Fred Thompson Talks Gay Marriage

Presidential candidate Fred Thompson sat down with Tim Russert yesterday on NBC’s Meet The Press.

During the course of their mind-numbingly monotonous conversation, Russert delved into the ever-complicated issue of gay marriage: a staple of conservative politics. Unlike some of his Republican peers, Thompson refuses to step on states’ toes when it comes to same-sex nuptial. Though he would push for a constitutional amendment protecting states from other’s queer choices, Thompson again says he would allow states to make their own decisions.

MR. RUSSERT: And also with gay marriage, according to the Associated Press: “Thompson favors a constitutional amendment that bars judges from legalizing gay marriage, but also leaves open the door for state legislatures to approve the practice.” So if a state said, “We want to have gay marriages in our state,” you would be OK with that?

MR. THOMPSON: Yes. This, this, this—the—marriage is between a man and a woman. Nobody ever thought that that was contested until recently, and we’ve had a couple judges in a couple states decide to turn all that on its head. So we’ve, we’ve had, again, a judge-created problem. I would support a constitutional amendment that addresses this judge-created problem. But at the end of—and, and say judges can’t do that. But, at the end of the day, if a state legislature and a governor decide that that’s what they want to do, yes, they should have, they, they should have the freedom to do what Fred Thompson thinks is a very bad idea.

While Thompson’s position may alienate some die-hard social conservatives, he’s no doubt hoping his moderation will persuade some left-leaning Republicans and conservative Democrats to join his team. Unfortunately for Freddy, it probably won’t be enough. And, quite frankly, that’s alright with us.