[T]he abortion issue has been good to the Republican Party. It has energized Roman Catholic and evangelical grass-roots activists and allowed the GOP to paint pro-choice Democrats as cultural extremists, out of step with Main Street and the heartland. But a recent flurry of activity on abortion is making Republican politicians nervous. [...]
Why are they nervous? For one, they don't want to lose half their bait for the crazy ass wingnut vote. Listen to what Clarke Reed (the GOP architect in MS) had to say on it:
"I'm pro-life, but you can't wear the thing out."
"But you can't weat the thing out". It's all a game. A fucking game--not just with the deeply held religious beliefs of the wingnut set--but with the very lives of women. These people are beyond twisted.
The article highlights another way the Dems are slow on the uptake:
"Republicans are going to be the ones who look like extremists," says former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who lost his seat in 2004 after being beaten up on the abortion issue for years. That does not mean, however, that Democrats are rushing to call attention to the Republicans' dilemma. In the upcoming midterm elections, the Democrats don't plan to spend a dime on ads highlighting the abortion issue, according to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the savvy Chicago pol who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The reason? They're used to getting harrassed on the issue, so they just won't deal with it. What the hell kind of pissant excuse is that? The article notes that an overwhelming majority of Americans want to keep abortion legal (albeit, many agree on added restrictions). How does it not make sense to Dems that if the majority wants to keep it legal, wouldn't it be oh, obvious, to capitalize on the extremism going on?
Repubs are worried that it may "backfire" (as Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana stated) on them. Even Kenny-boy Mehlman is refusing to talk about it. They know they've toe'd a very politically dangerous line--because, you know, you can't "wear it out". Yet, the Dems don't plan to do anything about it. Nothing. Which, to me, shows that they care as much about women and the beliefs/principles of their supposed base as the Repubs.
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