Republicans react to President’s same-sex marriage decision, Lugar’s Indiana loss

>>> we have been following breaking news this afternoon, the president announcing his support of same sex marriage and an announcement that will have an impact on what will likely be a close presidential race and more bitter fight for congress. joining me is steve s ti vers. the president says he endorses and supports gay marriage . do you?

>> you know, i believe marriage is between one man and one woman, but that's the president's choice to do what he thinks is right. i think there will be a lot of issues this year but, martin, i think this election will be about jobs and be about making sure that we can get americans back to work and that will be the issue that will decide the issue. i think chuck todd said that earlier on your show and i agree with that.

>> we'll talk about that in a moment. you're saying that you don't agree with same sex marriage, is that right?

>> yes, sir.

>> so you are happy for people as the president said to serve this nation, to potentially be sacrifice their lives on behalf of the country and serve in all kinds of public service roles and not be allowed to get married?

>> well, you know, there are lots of things that can happen and lots of states will choose the direction they want to go and a lot of states have already done that, martin, and just yesterday the state of north carolina did, but i came on the show to talk about jobs.

>> we'll do that. okay. as you know, dick lugar lost his seat last night and he released a letter about the state of the institution that you're a freshman member of and he said the bipartisan mindset was understood by president reagan that worked with democrats frequently and showed flexibility that would be ridiculed today. we also hear about the tea party 's reverence for ronald reagan , but maybe they're mistaken and should be ridiculing him instead.

>> if that's the case, they may ridicule me too, martin because i have 12 bills and 11 have bipartisan co-sponsors and the 12th that passed the house this bipartisan votes with republicans and democrats and i believe we have to work together to solve the problems and i have a great bill that will help veterans get back to work and i believe we have to work together. in fact, i think that the reason that dick lugar lost in indiana had a lot more to do with the fact that he didn't go home and didn't have residency in indiana and in fact exit polls showed that 75% of the people that voted against him voted against him for those reasons and only about a fifth of the people this supported murdoch supported him for tea-party based reasons

>> right. with regard to ohio itself, given what the president has said today, what do you think the implications of that endorsement will mean for that state come the presidential election ?

>> i think the election in ohio like on many states is going to be decided based on what people think about jobs. i think people of ohio will evaluate the president based on whether they think he helped grow the economy or hurt jobs and unfortunately the administration has had policy that will help hurt jobs and i think he will pay for that at the ballot box and i don't think it will be decided on any other issues other than energy, health care , and jobs.

>> even though in ohio unemployment is below the national average and there has been an increase in employment?

>> ever since john kasich was elected governor unemployment has gone down.

>> that has nothing to do with the president?

>> it has everything to do with everybody but you can't compare one state to the other and say that ohio has gone down since john kasich was elected governor. that is a fact.

>> it is also a fact is it not that the president's decision to help the motor industry has produced great benefits in the state of ohio , is that not true?

>> well, i believe that the auto industry would have done fine either way . frankly, the bankruptcy system works. many industries including the airline industry have been through the bankruptcy and they have still had jobs on the outside, and frankly ford didn't benefit from the bailout and they're doing just fine as well. honda that was in my district didn't benefit from the bailout and they're doing just fine. different people look at that differently. i don't think it is the government's role to bail out private industry , martin.

>> and also just on this issue of going back to dick lugar , you're in the congress, and actually your voting record is actually less conservative on average than many of your fellow house republicans.

>> i vote the way my district would expect, martin, yes, sir.

>> indeed. do you ever worry yourself that you could get a primary challenger like the one that richard lugar got because unless you're super extreme as it were you can be subjected to millions of dollars poured on the head of an opponent of your that is takes the opportunity to fight for your seat and take it away from you.

>> i do what i think is right and what is in the best interest of our country and district and i don't worry every day about whether i am going to get to keep my job. i do what i think is right to move this country forward and that's what i will always do. i hope that's what every member of congress does and in fact that's what i believe every member of congress does.

>> congressman steve stivs that acknowledges the president's work with the auto industry and is a republican, sir. thank you so