Likely GOP Presidential Candidate John Kasich Proud Of Himself For Agreeing To Attend Gay Wedding

Ohio’s GOP governor has a big ol’ smile for himself after telling CNN he agreed, after giving it a lot of thought, to go to a same-sex wedding. Really?

It’s getting out of control. Now likely Republican presidential candidates are using same-sex weddings the way their predecessors used same-sex marriage just a decade ago – as a campaign prop and a way to connect to and expand their base.

Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum are all to happy to announce they wouldn’t attend a same-sex wedding. The phrase “no way in hell” didn’t appear in their comments, but it might as well have. At least they’re being honest and true to their inherently anti-gay selves.

Marco Rubio, after getting slammed for his earlier anti-gay comments and false statement about supporting a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage last week, managed to get a reporter to ask him if he would attend a same-sex wedding. For a loved one, a family member or friend, sure, he said, after suggesting that being gay is a choice, and same-sex marriage is a sin. He cleared that up on Sunday by saying that gay people are born that way, but gay marriage, by definition, doesn’t exist. 

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker took the (wedding) cake for his response over the weekend when a local New Hampshire reporter asked him if he would attend a same-sex wedding. While he doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, Walker said, he and his family have attended a same-sex wedding reception. Not the wedding – he reportedly was out of town – but the reception. Let’s hope they sent a good wedding gift.

Now we have Ohio governor John Kasich telling CNN that he and his wife will be attending the wedding of a gay friend.

“I went home and I said to my wife, ‘my friend’s getting married. What do you think? You wanna go?’ She goes, ‘Oh, I’m absolutely going.’ I called him today and said, ‘Hey, just let me know what time it is,'” Kasich told CNN’s Sara Murray. “My friend knows how I feel about the issue, but I’m not here to have a war with him. I care about my friend, and so it’s pretty simple for me.”

 

The transcript is nice, but look at the grin, the smug, “I’m so proud of myself” grin (above) he gave after he told CNN that after his wife said she was “absolutely going” he agreed to go.

Let’s be clear here.

John Kasich likes to come off as a midwestern moderate, but as a U.S. Congressman he voted to ban gay people from adopting children in Washington, D.C. And he supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex marriage. Not only that, but Kasich, at least in 2010, said he not only didn’t support same-sex marriage, he didn’t support any legal recognition of same-sex unions whatsoever.

So, Gov. Kasich, before you show up at your friend’s wedding, you might want to let him know about that baggage you’re carrying.

Watch:

 

Image, top, by Brian Timmermeister via Flickr and a CC license
Embedded screenshot via CNN/YouTube