On Sunday’s State of the Union, CNN’s Van Jones accused those who oppose the Supreme Court's decision to ignore the normal legislative process on gay marriage of pushing “the old state’s rights rhetoric that was anti-civil rights rhetoric of the past than embracing the future.”
Jones bemoaned that his “heart was broken” after he heard Mike Huckabee’s comments on the Supreme Court ruling especially because he “put more African-Americans in high position in office as governor than Bill Clinton did.”
Jones seemed taken aback that Huckabee, who he acknowledged has a strong record on civil rights, would oppose the Supreme Court overriding the legislative process on gay marriage before he suggested that the GOP has a “big problem” on the issue:
Mike Huckabee is someone who is a revered person, but when he comes out and makes the kinds of statements that he sometimes is making, it makes him look like someone who doesn't care. I know that he cares. The Republican Party has a big problem now.
They now seem to be a party that is so out of touch with the humanity, the basic humanity that was on full display in front of the Supreme Court, and they seem to be more concerned now with hiding behind the old state's rights rhetoric that was anti-civil rights rhetoric of the past than embracing the future.
For his part, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt pushed back against Jones for “misunderstand[ing] the Republican Party" on this issue:
I'm here to tell you that in fact it's not divided. There's quite a lot of energy going forward over whether or not who decides. What the chief justice said in the dissent is this court is not a legislature. He implied it as well in the ObamaCare decision. And I do believe that within the Republican Party there will be great unanimity not division, and they will find in the center of America great unanimity that it ought to be the people's business to change the law.
Earlier in the morning on CNN’s Inside Politics, National Journal reporter Ron Fournier invoked a similar theme to Jones, when he accused Huckabee of acting like a segregationist. This argument now appears to be the standard line on the left for anyone who opposes the way in which the Supreme Court went around the normal legislative process to affirm same sex marriage across the country.
See relevant transcript below.
CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper
June 28, 2015
JAKE TAPPER: That's overstating the case a bit because the president, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton not in favor of same-sex marriage three years ago, but they were in favor of same-sex couple rights. But he has a point. Democrats are now acting as though there's no other alternative that squares with reality. But they had a different point of view three years ago. Van you've been in favor of same-sex marriage literally for decades.
VAN JONES: Absolutely. Well first of all inside the Democratic Party there were those of us who in the 1990s were saying that civil unions were not enough. That we wanted marriage and also we were concerned about the question of how people were being treated in the military. So there was a fight inside the Democratic Party for a very long time. Reality is, we won that fight inside the Democratic Party. We won that fight in the hearts and minds of American people and we just won that fight in the U.S. Supreme Court. And so now the people who are on the other side are in a different posture.
My heart was broken, frankly, to hear Huckabee, who I admire, I'm a southerner. People forget Mike Huckabee put more African-Americans in high position in office as governor than Bill Clinton did. Mike Huckabee is someone who is a revered person, but when he comes out and makes the kinds of statements that he sometimes is making, it makes him look like someone who doesn't care. I know that he cares.
The Republican Party has a big problem now. They now seem to be a party that is so out of touch with the humanity, the basic humanity that was on full display in front of the Supreme Court, and they seem to be more concerned now with hiding behind the old state's rights rhetoric that was anti-civil rights rhetoric of the past than embracing the future.
TAPPER: I want you to respond to that. But I have to say, Democrats were calling for the flag to come down in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack at that church. But Republicans lead the way. Nikki Haley, Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, but with the exception of Graham and Jeb Bush who took the flag down in Tallahassee 15 years ago, Republican presidential candidates were not leading the way.
HUGH HEWITT: Not surprisingly, I think, Van misunderstands the Republican Party. And I'm here to tell you that in fact it's not divided. There's quite a lot of energy going forward over whether or not who decides. What the chief justice said in the dissent is this court is not a legislature. He implied it as well in the ObamaCare decision. And I do believe that within the Republican Party there will be great unanimity not division, and they will find in the center of America great unanimity that it ought to be the people's business to change the law, and that it ought to be not as Justice Scalia said --
