Former Bush strategist spars with social conservative on gay marriage

Nicole Wallace tells Gary Bauer she thinks the Supreme Court will come down “on the side of freedom”

Published March 24, 2013 6:39PM (EDT)

         (Fox News)
(Fox News)

In a heated segment on "Fox News Sunday," former George W. Bush communications chief Nicole Wallace and social conservative Gary Bauer sparred over support for gay marriage, which Bauer described as a "radical movement" while Wallace touted the "conservative case" for overturning Proposition 8.

Wallace, who signed onto a brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, argued that Ted Olson and David Boies, who are arguing against the law before the Court, will make "the conservative case that there is not any place in the Constitution that allows for a different set of rules for a different class of people."

Bauer disagreed, describing the gay rights movement as "radical," later adding: "A lot of people are changing their mind because there's been a full-court blitz by the popular culture, by elites, by all kinds of folks, to intimidate, and to cower people into no longer defending marriage as being between a man and a woman."

Wallace countered: "The biggest problem that Mr. Bauer faces, not just this morning but moving forward, is that more than 65 percent of his own base, self-describing Evangelical Christians, under the age of 33, support marriage equality. 80 percent of people in this country, right, left, Democrat, Republican, man, woman, support marriage equality. More than 60 percent of all Americans, everyone, supports marriage equality."

Watch:


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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Conservatives Fox News Gary Bauer Gay Marriage Nicole Wallace Video