Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is considered one of the front-runners in the herd of candidates seeking the GOP presidential nomination. But it turns out Walker is having a bit of a problem raising money from Wall Street types. It turns out that Walker’s opposition to marriage equality is a liability with the more socially liberal (and fabulously wealthy) New Yorkers.
Walker likes to speak out of both sides of his mouth, appealing to the hard-core right while sounding reasonable. He’s publicly ducked the issue of marriage equality, saying that “It really doesn’t matter what I think now” once a court struck down his state’s marriage ban. At the same time, he is in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and has been making the rounds among religious right types in Iowa proclaiming his steadfast opposition to lavender love.
Walker’s stance is causing him some financial headaches. The deep-pockets on Wall Street are keeping their wallets closed because they are convinced that Walker is an ideologue on the issue.
“Sometimes you can say something and people think you don’t mean it, and sometimes you can say something and people think you mean it,” one anonymous Republican told the Washington Post. “When Barack Obama said he’s against gay marriage in 2008, people didn’t think he meant it. But when Scott says it, people think he means it. This is a very big stumbling block for him on Wall Street.”
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Of course, name a Republican candidate who isn’t against gay marriage. You can’t.
The distinction is that some wealthy donors apparently believe an establishment Republican like Jeb Bush will say one thing publicly and do another if elected. Bush is being squired around Wall Street circles by Ken Mehlman and other pro-marriage Republicans, even though his stated position on marriage is just as loathsome as Walker’s.
But those donors seem to believe that Bush is making the noises he has to in order to secure the nomination. The comparison to Obama is clever, but Obama actually favored marriage equality before he opposed it, so everyone knew his position was a ruse. There is nothing in Bush’s antigay past to suggest that he would ever actively support a gay issue, let along this one.
Of course, Wall donors are more interested in repealing Dodd-Frank, the legislation that put the brakes on the industry’s worst excesses, than they are in marriage equality. In the end, financial interests will rule. Yet as Walker is finding out, the big money is counting on a change of attitude among the candidates. Too bad the party faithful don’t feel the same way. It should make for an interesting primary season.
1EqualityUSA
Who would this Republican want for a Supreme Court Justice? Scalita, Alito, Thomas, and Roberts are the “gifts” that keep on giving.
Damon Robbins
Another fool who doesn’t have the balls to stand up to the GOP and make them realize that hatred against LBGT people is wrong!
Stephen Meeks
Good
Robb Forehand
jason smeds
Walker reminds me of Forrest Gump.
AxelDC
They could also be shunning his antieducation platform. What he has done to public schools and the University of Wisconsin is criminal. He maybe jealous because he couldn’t graduate himself.
Tony Lee Churchill
Cam
“”Bush is being squired around Wall Street circles by Ken Mehlman and other pro-marriage Republicans, “”
_____________________
And there you have it, Ken Mehlman goes back to courting the anti-gay politicians just as everybody on here said he would, and the Log Cabiners claimed he wouldn’t.
Desert Boy
Walker isn’t terribly bright. He won’t be the GOP nominee.
Zekester
Who are they trying to fool? These Republican Wall Street douchebags would support Stalin if he ran on the Republican ticket.
Zekester
@Desert Boy:, what do you mean? Being “not terribly bright” is a prerequisite for winning the GOP nomination. Have you already forgotten that George W. Bush, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney were just a few of the “bright” people that Republicans chose to represent them on the Presidential/Vice Presidential tickets?
Ladbrook
Oddly, there are a lot of openly gay staffers working for Repubs in DC and elsewhere, and have been for a while. The sad part is that these staffers strike me as more than a bit masochistic, but more importantly, a lot of their conservative bosses aren’t so much homophobic themselves… they are just extremely dependent on the votes of the bigots and haters back home to stay in power. Alas, they have missed out on a chance to educate their ignorant followers and have done great damage to our country’s progress. Unfortunately, history won’t look kindly on them. The Walkers and Bushes (etc) will end up on the same “Bigots in History” List as the NOM crowd and the KKK.
Bauhaus
@Cam:
Hi, Cam! As always, you cut to the quick. Not the same here when you’re on hiatus!
Tom Gonzalez
He’s an idiot
Alex Rothwell
I don’t like this guy.
Voltaire Erasmus
No matter how the Supreme Court decides, 2016 will be an election about equality. It will be front and center. Conservatives will call it “Religious Freedom”, but its code for “roll back civil rights” to the 50s.