• The GOP's 'Religious Liberty' Campaign Is Not Working Out Too Well

    From Gryphon@VERT/CYBERIA to All on Thursday, July 31, 2014 09:11:00
    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.
    [typo3.gif]


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  • From The Curmudgeon@VERT/TCP to Gryphon on Thursday, July 31, 2014 15:01:52
    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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