Cory Booker needs to give Cory Booker a lesson.
Over the weekend, the New Jersey senator and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful told CBS’ Margaret Brennan he will “defend anybody” attacked for their religion.
“I will defend anybody, Republican or Democrat, who is attacked because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their ethnicity,” he said Sunday. “That’s just who I am. I don’t give a d*** about the politics of it.”
But if you backtrack just a few months, Booker wasn’t abiding by his own rule when he questioned judicial nominee Neomi Rao in February.
The senator grilled Rao on same-sex marriage, asking President Donald Trump’s nominee if she would describe gay relations as “immoral” or a “sin.”
“Are gay relationships, in your opinion, immoral?” Booker asked, later adding, “So you’re not willing to say here … whether you believe it is sinful for two men to be married? You’re not willing to comment on that?”
In response, Rao told Booker she would “put to one side” her personal views on the subject of marriage and work to rule with impartiality, “faithfully” following the “precedents of the Supreme Court.”
Gay marriage has been Booker’s pet issue for some time, and one he uses in an attempt to bully those whose religious beliefs define marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman.
Last year, in April, Booker repeatedly pressed then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whom Trump had nominated to be his secretary of State, on whether he considers gay relations “a perversion.”
“You’re going to be representing this country and their values abroad in nations where gay individuals are under untold persecution, untold violence,” Booker said. “Your views do matter.”
Pompeo, who is Christian, vowed to show “respect for every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Booker, still unsatisfied, also asked Pompeo if he viewed people who worship “other gods” — particularly Muslims — in a “negative” light. The nominee reminded Booker of his “exquisite” record of showing respect to those with whom he has deep ideological differences.
So either Booker has had a change of heart, or he really meant he will “defend anybody” so long as their religious beliefs don’t deviate from his own progressive theology. Time will tell which one it is.