Memorization is great on the lecture circuit but for a candidate under the microscope of the electorate, Rubio appears to be slightly more intelligent than Siri in his ability to think for himself.
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“Well”, replied Mr. Kierstead, “that’s your belief”.
“I just believe marriage is between one man and one woman”, Rubio said.
A gay man confronted Marco Rubio on Monday over his opposition to same-sex marriage, an unscripted moment in a day of stagecraft from the Florida presidential candidate.
Rubio replied: ‘I don’t.
“I respect your view”, he told Kierstead.
Rubio has said that he disagrees with the Supreme Court Obergefell decision that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, telling Chuck Todd in December, “If you want to change the definition of marriage, then you need to go to state legislatures and get them to change it”.
“Typical politician”, Kierstead loudly remarked. But the man, Timothy Kierstead – a New Hampshire resident who said he’d been married for a long time – refused to take that answer, saying you separate church and state. “Love is love. People don’t choose who they are going to love”.
Yet Rubio seems unconcerned his positions on social issues might cost him younger voters.
“It means that you believe that this institution that’s been around for millennia is an important cornerstone of society”, said Rubio. Explaining that he doesn’t believe “case law” equals “settled law”, he promised to appoint Supreme Court justices that will “interpret the Constitution as originally constructed”, to restore this power to the states. During Saturday’s ABC News debate, he said he didn’t accept the idea that believing in traditional marriage “makes you a bigot or a hater”.
At the same diner, a 92-year-old woman asked Rubio whether Senator Lindsey Graham of SC was gay.
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“He’s a bachelor right?” she asked. The man reminded Rubio that gay marriage is legal.
