Laura Bush: Take me out of gay marriage ad
The group that just launched a $1 million pro-gay marriage advertising campaign has removed a clip of Laura Bush from a TV spot after hearing an objection, after the former first lady objected and said she did not want to be associated with the media effort.
“We appreciate Mrs. Bush’s previous comments but are sorry she didn’t want to be included in the advertisement,” the Respect for Marriage Coalition said in a statement. “The ad launched a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect their depth and breadth of support.”
The TV spot, released earlier this week, featured news clips of President Obama, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Bush speaking in support of marriage equality.
“When she became aware of the advertisement last night, we requested that the group remove her from it,” Anne MacDonald, a spokeswoman for Laura Bush, told the Dallas Morning News.
In 2004, Republican political operatives helped put on the ballot 11 statewide measures defining marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman, a device aimed at bolstering the turnout of evangelical Christians to support the reelection of President George W. Bush. It was a cynical movement, given that both Cheney’s daughter Mary and campaign manager Ken Mehlman were — and are — gay.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/02/21/laura-bush-take-me-out-of-gay-marriage-ad/
