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Andrea Mitchell harshly grilled both Republican national chairman Reince Priebus and Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter about their candidates' positions on same-sex marriage on Monday.
Her comments came the day after the Obama administration walked back Vice President Biden's comments supporting same-sex marriage. Priebus was on her Monday show, and charged that Obama was trying to play both sides of the issue. Mitchell hit back when he alleged that Obama is "not authentic anymore."
"But doesn't your own candidate have an issue of authenticity? Of persuading people even within your own Republican party that he is the real deal?" she asked.
Mitchell continued, "And also, as a conservative, as a true conservative, what could be more conservative than a committed relationship between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman who want to embrace the sanctity of marriage? I simply do not understand the position by true conservatives who say they don't believe in committed relationships."
The MSNBC host was just as tough on Obama's stance on gay marriage in her interview with Stephanie Cutter. Cutter was discussing Obama's accomplishments since 2008 when Mitchell raised the issue.
"What is taking the White House, why is the president taking so long to 'evolve' on this? He doesn't hesitate to take a lot of money from gay supporters," she said.
Cutter cited Obama's support for the "rights and protections" of same-sex couples, but Mitchell wasn't having it.
"The question to Joe Biden was not about civil unions," she stressed. "Marriage is a sacrament and a legal sacrament that the vice president was asked about, and he said he had no problem with it. That is not the same as what the president said."
After some more back-and-forth, Cutter said she was going to decline "to make news on the president's beliefs on gay marriage" on the show.
Watch Mitchell's interview with Priebus in the video above, and with Cutter in the clip below.
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