's done," said a pro-Bush junior at Brigham Young University. "But I like that he's religious -- that's really important." Added BYU freshman Jaren Olsen: "He's strong, and he doesn't waver. I like that he is for the family, that marriage should only be between a man and woman. And the war, we need to finish what we started."

We don't know what's on young Jaren's summer reading list -- somehow, we're guessing it's not War Room -- but perhaps we can be so bold as to suggest Newsweek's latest on the gay marriage debate.

The president used his weekly radio address Saturday to throw his weight behind a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage, and he'll make another push for the amendment during a White House Rose Garden event today. So George W. Bush, "man of principle," really cares about this stuff? So much so that it's worth taking a couple of days away from Iraq and Iran and immigration and everything else to back a constitutional amendment that has absolutely no chance of passing?

Not so much, it seems.

An "old friend" tells Newsweek's Debra Rosenberg that Bush's interest in outlawing gay marriage is "purely political." "I don't think he gives a shit about it," the friend says. "He never talks about this stuff."

George W. Bush in the news

Loading...

Currently in Salon

  • The Democrats' lust to win at any cost stripped abortion from the healthcare bill. Can pro-choicers put it back?
  • Why the hopeless story of a ghetto teen is just the kind of movie black people need right now
  • The fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers: Each ushered in a new American era
  • Don Draper and the denizens of Sterling Cooper take drastic measures in the face of a brave new world
  • Inside the elaborate, disturbing and downright riveting world of child-beauty pageants
  • This just in from the Institute for the Advancement of Conservative Science: History began on 1/20/09!
  • The untold story of Johnny Cash, protest singer and Native American activist, and his feud with the music industry
  • A memoirist searches for the truth about a fatal shooting in 1960s Phoenix
  • My partner says he's just not attracted to me "right now"
  • The aftermath of Wall Street's meltdown reminds me of the aftermath of the Berlin Wall's fall. Not in a good way