In nearly every instance, the political world operates on a hair trigger -- rapid-response teams, which used to be limited to campaigns, now exist year round, operating in both parties on a 24-7 basis.
It's worth noting, then, just how quiet the political world was, at least initially, when the Obama administration announced that American health insurance plans would have to cover contraception as part of preventive care. When the decision was made public on Jan. 20, the Republicans' rapid-response teams were relatively -- and uncharacteristically -- quiet. If the right was outraged, it was a muted furor.
A couple of weeks later, GOP officials suddenly realized they were offended after all, and started complaining bitterly. What took them so long? It's hard to say with certainty, of course, but encouraging economic reports may have very well led Republicans to start asking an awkward question: "What else can we talk about in 2012?"
For some in the party, the answer is an oldie but a goodie: the culture war. Benjy Sarlin reported this morning that the "God/guns/gays plan that re-elected President Bush" is "gaining traction fast on the right."
Associated Press
Will the GOP take Limbaugh's culture-war advice?
"I suspect if I'm Mitt Romney, I'm getting a little nervous because maybe that jobs picture won't look so bad in November," Santorum said last month after the latest jobs report. "And then, what's his pitch to all of you? 'I'm the guy who can put you back to work.' The president of the United States is more than a guy in the private sector who knows how to create jobs. You've got to be the commander in chief. You've got to look at bigger issues. You've got to look at what the role of a leader is in this country."
Given that Republicans have been losing almost every fight this year over abortion, gay marriage, and contraception in the court of public opinion, this may come across as a dangerous move. But it has at least one very powerful sympathizer in Rush Limbaugh (who, by the way, has no qualms about openly rooting for the economy to fail this year).
"Something tells me, that if the upcoming election could be decided on social issues, the Republicans could win that in a landslide, because we are on the right side of the culture war," Limbaugh told listeners on Thursday.
If the GOP is convinced the economy is recovering, and President Obama is likely to get some credit for that, it's easy to understand the appeal of this strategy. It has, after all, worked in the past.
But there are two broader problems with the tack.
The first is that the Great Recession wasn't just an economic crisis; it was a disaster that dramatically changed the country's priorities. Going into the 2012 election season, when the public is asked which issues matter most, 2% say immigration, 1% say abortion, 1% say religious values, and 44% say economy/jobs. For a party to ignore this is an invitation to be labeled out of touch.
The second is that Limbaugh's confidence about public attitudes is misplaced. Not only does the American mainstream not want to fight the culture war right now, when pressed, most of the public likes contraception, supports Roe v. Wade, and approves of marriage equality. One could certainly make the case that gun control isn't popular, at least not with key voting constituencies, but since Democrats aren't even trying to change the status quo, it's not much of a campaign issue.
Limbaugh complained on the air yesterday that the Republican establishment "wants no part of" the culture war. There's a good reason for that: GOP leaders can read polls.
It's easy to understand Republicans trying to pivot away from the economy. Identifying what they'd pivot to is much trickier.
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Assuming that, come fall, everything is roughly on the same path as it is today, the eventual Republican nominee will have precious little to run on that has any appeal to people outside of his party's hard core, far right base who represent roughly 20% of all voters. Mitt or Rick or Newt will have as tough an argument to make as Barry Goldwater did in 1964; worse, they will playing to a narrow slice of extremist voters, as Democrats will keep reminding people every chance they get.
Sorry, Charley... I posted a similar thought below, that I was typing as you posted yours. Needless to say, I agree =)
No problem, not to worry. The same thing happens to me every so often!
@Charley,
You're "hoping" that democrats don't let them forget...They should, but we'll see....
charlie.....you might be a little liberal with the 20% represented on the far right. it is closer to about 10%. they are just louder than everybody else.
But maybe Rush is reading the polls, and realizes if the economy improves, there's no other driving influence to get the far right - especially cultural conservatives who are single issue voters - to the polls, and he believes the best way to gin up artificial anger is through the culture wars. If the economy is getting better, it stands to reason that general turnout will be lower, thus giving greater weight to the certain block of evangelical and other cultural right voters who will turn out if they believe that their values are under direct attack in a second Obama term.
Well, the righties do -- and rapidly -- respond to the dog whistles. Boss & The Manatee yapping about the freedom of religion crap yesterday, and that only those who engage in "mindless" sex needing contraception has lead to the right wing blogosphere and Twitterscape exploding with "Amens" and predictions of the End of the World as well as local radio AM screamers echoing it all (Yes, I check the stuff out so you do not have to. You're welcome).
Too bad they did not listen to Rachel last night talk about the state laws, including the one Mike "We are ALL Catholics Now" Huckabuck signed. Steve should break out what Rachel said about this as a blog and a graphic, I think.
Absolutely! But is the MSM - Brian Williams, are you there? - picking up on Rachel's report of the real Republican record on this across the country? For Comcast/NBCNightlyNews to NOT pick up this story (and others) is to marginalize the excellent work Rachel and staff at MSNBC do to show the truth. We who watch know - it's those in the center who need to know.
just yesterday oklahoma senate passed 'personhood' bill. republicans in the house carry 2-1 margin. and then it will be signed into oklahoma law...as an oklahoma female, and mother of 2 daughters, i feel the need to move out of state to speak true.
Or maybe the fat man is reading the teabagger leaves that a big loss is coming for the repuknican candidate this fall and wants to set up the rationale for the loss as being that the republican candidate was just not 'conservative' enough.
In a sane world, what you said would be sarcasm. In the one we live in, it's unfortunately all too true. Failing to gain the White House in November will only be seen as a reason to move even further to the right. As if they needed the excuse.
In the midst of rapidly improving jobs numbers and their utter capitulation on payroll tax cuts, jobless benefits and the Medicare doc fix they desperately needed something, anything to change the subject. The only available issue was birth control. It's a lousy issue for them but it speaks to the poor position they've put themselves in - or Obama has maneuvered them into - depending on how you look at it. There are no more economic hostages they can take. As we've seen since last summer and the change from economy busting deficit talk to actually helping the economy has helped Democrats immensely. That's what Americans want and the GOP has nothing positive to counter it.
It's always risky trying to analyze what Limbaugh says. He doesn't really care about "public attitudes," he just days what his listeners want to hear. He's not as dumb as he looks. His job is to keep his listeners, so he only cares what they think.
Is it just me, or is the Republican party becoming what they say the Democrats are? And are Democrats becoming what the Republicans want to be?
Look at how much of a greater increase in the national debt came from "fiscally conservative" Republicans.
Look at what the Republicans are proposing with contraception when it comes to "religious freedom," which actually results in imposing a religious view through insurance - so much for government staying out of our lives.
Look at the abortion laws in VA - talk about government sticking it's...never mind...
It just seems like the Republican party has very rapidly turned into the very thing they preach against - big government. And when they do start preaching, look at who actually walks the talk - the Democrats!! Not only are they being hypocritical, they are letting the other party steal their platform from right under their noses! The Republicans can't be this crazy, can they?
oklahoma senate passed 'personhood' bill yesterday. republicans carry the house by a 2-1 margin, and will quickly be signed into oklahoma law. as an oklahoma female, with 2 daughters, i feel required to move out of the boundaries of this state to speak true.
What "culture war"!?! The Spanish Inquisition? The Crusades? The Protestant Reformation? The Glorious Revolution? What effin' century are we in?
In practicality though, the so-far-gone-done-the-rabbit-hole Right can't try to pretend that their culture war on contraceptives and gay marriage is a surrogate for actual discussion of the economy. Family planning--which would include getting married and having babies--does noticeably impact household economy. LGBT individuals also seek marriage for the financial benefits (taxes, employee benefits, childcare arrangments, wills and such) that are so generously heeped on straight marriage/unions. And if my own observations don't mistake me, a large brood of children is more than 3 nowadays. For good reason. Having a child is like buying a sportscar--except with a car you only have to feed once every week or two and the payments stop after five years.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! (Sorry, but someone was bound to say it sooner or later.)
You fill your tank every one or two weeks? Gah! It's more like a month for me. I guess I really am a commie pinko hippie granola-munching socialist blargy-blargy whatever.
For what it's worth, I don't think the wingers have gone down the rabbit hole. It's more like they've gone up a completely different hole. But I've said enough.
The Republican right is getting more and more like the Taliban in it's view of how big a role religion should play in the election and our lives.. For a party that says it's for personal liberty,dresses like patriots at their rallies, and thinks of government as the evil empire, they are expousing more and more intervention in peoples lives. They want to say who we can marry, and are firmly rooted against same sex marriages, want control of the contraception issue and in Va want to physically invade a woman's vagina. How personal can you get? Women out number men 4-1 so I think they are out on a limb here. I don't know what cool-aid they are drinking.
Rush's plan to go on a social issues tirade will backfire this time. The 8 years of Bush peeled a lot of people away from the Republican party, and more are independents like myself who don't blindly follow the dogma. The Tea party victory was more about the deficit than a purely social agenda, and when people got a good look at them the approval rating of Congress went in the toilet. It's time for the Republican party to start acting like grown ups and work in a bi-partisan way to fix the issues that concern us all, and stop playing the games!
In what way do women out number men "4-1"?
Otherwise good post.
4 marriages, 0 kids! birth control, sterile, impotent, premature ejaculation, too fat to find it or is that big stogie more than a stage-prop? Just askin' Rush.
Off topic a bit, don't you think?
Perhaps a little. Just trying a jab at a hypocrite.
For me, this is just further evidence that GOP Campaign 2012 has always been much more a fight over the heart and soul of the GOP than a concerted effort to defeat President Obama. The theory propounded by the Republicans themselves to explain what they must do in order to defeat Obama is that they need to turn this election into 'a referendum on Obama'. And yet continuously their behavior and rhetoric has turned this contest into anything but a 'pure' referendum on Obama. And, yes the GOP shift toward cultural issues has recently become more pronounced, but all along the GOP has been pushing an extreme agenda that would have inevitably made Campaign 2012 anything but a 'pure' referendum on Obama.
I really don't get it. I believe there are millions of people out of work. Most of them are collecting their unemployment comp. In the beginning of the Obama admin., I believed that the reason so many people were listening to "conservative talk radio" was because they were unemployed and didn't have much else to do with their time. I'm one of the "lucky" people that is still working. Although my salary has been frozen for the last 15 years and there's not much chance of that changing anytime soon. Still, on occasion I get to go online to catch up with the thoughts of Rachel fans on the blog.
I'm beginning to suspect that the people that listen to Rush, Sean, Michael and anyone else they listen to are not "unemployed", but the tea party people and the far right radicals. Where do they get their money and how is it they have so much time on their hands? Why do they have so much time to listen to the American version of "Tokyo Rose"s. That's all Fox and Friends are to me. Propagandists!
Just wondering?
Have you noticed how the lockstep spin in the echo chamber now is "It's not about contraception, it's about freedom of religion?"
Oh, really? So first the admin said hospitals must provide basic women's health insurance coverage for their employees. Bishops balked. So the admin said, OK, you don't have to pay. (I believe that in a perfect world this was actually a mistake. But the world isn't perfect and Wash DC sure isn't. Politics is the art of the possible. For the pitfalls of ideological purity, see Congress' approval ratings. Be careful what you wish for.)
You don't have to pay!!! Where's the freedom part now?
I've voiced mild objections here recently over what I perceived as man-bashing comments by some, but every day, this more and more seems like a war on women, and I do have to ask: What are these guys thinking?
I read a book 2 months ago that got me to thinking. If the Repubs can run stelth campaigns and then savage Union/worker rights under the law, other interest groups with legal [as opposed to Constitutional] rights should watch out. They may do the same to their rights. I specifically was thinking of "Women's Rights". And I was right. Next the Repubs will want to limit the maximum award for Sexual Harassment in the work place to some low figure like $1000. They don't believe it can happen anyway.
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I was watching a news show the other day (I can't remember which one, sorry) and someone made the point that the Republicans made the mistake in the 2010 election of believing that because they were voted in to the House in such huge numbers, etc. was a referendum on Obama's "liberal" viewpoints and not just on the economy being in the toilet when that election took place. I think that is a really good point. Republicans took that election as a sign that ALL Republican issues were suddenly massively important to the entire country. That is clearly not the case when it comes to social issues, and a case can be made that the economic issues, at this point, are lining up with Democrats. That is a huge reason that some Republicans are willing to wage the social issue war right now- they still believe the 2010 election gives them the upper hand.
Limbaugh is dead wrong. Social issues may bring out the Republican base, but those issues lose the independents. If Romney is the candidate, his religion is going to be an issue for the Republican base. The only way Romney can get their votes is to get a strong VP that appeals to the Christian right.
I live in hope that, by going after women's issues in the way they have, the Republicans are slitting their electoral throats. If they lose women, they're....what's similar to 'screwed' but yet somehow the opposite?
Castrated?
They're hoping for something similar to 2004, when Rove et al. put "defense of marriage" initiatives on state ballots to bring out the base to vote against same-sex marriage.
Echoing that strategy, Repub leaders in Washington state and New Jersey have already started collecting signatures to put same-sex marriage to a vote in November. But a lot has changed in eight years, and it might not, in fact polls show it probably won't, work this time.
The Personhood Bills on the ballot in 13 states now would seem to fill that Rovian/Machiavellian notion of how our democracy should look in 2012. That "it probably won't work this time" ...from your lips to God's and the voter's ears!
Now that things are ever so slightly improving, notwithstanding the three years Republicans spent blocking nearly every piece of legislation tailored to boost the economy & jobs, there is much more that could be done. So it is illustrative to note Republicans still have absolutely no intention nor interest whatsoever in acting on behalf of the American people. They are too self-absorbed in achieving electoral victories to do what is right for the country. Their sudden pivot to the culture wars is proof thereof.
While that strategy may have been successful in the past there is little reason to believe it will work this time. The culture wars are a convenient distraction. People already are distracted given the slowly recovering economy. Millions, whose lives have been turned upside down, are looking for work or busy trying to keep the job they have. Everyday they face hardships, never before thought possible. Yet Republicans think it is a good time to limit access to contraception -- an unintended pregnancy, so be it.
Instead of creating more uncertainty in an uncertain world, Republicans need to stop thinking about themselves & either step-up to the plate or get out of the way. If history is our guide, they won't. And so the culture wars will rage on unabated because getting back in power is all they care about!
You have to remember, the primary reason people listen to Rush isn't to be informed (they would have left in droves after the "Lord's Army" fiasco). They want to be angered and outraged. It's real easy to use social issues to do this, especially when you make up a story about people who just have sex all day (I don't know about you, but I couldn't do it day in and out even if I didn't have a job), and viola! Instant rage.
Who the hell doctored that photo of Rush to make him look 100 pounds lighter?