Rick Klein: “If you’re going to start over, it helps to agree on a new place to begin. There’s a hope among some Republicans that the end of the nation’s gay-marriage debate wipes the slate clean on social issues, after a first half of the year where liberals seemed to be running up the score. The responses from GOP contenders on gay marriage are varied, though they don’t run the full gamut: All of the 16 major candidates continue to oppose something that, as of Friday, is a constitutional right.”
“From there, there’s Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio suggesting that the Supreme Court has effectively settled the argument, with their focus now turning to protecting religious liberty ins this context. You have Scott Walker among those backing a constitutional amendment, Ted Cruz wanting a new process to oust justices, and Bobby Jindal suggesting we should shut the Supreme Court down altogether. Then there’s Mike Huckabee, who said on ABC’s This Week that ‘I’m not sure that every governor and every attorney general’ should simply comply with the court’s edict.
“These are more than different shadings; these are conflicting takes on a matter of major social policy where the Supreme Court has ruled – and a majority of Americans agree. Is there any scenario where this doesn’t get ugly inside a free-wheeling Republican primary – to say nothing of what that might do to the eventual nominee for the general election?”