Only several years after it might have made any difference, Laura Bush publicly supports gay marriage and abortion

If you'd harboured doubts that Laura Bush wasn't the red-blooded conservative type – in the mould of Dick Cheney's wife Lynne, who is possibly even more awe-inspiring than the former vice president – then you were right.

Doing the round of TV talkshows, punting her mildly interesting autobiography Spoken from the Heart, Laura Bush last night visited Larry King's CNN chatshow – an ancient US tradition, similar to an incoming British prime minister kissing the Queen's ring. During the interview she makes it clear that she supports gay marriage and – in some circumstances – a woman's right to choose abortion. All of which puts her slightly to the left of the current occupant of the White House. Which is great but ... now you tell us.

In the current climate within the Republican party, a presidential candidate's wife with such views would probably be stoned to death. Figuratively speaking. But it does show that even within today's Republican party – assuming you can define Laura Bush as a Republican – there is still a fragment of the sensible right remaining.



Anyway, here's the CNN transcript:

Larry King: Gay marriage, you tell us in the book that during the 2004 campaign you talked to George about not making it a significant issue. Do you think we should have it? Laura Bush: Well, I think we ought to definitely look at it and debate it. I think there are a lot of people who have trouble coming to terms with that because they see marriage as traditionally between a man and a woman. But I also know that, you know, when couples are committed to each other and love each other, that they ought to have I think the same sort of rights that everyone has. King: So would that be an area where you disagreed? Bush: I guess that would be an area that we disagree. I mean, I understand totally what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman. And it's a real, you know, reversal really for that to accept gay marriage. King: But you do? Bush: But I think we could, yeah. I think it's also a generational thing. King: You think it's coming? Bush: Yeah, that will come, I think. King: How about choice? Bush: I write in the book about the very first question I got on the morning of George's inauguration, from Katie Couric, who asked me two questions about abortion. That was the social issue in 2000 that everyone got asked about. And then I think gay marriage was the social issue in 2004. And I was say probably in the more recent election as well. She asked me ... two questions about abortion, and then she asked me if I was for the overturn of Roe versus Wade. And sort of everything went through my mind. This was the very morning my husband was about to be inaugurated. And I thought, do I really want to start my husband's presidency, you know, suggesting that a Supreme Court rule being overturned. And I said no. And I think it's important that it remain legal, because I think it's important for people, for medical reasons and other reasons.

Who knows, maybe she voted for John Kerry in 2004?