Upon the occassion of President Obama’s gay marriage news-making today, the always reasonable Fox Nation essentially put out a call to arms, declaring in an all-caps headline, “OBAMA FLIP FLOPS, DECLARES WAR ON MARRIAGE.” But so much for brand unity, because Fox News anchor Shep Smith was not shy on-air about his agreement with the president’s stated belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. “The president of the United States, now in the 21st century,” Smith said dryly after airing Obama’s historic announcement. He then asked Fox host Bret Baier, with some attitude, if the Republicans would dare make marriage equality a campaign issue “while sitting very firmly, without much question, on the wrong side of history on it.”
Baier responded soberly, “I don’t know about that, Shep,” pointing to close opinion polls and state referendums banning same-sex unions. Smith went on to note that Obama’s position “makes no legal change for now, which may sound familiar to a couple of generations ago, but that’s where we are,” while Fox Nation pretty quickly changed their headline to remove the “WAR ON MARRIAGE” part, and leave it at a “flip flop.” Progress.
