On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, news reader Jeff Glor declared: "Former First Daughter Barbara Bush is taking a very public stand in support of same-sex marriage." After a sound bite was played of Bush doing a video for the left-wing group New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, Glor added: "During his presidency, her father pushed an amendment banning same-sex marriage."
While Glor touted the move on air, on CBSNews.com's Political Hotsheet blog [1] on Tuesday, an article on Bush's advocacy proclaimed: "Barbara has had gay friends dating back at least to her time at Yale University, and her support for same-sex marriage comes as no surprise to her friends. She used to take one gay friend to the White House for dinner with her family when she was in Washington."
The article quoted a statement from the liberal Human Rights Campaign, which sponsored the video: "Bush's advocacy shows that equality knows no party label and raises the profile of this timely fight for equal marriage rights in the Empire State."
It described the gay marriage issue as political ploy by the GOP: "As president, George W. Bush pushed for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and Republicans depended on gay marriage referenda to drive out conservative turnout in election years."
The Early Show was the only network morning show on Tuesday to report the story, and gave it the same amount of time as its brief coverage of a Florida judge ruling ObamaCare to be unconstitutional.
- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here. [2]