Time for the big picture--This has jack shit to do with contraceptives

[Blue_Tires]

And EVERYTHING to do with the stories earlier this week about consumer confidence returning, Obama's approval rising and the economy making a slow and steady turnaround (plus the Chrysler commercial)...Which they have very effectively knocked off the front pages and op-ed columns...

Remember the GOP playbook, people...Nothing, and I mean NOTHING happens in politics by random coincidence and recognize the tried-and-true topics the opposition can instantly dominate the news for a week with their mock outrage:

1. Abortion/contraceptives

2. GLBT rights/marrige/acceptance

3. No one closing the border to stop those evul Messicans, and This is an English-only nation!

4. Flag burning (oldie but goodie, but not used much anymore)

5. Battle against creeping secularism and Sharia Law -- 10 Commandments in public places, "under god" in the pledge, War on Christmas/Easter, etc...

6. General liberal boogeymen like organized labor, NPR, Hollywood, NAACP, ACORN, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, ACLU, college professors, etc.

7. This week's hostage demand from the Wall Street elite: Get rid of this worker protection/environmental regulation/tax or else the Dow will lose a thousand points, etc.

8. Who is the REAL Barack Obama? Birth cert., parental background, his real religion, past communist affiliations, etc...(They've gotten about all the mileage they can the past three years so they use it sparingly now)

9. War drums--Destroy Iran, defend Israel, keep up military spending, etc...

10. Anti-intellectualism/science -- Evolution "debate", climate change denial, denigrating green technologies, promote more drilling/mining/fracking, anti-vaccine crowd, etc...

11. Big Gummitt hatefest du jour -- Postal service, IRS, TSA, federal employee salaries, teacher salaries, public schools, public libraries, public parks, Social Security, NEA, EPA, FDA, etc...

12. Below-the-belt "soft" targets -- Michelle Obama and the girls, finding a way to even hate a universal, harmless presidential sky-is-blue resolution, thinly veiled racism in general...(Usually just a Fox thing)


I know there is more but this is just a general list and reminder...When you see nothing about abortion in the news for a couple of months and all of a sudden it's all the cable news and congresscritter guests talk about for a week, keep this in mind...

[russspeakeasy]

1. How will Obama ever recover; Joe "the snake" Lieberman is against it.

The whole arguement is bullshit It gives professional wrestling a bad name.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Yep--economy must be improving. Back to culture wars.

[dmr]

3. Yup, no one beleives the GOP when they say Obama hasn't done anything to help the economy, so

they have to bring out all kinds of culture war bullcrap. Hey, didn't they recently bring out the birther crap?

You wrote a well-thought & excellent post. We should take a look at this thread every time they trot out another stupid excuse to berate him.

[Blue_Tires]

9. It's something we used to have on DU years ago

just a little running list of longtime oft-used wedge issues for future reference...

[starroute]

4. I think there's also something else at work in these "conscience" clause arguments

The argument the bishops are making is that Catholic business owners shouldn't have to offer their employees insurance that covers birth control if it goes against their own religious beliefs.

To me, this seems very much like the Ron Paul-style argument that civil rights legislation was wrong because business owners should be able to discriminate against minorities if they feel like it.

And it also lines up with Tea Party types complaining about paying taxes for purposes they don't approve of or get no personal benefit from.

Not to mention the religious right objecting to their children being taught about evolution in school because it goes against their belief in creationism.

Or, for that matter, the refusal of the Congressional Republicans to offer any hint of compromise in order to get important legislation passed.

All these positions are based on a single theoretical assumption -- that (as Margaret Thatcher notoriously said) there is no such thing as society, only individuals, and that individuals have the right to opt in or out according to whim.

Our own system of government was founded on the basis of social contract theory -- the idea that people give up some portion of their personal freedoms in exchange for the benefits of being part of a larger system which can do things that none of them could do as individuals. But the contemporary right seems to be rejecting that ideal -- and it's very hard to see what they propose to offer in its place.

[FarLeftFist]

5. Bookmarked for Youtube video I'm making about how bat-shit crazy republicans are. Keep em coming!

[boxman15]

6. Yep. They realize they are toast in 2012.

Their best hope right now is to restart the culture wars and get as many fundies out there as possible.

In October and November, I was thinking 2012 would be a bad year for Democrats. Now, I'll be shocked if we don't win back the House and blow out Mittens for the White House.

[Uncle Joe]

7. To be honest,

I don't believe we're out of the woods yet in regards to the economy or consumer confidence with the price of gas shooting up again.

That will be the bellwether in determing the general state of he economy and in turn the public's perception.

Jobs and the economy should continue to be the primary focus of the adminstration if they play whack a mole with the Republicans too much, and the economy takes a downturn, come fall it will be a tough election for the Democrats.

Thanks for the thread, Blue_Tires.

[Blue_Tires]

8. Yeah, we have a long way to go

But the GOP opposition can't have the media donate ink to covering even small, incremental improvements (and for all their doom and gloom they have no real ideas for progress, either), so here's the diversion...