Democrats Are Being Shameless On Gay Marriage

A lot of Democrats are coming out of the closet for gay marriage.  Sens. Kay Hagan (D- North Carolina), Mark Warner (D- Virginia), Jon Tester (D-Montana), Mark Begich (D- Alaska) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) have all hopped on the marriage equality bandwagon, and that’s a great way to fill the coffers of the Democratic Party for the 2014 midterms.

Since Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio came out in favor of gay marriage to complement his son’s coming out, there’s been a deluge of gay love within Congress.  However, I don’t know what’s worse.  Democratic politicians evolving on gay marriage, or their liberal base that seems convinced they’re sincere about it.

Elahe Izadi of the National Journal wrote yesterday that:

supporting same-sex marriage will help their [Democratic] campaigns’ coffers; red-state Democrats could get financial help nationwide to help fight potential blowback in their conservative states (McCaskill and Tester face reelection in 2018, while Warner and Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska, another Democrat who recently came out in support of same-sex marriage, are up again in 2014). Over the past decade, gay-rights advocates and groups have proved themselves to be major players in fundraising cycles, whether it’s state races in New York or the flood of financial support for President Obama after he reversed his position.

[…]

Public opinion is on their side, too: 58 percent of Americans support gay marriage, according to a NBC News/Washington Postpoll  — so Republicans like Portman could plausibly benefit financially from coming out in favor of same-sex marriage. Human Rights Campaign spokesman Fred Sainz stresses his organization is nonpartisan by design, and he points to the track record of support that Republicans have received from the gay community, such as in New York.

[…]

Still, some Democrats are holding back. Nine Senate Democrats, including Mark Pryor of Arkansas, have yet to endorse same-sex marriage. He is also up in 2014.

Concerning public opinion, as I’ve said ad nauseum, that’s shiftable sand.  There are no permanent victories in our society.  Second, another Democrat holding out is Sen. Bob Casey, Jr (D- Pennsylvania), who has retreated back into the bunker since he won re-election last November.  The problem is that pro-gay rights supporters are flooding his office with calls asking him to kowtow to his liberal base.

This should be interesting.  Pennsylvania has Democratic strongholds in the western part of the state near – and around – Pittsburgh, but  Democrats there are pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-gay marriage.  Although, given his name recognition and his late father’s popularity, residents of the Keystone state could probably have a change of heart, which is pathetic.

So, this seems to be another case where we see that Democrats have a spine comprised of jelly.  I’m not saying that it’s wrong to “evolve” on the issues, but it needs to be genuine, and not influenced by campaign cash.  After all, we have them on the record swearing they opposed same-sex marriage.  What a core-less bunch.