Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee continues to have harsh words for fellow Republicans whom he accuses of being insufficiently anti-gay, saying that the party needs to “grow a spine” and become more resolute in its opposition to marriage equality.
Days after an interview in which Huckabee threatened to leave the GOP if it softened its positions on reproductive rights and marriage equality, he kept up his criticism on his Fox News program this weekend. Huckabee assailed the Supreme Court’s decision last week to let stand a series of lower court rulings in favor of marriage equality, saying he was “utterly disgusted with fellow Republicans who want to walk away from the issue of judicial supremacy just because it’s politically volatile.”
Quoting Mat Staver of the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, Huckabee posited that “our constitutional make-up does not give the minority veto rights over the majority.” (He didn’t dwell on the question of whether the majority has the right to deny basic freedoms to the minority, a situation the Constitution’s framers sought to avoid.)
In a not-so-thinly veiled jab at Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker – who, like Huckabee, is thought to be considering a 2016 presidential run – Huckabee lambasted elected officials who refused to defy the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Several governors and other elected officials reacted by saying, ‘Well, that's it. That's the final word.’ Horse apples. The Supreme Court is not the supreme being,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee’s advice for the party?
“Grow a spine, show a modicum of knowledge about the way we govern ourselves, and lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way,” the former governor said.
Huckabee, who insists that he is “not homophobic,” has previously cited “the ick factor” as a key reason he opposes marriage equality.
Watch Huckabee's monologue here, via Media Matters:
Shares