Sens. John Cornyn and Dick Durbin on CNN’s State of the Union
Today on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) join Candy Crowley to discuss Pres. Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement, the Congressional agenda and more. A highlighted excerpt is after the jump; visit http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2012.05.13.html for a full transcript of the interview.
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Highlighted Excerpt
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CROWLEY: That was the biggest applause line, as you might imagine. The battle is clearly joined. We had the president this week, coming out, making history, saying that he favors gay marriage. I know Senator Durbin that you also believe that gays should be allowed to marry.
Do you worry, though, that the president could lose some states, North Carolina, Missouri, some of those where the evangelical vote is very strong because of his same-sex position?
DURBIN: I can just tell you I don’t think it was a political calculation by the president. I think it was a matter of conscience. He talked it over with his wife and his children, and I know I have talked to him over the years. It’s a difficult issue, a real challenging issue, but I think the president came down on the right side.
This morning I took a look at Loving versus Virginia, which I’m sure Senator Cornyn remembers, the 1967 Supreme Court decision that said that the Virginia law banning interracial marriages was a violation of equality under the laws and due process. And I think it comes down to the same basic principle, whether we’re going to have marriage equality in this country.
CROWLEY: But do you think that it could hurt the president politically in some of these swing states, is the question?
DURBIN: Well, I don’t think he’s going to lose votes that he otherwise hadn’t lost. I’m not sure the evangelicals were going to lean toward President Obama anyway.
CROWLEY: Senator Cornyn, is this something that you think Mitt Romney ought to bring up frequently? Is this an issue that you think is a winning issue for Republicans?
CORNYN: Candy, President Obama brought this issue up because he wants to — he can’t run on his record. Let’s put it that way. And so he’s trying to raise divisive issues up to solidify his base and to divide the country, and that isn’t what we should be focusing on now. We should be focusing on jobs and the economy.
We have two looming things that are going to happen in December and January, and the president is AWOL on both the largest tax increase in American history, that will occur when about 130 different tax provisions expire on December the 31st, and a sequestration in January, which will be a half a trillion dollars in what Secretary Panetta, his own Secretary of Defense, said would be disastrous cuts to the military.
Where is the president? Well, he’s raising issues that aren’t going to be resolved between now and then and in an attempt to try to distract the country from his record.
CROWLEY: So that’s a no, you don’t think this ought to be a focal point for Mitt Romney to campaign on, his opposition to gay marriage?
CORNYN: I think we ought to talk about what the American people want, and that is jobs and get the economy on track. They want to know what the president’s plan is, once the Supreme Court strikes down his — the so-called Affordable Care Act, which we find out is the unaffordable care act, but when the Supreme Court rules in June, what’s the president’s plan? What’s his plan B?
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