Will the real Scott Walker please stand up?
Scott Walker isn't giving up on government-sponsored discrimination against same-sex couples even if the Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage nationwide in a ruling later this month. That's what he told
ABC's Jon Karl over the weekend while he was making a play for Iowa's social conservatives.
KARL: If the Supreme Court establishes that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, does that effectively end this as a political issue in this campaign?
WALKER: Well, I personally believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. If the court decides that, the only next approach is for those who are supporters of marriage being defined as between one man and one woman is ultimately to consider pursuing a constitutional amendment.
KARL: So you would favor a constitutional amendment that would say that states are allowed to ban same-sex marriage.
WALKER: I believe that the decision on defining marriage should be left up to the states, yeah.
Some have
reported that Walker would seek a constitutional remedy to ban same-sex marriage outright, but here he appears to be supporting an amendment that would allow states to opt out.
Whatever he means, it's still an escalation from where old "Shifty" Walker was last year when he was trying to get re-elected governor in Wisconsin. Here's what Shifty had to say in October 2014 after the Supreme Court declined to hear the state's appeal of a decision striking down its statewide same-sex marriage ban.
“For us, it’s over in Wisconsin,” said Republican Gov. Scott Walker [...] “To me, I’d rather be talking in the future now more about our jobs plan and our plan for the future of the state,” Walker said. “I think that’s what matters to the kids. It’s not this issue.”
It's less than a year later but, hey, no time like the present to change your priorities.