It’s the latest saga to fire up the Inter-Tubes. Scott Walker admitted to CNN’s Dana Bash that he doesn’t know whether or not gay is a choice. Now to be fair, Walker isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, and as a Republican Presidential Candidate he’s duty bound to vehemently deny anything that looks even vaguely like science… and biology is the worst. Regulating corporations is evil, but regulating a woman’s va-ja-ja is godly.
When Dana Bash asked him over the weekend whether or not being gay was a choice, he channeled Sarah Palin and gave us a long and rambling word salad—some might even call it a “fruit salad.”
Oh, I mean I think—that’s not even an issue for me to be involved in. The bottom line is, I’m going to stand up and work hard for every American regardless of who they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what their background. I’m going to fight for people whether they vote for me or not.
It was a verbal perambulation worthy of Governor Sanford explaining his hike up the Appalachian Trail or
Caitlin Upton’s 2007 response to why Americans can’t find themselves on a map.
So Bash pressed him:
On behalf of people to do that properly you have to understand or at least have an opinion on who they are and where they’re coming from.
But again, I think—no, I don’t have an opinion on every single issue out there. I mean to me that’s—I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that question. So, I’m saying I don’t know what the answer to that is. And I’m going to spend my time focused on things that I do know and I can work on.
Walker’s answer is telling—even though he did his best not to say anything. First of all, nobody believes that he doesn’t have an opinion about this, or that he thinks it’s an issue he should stay out of. He’s already inserted himself. Last Tuesday he insinuated that if the Boy Scouts lifted the ban on gay adult scoutmasters, then the young boys of the Scouts would “
be unprotected…” We all know what he meant.
Hey Walker, it’s the Boy Scouts, not the Catholic Church.
When the Supremes ruled on marriage equality, he was right there along with everyone else declaring that their decision was a “grave mistake…” Republican-speak for “God’s going to send you to hell.
So yes, he clearly has an opinion.
However, his answer also shows that opinion around human sexuality (of which “gay” is only a small piece) has shifted considerably, even in the Republican Party and he knows he’s going to have to be careful what he says. Of course the primary voters will eat it up (if they’re not already full from gorging themselves on DT’s xenophobia), but the potty-trained voters in the general public are going to have a tough time electing somebody that comes across as too anti-science.
But he also told us something important about what’s going on in fundamentalist circles as they try to navigate this issue. When he says:
… Oh, I mean I think—that’s not even an issue for me to be involved in…
It means,
“I don’t want to talk about it." As much as they all hate it, from here-on-out, he risks votes, and possibly donations. It also means that they haven’t come up with an answer yet. These candidates are all over the map. There is a preponderance of evidence that this is biological, and that being gay is just another aspect of human sexuality, but that contradicts their Bible, and they don’t know how to reconcile those—just yet.
So let’s break down what he said:
The bottom line (he he—he said bottom) is, I’m going to stand up and work hard for every American regardless of who they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what their background. I’m going to fight for people whether they vote for me or not.
We know that’s not true. The first thing Walker did when he became governor is go after the working people. He recently defunded education to pay for tax breaks for the Kochs, and he’s gone after women’s reproductive rights with a vengeance.
Buried in his word salad, underneath the Palin dressing and Caitlin Upton croutons, comes his biggest lie yet.
I don’t know the answer to that question. So, I’m saying I don’t know what the answer to that is. And I’m going to spend my time focused on things that I do know and I can work on.
He knows it’s not a choice. He knows it’s baked into the evolutionary cake. But he doesn’t like it. It makes him feel icky. His cheeks pucker with he thinks about it
(both sets). If he says it is a choice, the fundamentalists will rally around him, but he’ll get pummeled from the scientific community worldwide. If he says it’s not a choice, then he’s going to have a harder time condemning gay people.
- By saying that he “doesn’t know” if being gay is a choice, then he doesn’t have to acknowledge that science is getting the upper-hand in this conversation.
- By saying he “doesn’t know” if it’s a choice, he doesn’t have to acknowledge that his Bible might be wrong in condemning it.
- By saying he “doesn’t know” if it’s a choice means he doesn’t have to deal with the fact that he’s just a bigot.
He doesn’t want to accept that hating someone for their sexuality is the same as hating them for their ethnicity.
So in that one sense, his befuddled and confused ramble gave us more clarity into his mind than I think he wanted to give. But that’s the beauty of stupidity… it’s easy to spot and easy to read.