Back in 1993 while appearing on Larry King's old CNN show, conservative Republican pundit Bill Kristol said that America was about to see its "high water mark of the gay rights movement." Twenty years after that completely wrong prediction, Bill Kristol is still trying to guess what his party should do next in response to a nation that is becoming more and more accepting of marriage equality. In a podcast for his publication, The Weekly Standard, Kristol said:
"Has the Republican establishment ever looked more like a herd of, ya know, totally conformists, pathetically kind of running to catchup... (and) join this parade." Ya know? As if they're going to get much credit for joining it at this point. And as if they're just not going to earn the contempt of, of course, people who believe in defending traditional marriage. But also, I think the contempt of a lot of people who are uncertain (of) where ultimately they're going to come down on this, that don't really like seeing political leaders and alleged intellectual leaders just kind of jumping on the train because it looks fashionable... I mean, there's something pathetic about it."
In his latest Rewrite segment, msnbc's Lawrence O'Donnell responded this way. "So the Republican establishment is trying to jump on the merry bandwagon of marriage equality?" O'Donnell asked before concluding, "I did not know that."
He then proceeded to look at example after example of those within the Republican establishment, save for a few examples like marriage equality supporter Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who remain very much against the idea.
O'Donnell continued by pointing out, "The Republican Party is almost as dug in against marriage equality as the Catholic Church," turning his attention to recent comments by New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Cardinal Dolan gave no indication that his church would change policy on marriage equality any time soon, before pointing out the Catholic Church has to do a better job at welcoming the LGBT community, adding "We haven't been too good at that."