“The pres­i­dent says that the jury’s out on evo­lu­tion. Here in New Jer­sey, we’re count­ing on it.”

–Bruce Spring­steen, May 21, 2005 

“Folks in Dover [PA] aren’t sure about evo­lu­tion. Here in New Jer­sey, we’re count­ing on it.”

–Bruce Spring­steen, August, 2005

“This issue [mar­riage equal­i­ty] is in a state of evolution.”

–Hillary Clin­ton for Sen­ate spokesper­son Karen Dunn, July 3, 2003

“I have been to this point unwill­ing to sign on to same-sex mar­riage pri­mar­i­ly because of my under­stand­ings of the tra­di­tion­al def­i­n­i­tions of mar­riage. But I also think you’re right that atti­tudes evolve, includ­ing mine.”

–Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma, Octo­ber 27, 2010

“We can­not afford to be impris­oned by pol­i­tics that say your views are not allowed to grow as you gain knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence. There’s noth­ing wrong with acknowl­edg­ing you’ve changed your mind when your views have evolved. Don’t we pride our­selves on learn­ing by living?”

–Sen. John Ker­ry, July 10, 2011 op-ed titled, “Politi­cians have the right to evolve on gay marriage”

“That was my timetable, that was my home state,” Box­er said. “That’s how I evolved. Vice Pres­i­dent Biden evolved on his timetable, and Pres­i­dent Oba­ma evolved on his timetable.”

–Sen. Bar­bara Box­er, May 9, 2012

“I sup­port mar­riage equal­i­ty because it is the fair and right thing to do. Like many Vir­gini­ans and Amer­i­cans, my views on gay mar­riage have evolved, and this is the inevitable exten­sion of my efforts to pro­mote equal­i­ty and oppor­tu­ni­ty for everyone.”

–Sen. Mark Warn­er, March 25, 2013

“I’ve got two young sons who, when I ask them and their friends how they feel about gay mar­riage, kin­da give me one of those looks like, ‘Gosh mom, why are you even ask­ing that ques­tion?’ The term ‘evolv­ing view’ has been per­haps overused, but I think it is an appro­pri­ate term for me to use.”

–Sen­a­tor Lisa Murkows­ki (R‑Alaska), March 28, 2013

“I don’t sup­port the gay mar­riage. My [gay] son is by far one of the most impor­tant peo­ple in my life. I love him more than I can say. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect, it doesn’t mean that I don’t sym­pa­thize with some of the issues. It just means I haven’t evolved to that stage.”

–Rep. Matt Salmon (R‑Ariz) to KTVK, March 29, 2012

The Wash­ing­ton Post’s Rachel Wein­er assem­bled those quotes on “evolv­ing” views on gay mar­riage, and dis­cuss­es why the term works so well there:

Evo­lu­tion implies for­ward move­ment and change; once a politi­cian starts to evolve, the impli­ca­tion is that he or she won’t stop. So for Sen. Lisa Murkows­ki (R‑Alaska) to describe her­self as “evolv­ing” implies that she will come to one day sup­port gay mar­riage. Like­wise, for Salmon to say he hasn’t evolved implies some fail­ing on his part. …

When politi­cians say they’ve evolved, it not only gives them polit­i­cal cov­er; it flat­ters vot­ers who have changed their views but don’t want to be told that they were ever wrong. …

More proof: Sen. Rand Paul (R‑Ky.), try­ing to push his par­ty on immi­gra­tion, sug­gest­ed they “evolve.”

 Rand Paul, of course, is has been squir­rel­ly about his views on evo­lu­tion itself, refus­ing to even tell a group of home school­ers how old he thinks the earth might be. I doubt you’d get any more of an endorse­ment of evo­lu­tion from Sen. Murkows­ki or Rep. Salmon.  It’s still nice to know that, how­ev­er much they may be unsure about evo­lu­tion, the GOP is count­ing on it.