Fox News's Roberts Calls Self-Described 'Liberal Democrat' a Conservative

August 1st, 2012 12:45 PM

Yesterday on Fox News's Special Report, senior national correspondent John Roberts did a segment on the controversy surrounding gay marriage.  A version of his report also appears on the Fox News Web site.  In it, Roberts interviewed a gay marriage proponent saying that young Republicans "overwhelmingly support the freedom to marry." And then:

Roberts:  It isn't just young Republicans who are changing their minds. Conservative David Blankenhorn fought fiercely for Prop 8, California's measure to ban gay marriage.  In June, he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times with the headline: "How My View On Gay Marriage Changed".  Blankenhorn is now fully in favor of same-sex marriage.

Blankenhorn may have "evolved" on gay marriage, but he cannot fairly be described as a conservative.  In a September, 2008 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, Blankenhorn starts: "I'm a liberal Democrat." A 2007 USA Today article noted ". . .Blankenhorn says he's a liberal Democrat."  A few weeks ago in The Nation, Richard Kim wrote Blankenhorn is "a self-described liberal and Obama voter. . ."

Perhaps Roberts just assumes that anyone opposing gay marriage must automatically be a conservative. Years at CNN must have had its impact.