As support for same-sex marriage has increased in the US, particularly among the young, some Republicans have recently argued that the party needs to moderate its views on the issue. But on Tuesday, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that he'd quit the party if it raised "the white flag of surrender" on marriage and abortion. "I'll become an independent. I'll start finding people that have guts to stand," Huckabee said. Here's audio of his comments, via Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch:
Mike Huckabee: I’ll quit the GOP if they give in on gay marriage and abortion
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Andrew Prokop is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He’s worked at Vox since the site’s launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker’s Washington, DC, bureau.
HUCKABEE: “A lot of Republicans, particularly in the establishment and those who live on the, either Left Coast, or those who live up in the bubbles of New York and Washington are convinced that if we don’t capitulate on the same-sex marriage issue, and if we don’t raise the white flag of surrender and just accept the inevitable, then we’re gonna be losers.
“I tell you Tim, it is the exact opposite of that. And if the Republicans want to lose guys like me and a whole bunch of still God-fearing, Bible-believing people, go ahead and just — abdicate on this issue. And while you’re at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn’t matter either. Because at that point, you lose me, I’m gone, I’ll become an independent. I’ll start finding people that have guts to stand, I’m tired of it.”
In Huckabee’s 2008 presidential bid, he performed well among evangelical voters, and won a surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses. But he eventually lost the nomination to John McCain, and opted against a bid in 2012.
Huckabee’s comments come days after a Supreme Court action that will lead to gay marriage being legal in a majority of states, as German Lopez explained here:
Potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders have been weighing how to respond to the Supreme Court’s action. Ted Cruz has harshly criticized the Court, but others are holding back, for now.
(Hat tip: Mediaite’s Tina Nguyen)
