Cory Booker's Republican opponent: Washington Post interview 'helps get him the gay vote by acting ambiguous'

While New Jersey senatorial candidate Cory Booker admitted to the Washington Post that he has started dating again, his Republican opponent suggested on Tuesday that Booker was engaging in political courtship.

"Maybe that helps him get the gay vote, by acting ambiguous," Steve Lonegan told Newsmax host Steve Malzberg. "That I can't address. Although I don't like going out in the middle of the night, or any time of day, for manicures and pedicures. It was described as his peculiar fetish. I have a more peculiar fetish: I like a good Scotch and a cigar, that's my fetish. But we'll just compare the two."

While Booker, currently the mayor of Newark, told the Post he preferred to keep his lovelife private, saying he did not want to put a "young lady" in the spotlight without cause, he admitted that he liked calling out homophobia, even if it comes from supporters.

"I love seeing on Twitter when someone says I'm gay," Booker said to the Post. "I say, 'So what does it matter if I am? So be it. I hope you are not voting for me because you are making the presumption that I'm straight.'"

Lonegan admitted to Malzberg that he did not read the widely-cited interview, yet felt it was "weird."

"As a guy, I personally like being a guy," Lonegan told Malzberg, before recounting rumors about Booker going out for late-night manicures and pedicures.

"In Newark? What's open in Newark?" Malzberg asked.

"We were looking," Lonegan answered. "But we couldn't find a 24-hour manicure place in Newark."

Watch footage from the interview, posted by Right Wing Watch on Tuesday, below.

[Image via YouTube]