White House spokesman grilled over Biden’s same-sex marriage comments

Obama campaign officials have been playing down Biden’s remarks, arguing that the president and vice president agree on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Cutter, who was interviewed directly before Priebus, kept to that message, saying that Biden “has made similar remarks before many times” and “was expressing the same policies as this president and this administration.”

Pressed repeatedly by Mitchell to explain the president’s views, Cutter declined to comment.

“I don’t want to parse the vice president’s words,” she said at one point. Asked again about the issue toward the end of the interview, she responded, “Andrea, I’m not going to make news on the president’s beliefs on gay marriage today.”

Adding to the pressure on the White House on Monday were moves by several Democrats, as well.

First, in response to a question in a TV interview Monday morning, Education Secretary Arne Duncan became the latest Obama administration official to publicly come out in support of same-sex marriage. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan has also previously expressed support for same-sex marriage.

Then came the news Monday afternoon that Caroline Kennedy, a national Obama campaign co-chair and the daughter of late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), is adding her voice to those calling for a gay-marriage plank in the national Democratic Party platform.

“There are few things in life more important than being able to marry and build a family with the person you love.  This fundamental right should be available to all Americans, including gay and lesbian couples,” Kennedy said in a statement released by the group Freedom to Marry, which supports a pro-gay marriage plank.

The Obama campaign has responded to the renewed focus on the president’s same-sex marriage views in part by seeking to turn the focus back on Romney.

As Carney was getting flooded with questions at the White House briefing, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt took to Twitter with a stream of critiques of Romney’s stance on gay rights.

“Romney promised he’d be to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay rights then said he’d keep DADT, funded efforts to roll back gay rights in states,” LaBolt tweeted shortly before 2 p.m., just as the briefing was getting underway.

Five minutes later, another tweet.

“Romney also supports a federal amendment that would enshrine discrimination into the Constitution, roll back rights for gays and lesbians,” it read.