10 Democratic Senators are still either silent about or against Marriage Equality. Of course Tom Carper is one of them.

Filed in National by on March 26, 2013

Huffington Post had up as their lead banner story earlier this evening the pictures of 10 Senate Democrats who are still either opposed to marriage equality or who are silent on it, despite the avalanche of Democratic politicians who are rushing to be on the right side of history recently, namely their colleagues Claire McCaskill, Mark Begich and Mark Warner recently. The stunning facial features of our Senior Senator was among the pictures of the 10.

Here is what HuffPo had to say about Senator Carper:

7. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) opposes DOMA and co-signed an amicus brief last much that urged the Supreme Court to invalidate Section 3 of that law. But the senator has yet to endorse same-sex marriage as a legal right.

“Sen. Carper was proud to support Delaware’s efforts to enact Civil Union legislation and earlier this month he joined 211 of his Congressional colleagues in co-signing the Amicus brief that urges the Supreme Court to invalidate Section 3 of DOMA,” his office said in a statement. “He has also said that he would vote to repeal DOMA. He also opposed President Bush’s attempt to enact a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Like many Americans including Presidents Obama and Clinton, Sen. Carper’s views on this issue have evolved, and continue to evolve. He continues to give this issue a great deal of consideration.”

So it sounds like Senator Carper is not against gay marriage, unlike some of his 10 colleagues like Bob Casey, Joe Manchin and Bill Nelson. It sounds like he is still evolving.

Well, Senator, if such a centrist corporatist like Mark Warner of the much more conservative Virginia can endorse marriage equality, then why can you not from the much more liberal Delaware? Senator, let’s be frank. You were just elected to your last term in the Senate. In 2018, you will 71. You will be facing enormous Delaware Way pressure to step aside, given that Beau Biden and Jack Markell will be looking to move up the ladder by then. You have to be thinking of your legacy now. Do you really want to spend your last term still evolving on an issue that is becoming settled in Democratic politics. And if you are thinking of yet another term in the Senate in 2018, then you better be for marriage equality by then, and you should have been on that marriage equality bus for some time. I dare say you may face a primary in 2018 by much more credible officeholders miffed that you have not stepped aside. Given that Biden and Markell are for marriage equality, I do not see how you can be undecided on this issue much longer.

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  1. Jason330 says:

    Carper represents a very Red state that went for McCain and Romney. I think that must be a factor in his thinking.

  2. Delaware Dem says:

    Uh… what? Carper represents a state that has not voted for a Republican Presidential candidate since 1988.

  3. Delawarelefty says:

    OK Senator Carper, take a little risk and support marriage equality. What have you got to lose?

  4. pandora says:

    I’m not understanding where Carper is coming from. This should be easy. Not doing it takes more effort and sends the message that he doesn’t support gay marriage.

  5. Delaware Dem says:

    Precisely. Unless he really doesn’t support it and doesn’t want his liberal blue state constituency to know that.

  6. jason330 says:

    Wait… Carper represents Delaware in the Senate? My bad.

  7. Delaware Dem says:

    Good one, Jason.

  8. Jason330 says:

    …because North Carolina is a goddam Berkley California type hippie paradise compared to the red state of Delaware.

  9. geezer says:

    Let’s keep in mind that Carper hails from Beckley, W.Va. Don’t let the corporate disguise fool you: He’s a peckerwood through and through.

  10. Either that, or he’s afraid that actually thinking about this will cause the Swiss watch-like precision of his brain to go sproi-oi-oi-ng and cause stuff to burst through that cranium of his.

    I’m starting to wonder literally just what is wrong with this guy.

    Is that his back-up robot that stands in for those increasingly-rare public photo-ops?

  11. John Manifold says:

    Bob Casey’s on board:

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130401_Sen__Casey_supports_same-sex_marriage.html

    As is John Carney.

    As is the little French seed company.

    http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/3-13DuPont.asp

  12. socialistic ben says:

    carper finally joined the rest of his state.

  13. SED says:

    Senator Carper has evolved over time on this particular issue. Vice President Biden (who is good buddy of Carper) was the first one to leak the support of President Obama for gay-marriage legislation. However, there is a lot of closed door and private conversations going on about this issue of gay marriage. Certain U.S. Senators may not be stepping forward so fast, because they trying to use this as a bargaining chip to get some of their issues passed as bills. You also have GOP Senators that are strong Conservatives that bleed red that are taking a hard stand on gay marriage issue. I would not overly stress on this topic, because it will be a matter of time before most of the blue states (like Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, etc). Will pass gay marriage legislation. The true problem lies in the Southern States such as South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, etc, that have strong conservatives views because faith based organizations dominated their regions.

    Delaware has not been a red state since President Reagan’s time during 1980’s. That’s why Delaware is becoming not really important for the National GOP to capture anymore whether for Governor or U.S. Congress seats. Delaware GOP’s members act like RINOs now (from the old guard or the New Castle County Republicans vs Southern Republicans from Kent and Sussex Counties) and even some of the old guard has either left the state or changed sides. Delaware Democratic Party has it pretty sweet deal in my opinion.