Former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, announced his run for the presidency on last Sunday's Meet the Press. Huckabee began by talking about his desire to see American politics become less divisive.

But when NBC host Tim Russert pressed Huckabee on his views of gay marriage, for example, the bobbing and weaving began. Huckabee is against gay marriage, civil unions and gay adoptions.

Defending his homophobia, Huckabee said we should be doing more to strengthen the relationships between men and women before we redefine the family and marriage.

Then he reminisced about the good ol' days of the 1950's.

Russert asked him to explain what he meant by a comment he made --- that we somehow went from Mayberry to Beavis and Butthead, and from Barney Fife to Barney Frank. Why, Russert asked, did he reference Congressman Frank in the remark?

Huckabee says, the comment was not intended to be derogatory toward Frank, but clearly it was.

It's not unusual for Boomers to long for the 1950's. The quiet, simple life portrayed in TV's rural Mayberry is still appealing to many people who have grown tired of long work hours and the hectic commutes of urban centers.

But it was also a time when the Klan terrorized blacks and restrooms had "whites only" signs. Women were discouraged from going to college and pursuing careers. And abortions were performed in backrooms.

For many people, Frank's personal achievements are a milestone. Unlike the dim-witted, goofball that actor Don Knotts portrayed brilliantly, Frank is a Harvard graduate and the first openly gay man to hold a seat in the US Congress.

It seems Huckabee would rather we live in a world where gays remain in the closet and women stay at home raising children. He says we have to think of what is best for children when we think of gays who want to adopt.

That argument relies on the belief that gay love is not up to snuff --- it is not good, healthy, or otherwise right enough to be parental love. It's exactly that kind of thinking that harms a lot of American families.

It might be interesting to send Huckabee back to the Mayberry of the 1950's he has romanticized as a reminder of how wrong some things were during that time.

And while he's there, he might want to look up Floyd the barber. As gays used to say when in mixed company --- he was a friend of Dorothy's.