I support marriage equality and I am glad to see Republican elites deciding that they should support it too. But I don’t think the Christian right will fade away either:
The preferred plot line for many in the GOP establishment for revitalizing their party goes something like this: They move to a more libertarian stance on key social issues — particularly same-sex marriage — and the Bible-thumping, evangelical wing of the party meekly complies, realizing times have changed.
One problem with that scenario, however: The Christian Right, while a diminished force, doesn’t like how that story ends at all.
[…]Huckabee observed that social conservatives are already tired of the lip service from party leaders on cultural issues.
“People are just sick of it,” he said. “They’re treated like a cheap date — always good for the last-minute prom date, never good enough to marry.”
I’ve never understood what it means when serious people say “the hippies have to admit that Reagan was right” or “evangelicals have to admit that bible-thumping scares voters”. No one has to admit shit. That’s not how politics works.
If Gary Bauer wants to primary every Republican who supports marriage equality, there’s nothing David Frum can do to stop him. And remember what happened to the New York State Republicans who voted for marriage equality:
As four Republican state senators, one by one, agreed to break with their party and cast a politically risky vote to legalize same-sex marriage last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and gay-rights advocates vowed to do everything in their power to protect them against political retribution.
But when the Legislature returns to Albany next month, only one of those four senators will be among those sworn into office. One, facing the prospect of a tough challenge, decided not to run again; a second was defeated by a more conservative Republican in a primary, and on Thursday, a third conceded defeat after a monthlong paper-ballot counting process in a three-way race in which a more conservative candidate drew so many votes from him that the race was won by a Democrat.