Washington Monthly / By Ed Kilgore
The GOP's 'Religious Liberty' Campaign Is Not Working Out Too Well

Rallying around the Hobby Lobby decision can make Republicans say
stupid things.





In the wake of a predictable GOP filibuster of a Senate bill seeking
to reverse the Supreme Courts Hobby Lobby decision, Republicans are
publicly complaining that Democrats are trying to change the subject
from this or that issue (real or imaginary) they want to talk about,
but are privately conceding the peril for their team of any extended
conversation involving reproductive rights. At National Journal Sophie
Novack reports theyd just as soon not go there:

Republican strategists who were around for [Todd] Akins legitimate
rape comment in 2012 warn candidates to tread carefully on the
issue. The GOPs continued meetings on how to connect with women
show the party is still haunted by his loss, and members have
denounced his return to the political scene with the release of his
new book.

The fact that the Supreme Court made the decisionRepublicans
should let that stand and not engage in the debate. It will get them
nowhere and take them off the message of real issue Americans are
concerned about, said Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist and former
spokesman for House and Senate leadership. I think Republicans saw
what happened with Todd Akinit was a stupid and bad campaign
strategy. It would be political malpractice for Republicans to
engage with that kind of conversation.

This is another way of admitting that the effort begun in 2012 to
reframe the GOPs extremist position on reproductive rights as a
defense of religious liberty hasnt worked as well as party
strategists had hoped. Indeed, by shifting the focus from abortion to
abortifacient birth control, the religious liberty-driven attack on
Obamacares contraception coverage mandate has actually increased
opportunities for Republican pols to say things that sound stupid or
crazy to a big percentage of the population.

Was Akins disastrous legitimate rape commentary really any farther
from the mainstream than talk about IUDs being little Holocaust
machines? Is there really any way to frame the the unchanging extremist
position on abortion (life begins when ovum fertilized; ban all
abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest) most Republicans
embrace in a way that doesnt hurt the the party with swing voters
generally and single women in particular? I dont think so. But I also
think dont talk about it demands like Bonjeans will infuriate the
antichoice activists who set the GOPs position in the first place and
convince them to demand even more demonstrations of loyalty.

Ed Kilgore is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly. He is is
managing editor for The Democratic Strategist, a senior fellow at the
Progressive Policy Institute, and a Special Correspondent for The New
Republic.
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For reasons unknown to us Gryphon said thus to All:

Ed Kilgore is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly.
He is is managing editor for The Democratic Strategist, a
senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and a
Special Correspondent for The New Republic.

Hmmm, this says it all... hype hyperbole and propaganda from the Democrat side... credible... in some small measure... biased... definitely... keep it up
, I need a good laugh now and then.

:)


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