Ted Cruz’s charges that Marco Rubio has not been crystal-clear on his support for traditional marriage have merit, as Leon Wolf of Redstate points out.
Cruz had said:
I will continue pointing out the truth about records. And so when you look at the words that came out of their mouth, there is a reason that the National Organization of Marriage has endorsed me in this campaign and has said it cannot support Donald Trump or Marco Rubio because both of them are unwilling to defend traditional marriage.
Some have criticized Cruz, noting that in December, when National Organization for Marriage (NOM) president Brian Brown endorsed Cruz, citing Cruz’s introduction in the U.S. Senate of a constitutional amendment that would undo the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of same-sex marriage and return the issue to the states, he also mentioned Rubio’s support for traditional marriage, saying:
There are many tremendous candidates remaining who have made support for marriage a pillar of their careers in public service, including Sen. Rick Santorum, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson and Se. Marco Rubio. We realize that our endorsement of Sen. Cruz will be very disappointing to them. Should any of these candidates emerge as the Republican nominee we would enthusiastically support them.
But last June, Brown noted Rubio’s refusal to back a constitutional marriage amendment. He wrote a letter to Breitbart that asserted:
Senator Rubio is merely giving lip service when he says he supports traditional marriage, if he can’t even get behind a constitutional amendment that allows the People to decide the issue. Walker, Santorum, Jindal, Huckabee, and Perry have all made strong commitments at this critical time. Rubio and Bush, on the other hand, are simply caving. Period. Right now I can’t see conservatives supporting either.
In a June interview, Brown doubled down on his criticism of Rubio, saying that Rubio was “very disappointing” on the issue. He saw Rubio’s position as, “look I don’t want to amend the Constitution. I don’t want to do the one thing that is a clear path towards overturning the Supreme Court decision.” He continued that it would be unacceptable to have any GOP presidential candidate “who are so weak they’re not willing to stand up for their own party platform, which calls for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage.”
“Senator Rubio is merely giving lip service when he says he supports traditional marriage.”
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) president Brian Brown
Brown has also ripped Donald Trump, stating, “There is a real danger that conservatives will split the vote allowing someone like Donald Trump to emerge from the crowded field, which would be disastrous.”