BY CHRIS BRENNAN
THE MORE Gov. Corbett talks, it seems, the closer Democrats get to defeating him next year.
Corbett, a governor with a gift for gaffes, talked a politically bad situation into a much bigger problem yesterday during a television interview in Harrisburg.
Corbett then had to apologize for his remark – comparing same-sex marriage to brother-sister incest.
“My words were not intended to offend anyone,” Corbett said in a news release issued by his office. “If they did, I apologize.”
CBS21 in Harrisburg yesterday aired an early morning “Ask the Governor” report about a federal lawsuit filed in July by the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging the state’s 17-year-old ban on same-sex marriage.
Anchor Sherry Christian noted that Corbett had walked back the state’s legal argument that compared same-sex marriage to allowing 12-year-olds to wed.
“It was an inappropriate analogy,” Corbett said. “I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don’t you?”
Christian appeared flustered, with an audible gasp, before pressing on through nervous laughter.
‘I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m going to leave the comments to you and your team. ”
Democrats in May’s primary election quickly pounced on Corbett’s comments.
U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz: “Gov. Corbett’s continued hateful rhetoric regarding same-sex marriage is unacceptable and an insult to the thousands of gay and lesbian Pennsylvanians who simply want equality.”
State Treasurer Rob McCord: “Just when you think he can’t sink any lower, Gov. Corbett goes and proves you wrong. I don’t know what he has against equality and equal treatment under the law, but Pennsylvanians deserve better than this. ”
Former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf: “Gov. Corbett’s remarks comparing marriage equality to marriage between siblings is hateful and demeaning.”
Former state Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty: “He has a history of making demeaning and insulting remarks toward Pennsylvanians of all walks of life, but even for Tom Corbett, today’s remark is shockingly offensive.”
Corbett’s gaffe yesterday probably won’t hurt him with his Republican base. But he doesn’t face a primary-election challenge, where that base would be most important.
But his political task for 2014 is winning votes from women, independents and Democrats.
And public opinion in Pennsylvania is heading in a different direction than Corbett on today’s kerfuffle.
A Daily News/Franklin & Marshall College Poll in August showed that 53 percent of the state’s registered voters support legalizing same-sex marriage.
State Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, in July announced that she would not defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in federal court.
In his apology yesterday, Corbett raised the federal lawsuit and seemed eager to push the conversation toward that venue.
“Same-sex marriage is an important issue, and the question of its legal status is one that will be heard and decided on its merits, with respect and compassion shown on all sides,” Corbett said.