Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said that it was inevitable that Republicans would support a candidate for president who backed gay marriage, but for him he said he would never support it while he was in office. Mr. Flake needs to reconcile that discrepancy quickly because inevitability is upon us. As Chuck Todd, sitting in for David Gregory, pointed out Mr. Flake clearly felt uncomfortable talking about the issue. You could tell by his hesitation in his answer that he bases his political persepctive on his religious beliefs when it comes to marriage. It's one of those grey areas for politicians where they can not separate the legal from the religious. The reason he can not do that is because his Republican base won't allow it - more about this later.
We've already stated our position on same-sex marriage, but if you're for the traditional definition, the President of the National Organization for Marriage Brian Brown did not help the cause. First of all, if being the President of the National Organization for Marriage is a full-time job, it's a waste of money and he should be fired; he's obviously not doing a good job. On today's program, he presented himself as nervous and defensive in his answers. One of his arguments was that same-sex couples do not have the civil right to redefine marriage. That's a weak argument because you can simply turn that statement around and say what gives him the right over someone else to make the decision. This is where Mr. Brown deferred to the voting results on the issue, in the particular the California case of Proposition 8. Despite his desperate rhetoric that it was a slur on the Americans who voted to uphold the traditional definition, what he fails to understand is that the basic civil rights of an individual in this country do not get voted on. "Inalienable Rights..." is what is says in the constitution.
What we found interesting was that there wasn't any consensus amongst the guests as to whether the Court would make a decision or 'punt' on the matter. Filmmaker Rob Reiner said that if the Supreme Court did in fact decide not to decide and send it back to California (See LL Cool J's "Going Back to Cali), it would be a victory for those who opposed Proposition 8 as a matter of educating the public. However, in reality if it does go back to California, it's really a victory for the supporters of traditional marriage. If the court decides that it is a matter of civil rights, then it's hard to see how they could not make a decision. Editorially, Meet The Press sees it as a civil rights issue, using the clips of Jackie Robinson talking about civil rights for African-American as a comparison to support that view. We agree with the comparison.
Like we said, the majority of the country's attitude toward same-sex marriage is one of a libertarian perspective. Where Mr. Flake displayed more confidence was when talking about comprehensive immigration reform, saying that he would not walk away from the process and he doesn't think Marco Rubio would either. That's the good news. David Axelrod called it a legacy issue for the president so there's push from that direction as well for success. The Senate will reach a deal Mr. Flake thought, and it's in the Republican's, particularly Mr. Rubio's, best political interest to get it done. If Mr. Rubio decides to run for president in 2016, he won't be able to count on the Latino vote if they don't have immigration reform. His problem is that in the Senate bill there is a path for citizenship provision, which doesn't exist in the House version. This key provision in the law that if it can not be resolved, could kill reform entirely.
Of course when you have a Republican Senator from Alaska, Don Young, calling immigrant workers 'wetbacks,' that doesn't help. In his apology, he said that the term should be left in the 20th century. Well, that century ended 13 years ago so where's he been - idiot. And it's idiotic to think that he'll resign over such a remark; lots of politicians haven't resigned for much more controversial acts and statements. But Latinos take such a comment as the deeply offensive slur that it is and come election time, they will not forget it especially if House Republicans block a path to citizenship.
David Axelrod and Tom Davis (In the first round table, or was it the second round table or the second part of the first round table? Two round tables, in the parlance of the day, was a bridge too far. ) had a brief exchange about whether the Republican party would be a regional Congressional party or a national party. Right now, it's trending that they will become a regional Congressional party especially if they can not work out something on immigration, hence alienating the fastest growing population block in the United States.
With the overwhelming percentages of people under 30 years old who support same-sex marriage, capturing young voters will also be difficult, and given the harsh anti-abortion legislation moving through several states, lead by North Dakota whose governor even said that it would be contested in the courts, Republicans aren't doing themselves any favors with women. If Republicans really want to be a national party, which means winning the executive branch, then they have to gain the support of these groups by ending the adversarial relationship they are creating with their narrow policies. Tom Davis inadvertently explained it - Republicans, by gerrymandering districts, have boxed themselves in. They're electorally safe in their districts but outside of those small pockets, they have no resonance. As he also explained, there are fewer suburban districts, like the one he represented, that are still Republican because of the aforementioned topics.
But maybe there is hope because one area where Republicans are gaining support is in the resistance to gun-safety legislation where now only 47 percent of Americans favor new restrictions. Senator Flake called universal background checks a 'bridge too far,' for gun owners explaining that the paperwork requirements would be too much of a burden and how would we be able to regulate someone loaning a gun to another person for duck hunting (Mr. Flake's example)? As long as we accept an answer like that of 'too much paperwork' for why we can not have new gun-safety legislation, then it's never going to happen. At the top of the program, there was a clip of President Obama saying, "Shame on us if we've forgotten," in reference to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Sadly, it's quite obvious that we can live with the shame.
Round Table 1: former top adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod; Former Rep. Tom
Davis (R-VA); the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and the Wall Street
Journal’s Peggy Noonan.
Round Table 2: President of the National Organization for Marriage Brian Brown; the
Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan; founder and President of the
National Action Network, MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton; and NBC News Justice
Correspondent Pete Williams.
We want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Easter and Passover!
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