McCain Takes Both Sides of Gay Marriage Amendment Debate

Straight Talkin’ McCain Takes Both Sides of Gay Marriage Amendment Debate

In 2004, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage:

" Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona broke forcefully with President Bush and the Senate GOP leadership Tuesday evening over the issue of same-sex marriage, taking to the Senate floor to call a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban the practice unnecessary — and un-Republican. “The constitutional amendment we’re debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans,” McCain said.

But yesterday, ABC reported that McCain confided to Jerry Falwell that he would support such an amendment:

McCain “reconfirmed” to Falwell that he would support a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman if a federal court were to strike down state constitutional bans on gay marriage.

Since aligning himself with Falwell and far right conservatives, gay marriage isn’t the only issue on which the “straight talk express” has backtracked. In 2000, McCain called Falwell one of America’s “agents of intolerance;” now he has agreed to give the commencement address at Falwell’s Liberty University on May 13.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/29/mccain-gay-marriage/