Government

IN Sen Mike Braun Takes Principled Stand Against Interracial Marriage, Before Remembering Bigotry Is Bad Actually

States' rights? Where have we heard that one before?

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Mildred Jeter Richard Loving The Lovings

Mildred and Richard Loving in 1967

No one has ever accused Indiana Senator Mike Braun of being the sharpest tool in the combination platter. But yesterday’s spirited defense of the right of individual states to ban interracial marriage was an especially egregious example of the politician discharging a firearm into his own genitals.

As flagged by the Times of Northwest Indiana, Braun made the comments during a conference call with reporters to discuss the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The senator was holding forth on his view that Roe v. Wade constitutes a gross usurpation of state power by imposing a national right to abortion.

Asked whether he believes that other decisions imposing national rules, such as the Supreme Court’s holding in Loving v. Virginia that interracial marriage is a constitutionally protected right must be struck down — the logical extension of the senator’s position — Braun happily took the bait.

Here’s his response to a question that specifically referenced “Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage.”

BRAUN:  When it comes to issues, you can’t have it both ways. When you want that diversity to shine within our federal system, there are gonna be rules and proceedings that are gonna be out of sync with maybe what other states will do. It’s the beauty of the system. That’s where the differences among points of view in our 50 states ought to express themselves. I’m not saying that rule would apply in general depending on the topic but it should mostly be in general. Because it’s hard to have it on issues that you are interested in when you deny it to others with a different point of view.

REPORTER:  So you would be okay with leaving the question of interracial marriage to the states?

BRAUN:  Yes. I think that that’s something that, if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it, too. I think that’s hypocritical.

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The senator did not misspeak. He didn’t fail to understand the question. He said exactly what he meant. And he even had the nerve to praise “diversity” while he did it.

“You can list a whole host of issues,” he babbled on. “When it comes down to whatever they are, I’m going to say they’re not going to all make you happy within a given state. But we’re better off having states manifest their points of view, rather than homogenizing it across the country as Roe v. Wade did.”

No homogeny … but no miscegenation, either. Got it.

Indiana Democrats pounced, calling Braun’s statement “not only un-American, but beneath any respectable person wishing to hold public office.”

And Braun, sensing that perhaps he’d gone too far, raced to correct the record.

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“Let me be clear on that issue — there is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form, at all levels and by any states, entities or individuals,” he said later.

Well, Mike Braun “After Dark” might want to have a word with Mike Braun “Daytime Bigot.”

And it’s fun to LOL at clown idiots like Braun, stepping on his own shoelaces. But they’re telling us plain as day that they’re coming for rights Americans have come to depend on. Not just the right to abortion, but the right to contraception, free speech, and even the right to marry.

As Dr. Maya Angelou said, “when people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”

They are telling us who they are. We need to believe them.

WATCH NOW: Sen. Braun open to U.S. Supreme Court rescinding ruling that legalized interracial marriage [NWITimes]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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