CNN joined the New York Times [1] in hyping Ronald Reagan's liberal activist daughter saying her father would have approved of same-sex marriage. Thursday's Starting Point devoted a whole segment to Patti Davis' claims and hosted her openly-gay friend who gave credence to her argument.
"Patti said she never spoke to her father about gay marriage," reported
anchor John Berman. Nevertheless, CNN deemed the post-mortem claims of
Regan's liberal activist daughter, who dropped her last name while in
college and carved her own liberal path, newsworthy.
[Video below. Audio here [2].]
"[Y]ou look at that video, she seems pretty certain that he would have
supported it," Berman said of Davis stating her father "wanted
government out of people's lives." Berman even gave credit to her tale
that a lesbian couple slept in her parents' bed when they were out of
town. "I think that's going to be shocking to a lot of people," he
remarked.
Meanwhile, CNN didn't show as much respect for Reagan's conservative
son Michael who had penned an op-ed calling on churches to stand up for
traditional marriage. Anchor Brooke Baldwin focused only on the most
controversial part of his article.
Openly-gay guest Howard Bragman mocked, "I think the message there is
he [Michael Reagan] is really in the dark ages on this." He bashed the
Republican Party as well: "And I think there's a lesson to be had here
from the discussion and that is the Republican Party is behind society
on this issue. "
Bragman implied that conservatives should allow same-sex marriage:
"I think the polls now are about 58 percent to 60 percent of the American people support gay marriage. And whatever Ronald Reagan would have thought, it's a great discussion to have, and Republicans can understand that true conservative means a little less government and a little less intervention."
And Bragman lent support to Davis' claims even though he relayed the liberal criticism that Reagan didn't do enough for AIDS victims, saying "a lot of my friends and I included, are really angry at Reagan for his mishandling of the AIDS crisis."
Below is a transcript of the segment, which aired on April 4 on Starting Point at 7:50 a.m. EDT:
[7:50]
JOHN BERMAN: So the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, not
expected for at least another two months. But we are seeing more
politicians come out in favor of it.
BROOKE BALDWIN: And now Patti Davis, author and daughter of President
Ronald Reagan is talking about how her dad might have felt about this
whole debate. She talked about it in an online interview with friend and
gay rights advocate, Howard Bragman.
(Video Clip)
PATTI DAVIS, daughter of President Reagan: I think he would be puzzled
on the one hand at why anyone would have a problem with people wanting
to be married. Because he wanted government out of people's lives. That
he would not understand the intrusion of government banning such a
thing. This is not what he would have thought government should be
doing.
(End Video Clip)
BERMAN: Howard Bragman is the host of the Gwist TV YouTube channel, and
the vice chairman for Reputation.com. He's also a friend of Patti
Davis. Howard, great to see you today.
HOWARD BRAGMAN, vice chairman, Reputation.com: Thanks.
BERMAN: Patti said she never spoke to her father about gay marriage,
but you look at that video, she seems pretty certain that he would have
supported it. And she has some other reasons why.
BRAGMAN: Well, there's really three reasons. In 1978 in California,
there was a very contentious ballot measure called the Briggs Initiative
that they tried to ban all gay teachers from public schools. And even
in '78 when he was running for president, ostensibly, her father wrote
an editorial and opposed this initiative, joining a lot of Democrats,
and said basically this is not contagious, that they are born that way.
The second thing, and maybe the most interesting thing is her own life.
Her parents would go away. A lesbian couple stayed, as she said, in her
parents' king-sized bed, and they were aunt-and-aunt, and treated like
every other couple.
BALDWIN: In their own bed.
BERMAN: Now I'd never heard that. Let's listen to Patti describe that. I
had never heard that story before. Let's listen to what she says about
that.
(Video Clip)
DAVIS: You know, I grew up with two lesbian aunts who used to babysit
us when my parents, our parents went out of town together. They stayed
at our house. They slept in my parents' room in the king-sized bed and I
mean, I grew up understanding that they were a married couple.
(End Video Clip)
BERMAN: I think that's going to be shocking to a lot of people.
BRAGMAN: I don't think it's shocking to a lot of people. And there's a
huge dichotomy with Ronald Reagan. I posted this on Facebook, and a lot
of my friends and I included, are really angry at Reagan for his
mishandling of the AIDS crisis, the fact that he (Unintelligible) and we
feel like a lot of people died because of that. But it would be wrong
to simplify and just say he is a totally bad guy. There's other parts –
and really the third reason that Patti talked about was his dislike of
government intervention. He likes small government. Stay out of people's
lives, stay out of their bedrooms.
BALDWIN: I want to ask you though, about her brother, Michael Reagan,
who is – you laugh – a conservative commentator, right? And so he's
penned this op-ed last week basically taking a different stance. Let me
read this for you. Quote, "It will inevitably lead to teaching our
public school kids that gay marriage is a perfectly fine alternative and
no different than traditional marriage. There is also a very slippery
slope leading to other alternative relationships and the
unconstitutionality of any law based on morality. Think about polygamy,
bestiality, and perhaps even murder." Wow. And he was on Piers Morgan
basically defending the same stance. What is their relationship like?
BRAGMAN: You know what? They refuse to have Reagan family feud about
this. They agree to disagree on this particular issue and on a lot of
political issues. I think there's a lot of dichotomy there, but the
family is more important, I think, to both of them. I worked with
Michael about 30 years ago, and I ran into him a few years ago in New
York, and "Howard, how are you? Haven't seen you in so long," and I got a
big hug. And then I said, "Oh by the way this is my husband." You would
have thought I took a poop on his shoe the way he looked at me. It was
one of the most uncomfortable moments.
So, you know, I think the message there is he's really in the dark ages
on this. Even the mainstream in the Republican Party isn't talking
about bestiality and polygamy, and these things. And I think there's a
lesson to be had here from the discussion and that is the Republican
Party is behind society on this issue. I think the polls now are about
58 percent to 60 percent of the American people support gay marriage.
And whatever Ronald Reagan would have thought, it's a great discussion
to have, and Republicans can understand that true conservative means a
little less government and a little less intervention.
BERMAN: It will be interesting to see if this has legs, a sort of posthumous support of gay marriage from Ronald Reagan.