A Republican focus on social issues won’t win any votes this fall, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and 2012 presidential contender said today.
A reporter attending the Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning asked Barbour his thoughts on former RNC Chairman Ken Melhman recently coming out as gay despite the party benefiting from state measures banning same-sex marriage. The reporter also noted Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels recently suggesting a “truce” on social issues.
“I’d put my bona fides up against anybody as social conservative,” Barbour said, but social issues such as gay rights, “ain’t going to change anybody’s vote this year.”
He said jobs and economic development are on voters’ minds, and any candidate going down “rabbit trails” and talking about social issues such as Islam, abortion or same sex marriage are “using up valuable time and resources that could be used to talk people about what they care about.”
He did not address the Mehlman question directly, but noted he has worked with gay people.
“In my career I’ve had extremely capable, valued employees and colleagues who were homosexuals,” Barbour said. “No big deal to me.”
Barbour noted that he agreed with Mississippi voters who opposed same sex marriage in a statewide referendum by an 81 percent margin. “Those two things are compatible with each other,” he said.
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