Neither Senators Barack Obama nor John McCain feel particularly comfortable talking about gay marriage as a campaign issue.”Both have this nuanced ‘On the one hand and on the other hand’ need-to-explain position, and I think that makes it difficult for either to take a stand,” says David Domke, a University of Washington professor, in an interview with National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” The NPR story, which aired Monday evening, contains statements made by each candidate, in public forums, which would seem to fit Domke’s analysis. But the story also suggests–unsurprisingly–that this is more problematic for McCain, who needs support from conservative evangelical Protestants who rallied around George W. Bush. As evidence, NPR quotes the head of the Family Research Council who warns that if McCain is reticent on publicly opposing gay marriage, he can count on conservatives to step into the gap and bring the issue up for him. And it is an issue, the council head says, that “motivates the grassroots.”
Speaking of “All Things Considered,” the Monday program also contained an interview about politics with the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the bestseller, “The Purpose-Driven Life.” Warren, who calls himself “neutral” in the campaign, is planning to host both Obama and McCain at a forum at his Saddleback Valley Community Church on Aug. 16. Warren once declared there were a handful of bedrock issues–opposition to abortion and gay marriage among them. His views have not changed, but his agenda has since “expanded dramatically,” he tells NPR. He calls himself “whole-life,” concerned not simply with abortion, but the welfare of a child once he or she is born. If you are curious about where the candidates will share a stage before their conventions, the story will provide some details.
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posted August 5, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Liberals to McCain: Bring up gay marriage and we’ll be sure to bring up your adultery, divorce and re-marriage. Shurely McCain’s selective embodiment of certain groups’ “family values” will be of interest to grassroots types everywhere.
posted August 5, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I think McCain is indifferent on the issue.
posted August 6, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Everyone to the religious conservatives. We don’t care about gay marriage. We care about the price of gas.
posted August 7, 2008 at 3:56 pm
The GOP had better not use GOD for Political gain. They paying the price for past use now. God does not want you to use his name for Political gain so a bunch of crooked Politicians can get elected. It will come back on you and it has.
posted August 12, 2008 at 7:25 am
The religious conservatives are dinosaurs that haven’t noticed the approaching meteors. They live in a by-gone age, and want the rest of society to hang back with them. They have already lost and they don’t know it. Societies must change and evolve to survive…..like everything else on the planet….including the planet itself. Gay people are a part of life, a part of the picture, whether it’s palatable or not. We waste time and energy trying to turn a fact into a non-fact, trying to eradicate what makes us emotionally uncomfortable. The world is increasingly dangerous and chaotic, but gays wanting to marry is the very least of it.