We talked yesterday about House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who briefly endorsed universal background checks on firearm purchases, before remembering that he actually believes the opposite. It turns out, as Rachel noted on the show last night, he’s not the only forgetful Ohio Republican.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) was asked in an interview about his views on marriage equality. The Republican, predictably, said he opposes allowing same-sex couples to get married, but supports civil unions.
“You know, if people want to have civil unions and have some way to transfer their resources, I’m for that. I just think marriage is between a man and woman. But if you want to have a civil union, that’s fine with me.”
It fell to the governor’s spokesperson to tell reporters that when Kasich said he’s for civil unions, that did not mean he’s for civil unions. In fact, the governor’s office said, Kasich continues to oppose civil unions, which remain illegal in Ohio, despite what he said in the interview.
Why did the governor say the opposite? His spokesperson added that Kasich was using the words “loosely.”
Given how frequently Republicans seem to endorse one position, only to quickly walk it back and adopt the opposite position, Rachel asked a good question last night: “How does the other party — or country at large — argue policy with a party that so often does not seem to know what their policy positions are let alone actually believe in them?” Rachel raised the possibility of “post-policy” Republicans.
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