No matter how they try to spin it with Frank Luntz–approved language, the House Republicans have, as Paul put it, waved “the white flag of surrender,” abandoning their previous imperative that any extension of the debt limit must be tied to matching budget cuts. This was the second GOP white flag between the election and the Inaugural, the first being the collapse of the Republican pledge to never raise taxes during the “fiscal cliff” standoff. This shows what the post-Kumbaya Obama can achieve with the wind of victory at his back, when he holds to his key principles, and when he abandons fantasies of bipartisan compromise with the Party of No. ...Frank Rich, Daily Intel
And then there is the Todd Akin fallout as it affects Roe v. Wade.
Rich has this:
What is significant is that Bill McInturff, the Republican pollster who collaborates on the NBC-WSJ poll, pronounced the rise in Roe support as “profound.” Not only did 70 percent favor upholding Roe, but 57 percent felt “strongly” about it. My own strong conviction is that abortion rights are essential, period; I find the notion that government would regulate women’s health decisions appalling — as do most Americans, including libertarian conservatives in the Goldwater tradition. I think the uptick in Roe support happened because the 2012 tea party GOP senatorial candidates Todd Akin and Richard Murdock, with their outlandish remarks about rape, along with Rush Limbaugh’s verbal assault on the Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, alerted American women to the growing threat to their reproductive rights. If the Roberts court undermines reproductive rights, it’s tragic news for American women but it may further mobilize voters to support the party that will push back. ...Frank Rich, Daily Intel
Comments