George W. Bush Balked About Decrying Gay Marriage

A new book by a Bush insider alleges that the past president of the United States balked at condemning gay marriage.

Ryan Grime, a blogger for Huffington Post, reports that Matt Latimer, a speechwriter for George W. Bush, has a book coming out with intimate details about Bush's inner circle. Grim had an advanced look at the book, which is now hitting bookstores.

One of the biggest bombshells implies that Bush's personal feelings about gay marriage may have differed widely from the virulently anti-gay marriage stance of his administration.

Bush gave a commencement address at Furman University, a small liberal-arts institution in South Carolina, in spring 2008, Ed Gillespie, a GOP strategist who worked closely with the Bush Whtie House, wanted the president to state badly that he condemned gay marriage.

Instead of acquiescing, however, Bush reportedly called the speech too "condemnatory." He then said, "I'm not going to tell some gay kid in the audience that he can't get married."

As Grim points out, opposition to gay marriage was a central political point of both Bush campaigns, in 2000 and 2008.

Grim also reports that Bush had a remark about Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who toe-tapped his way to infamy in a Minneapolis airport men's room. "What is up with all these Republicans?" the president asked, in an echo of a question many have since expressed about the "family values" party.

But Latimer's most spectacular expose may be that Laura Bush, according to Grim "was secretly a Democrat for all intents and purposes, though it really wasn't much of a secret."

Bush reportedly said of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, "If I'm ever eighty-two years old and acting like that have someone put me away."