Chad’s Morning Brief: Gay Marriage and 2016, Obama Talks Ukraine, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for February 10, 2015.

Gay Marriage and 2016

The Washington Examiner has a piece out about whether Jeb Bush will be hurt by his views on gay marriage. According to the Examiner, two things have made some Republicans question if Bush can win over evangelicals.

Two events this year put them on notice that Bush is backing away for his past hard-line position. First, while calling marriage a “sacrament,” he urged “respect” for gays in committed relationships in what some saw as an effort to finesse the issue slowly winning support among Republicans.

And then the leading 2016 GOP presidential hopeful hired a top campaign aide, David Kochel, an Iowa political pro who has advocated for same-sex marriage rights.

After Kochel’s hiring, several conservatives and evangelicals circulated stories about his support for the issue, including a legal brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to back gay marriage.

“Jeb is going to get to deal with top-tier issues we already knew about: Immigration and Common Core — and now we can add marriage to the list,” a key conservative leader said. “He’ll have to answer some new, probing questions about his position — and what policies he would pursue if he was our nominee — and if he was elected,” he said.

The question for is this, will gay marriage even be a topic for 2016? The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue in June and I think that could mean gay marriage will a dead issue on the campaign trail. Besides that, those who count gay marriage as one of their top issues, probably aren't big Bush supporters anyway.

Obama and Ukraine

The United States is not ready to start arming Ukraine yet in it's fight against Russia, but according to FOX News that could all change.

The question of whether to provide lethal military support to Ukraine represents a potential split between Obama and Merkel. The White House has said Obama is reconsidering his opposition to arming Ukraine given a recent surge in violence, while Merkel has adamantly opposed such steps.

The U.S. and Europe have largely been in lockstep in their response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, raising the prospect that the public divide on lethal aid was merely a tactic to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a peace plan.

Obama did not elaborate on how seriously he's considering providing lethal military aid. He stressed that Russia's military might would make the prospect of Ukraine beating back the Russian army "unlikely" in an all-out conflict.

He said the international approach so far has been to "ratchet up the costs" on Russia for its aggression. "Russia has paid a significant cost," Obama said,adding, "It has not yet dissuaded Mr. Putin from following the course that he is on."

Senator Ted Cruz is among some politicians calling for the U.S. to arm Ukraine in their fight against the Russians.

Other Must Read Links:

Texas Tech College Republicans Launch Petition Against Angela Davis

Austin Watchers Talk Dustin Burrows

How We Won Texas 

Chuck Todd on Obama’s Foreign Policy 

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.