GOP wimps suddenly fear social issues: How tables turned on religious right

[DonViejo]

Once upon a time, it was the right that ran on reproductive health issues. Here's why they're running scared now

KATIE MCDONOUGH

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker doesn’t want to talk about equal marriage, at least not so much anymore. ”I don’t think the Republican Party is fighting it,” Walker said last month when asked about the issue. ”I’m not saying it’s not important, but Republicans haven’t been talking about this. We’ve been talking about economic and fiscal issues. It’s those on the left that are pushing it.” Now it’s totally weird for a guy who is on the record as being pretty into his state’s ban on equal marriage and is currently defending it in court to say he’s done fighting the changing tides, but it’s also the new GOP line at a moment when they are falling increasingly out of step with the public on everything from LGBTQ rights to contraception.

As John Harwood pointed out on Tuesday in the New York Times, Democrats have been hammering Republicans hard on these issues, which has left many conservatives scrambling to deflect questions or clarify their records — particularly when it comes to reproductive rights:

Ed Gillespie, the Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, argued that Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic incumbent, was “making up my views” when Mr. Warner accused him of seeking to overturn abortion rights and ban some forms of contraception. In fact, Mr. Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, said in a recent debate, he wants contraceptives available (behind the counter) at pharmacies without a prescription.

Representative Cory Gardner, a Republican in a tight Senate race in Colorado, proposed the same thing after the Supreme Court’s decision on the Hobby Lobby case exempted some private businesses from covering certain contraceptives in health insurance plans. He was shielding himself from attacks by Senator Mark Udall, a Democrat, who has spent months slamming Mr. Gardner’s “radical agenda” on abortion and family planning.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/07/gop_wimps_suddenly_fear_social_issues_how_tables_turned_on_religious_right/

[tanyev]

1. Aw. Caught between their base and a hard place. I'd say I feel a little sorry for them--

if I did.

[meow2u3]

2. Republicans are hoist by their own petard

....simply because they've gone too far with their laws restricting the rights of far too many people. The people aren't having it anymore.

From the "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" department.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. I've never met an honest Republican.

[CTyankee]

4. some are just delusional and they are "honest" about that...