Hullabaloo

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

 
They can't help themselves

by David Atkins

When Barack Obama became the first sitting President to support marriage equality, there was genuine hope from various conservative quarters that it would doom him in the general election against Mitt Romney. But then something funny happened: Republicans looked at the poll numbers and realized that doubling down on homophobic bigotry wasn't their best move, after all. They would light a small fire under their own base, but at the cost of losing even more women and young people, which they can't afford. So the GOP establishment was remarkably silent in the wake of Obama's statements, hoping that the conversation would shift as quickly as possible back to the economy. The base wanted to pounce, but wiser heads were tugging back on their leash.

The GOP used to be quite disciplined about such things and able to turn on a dime. But no longer. Every day it seems some new story about a retrograde Republican bigot hits the airwaves, the latest being Oklahoma representative James Lankford's declaration that being gay is a choice and thus a fireable offense:

STRASSER: Would you support a law that says you can’t fire someone for their sexual orientation –

KEYES: Similar to protections for people on race or gender?

LANKFORD: Well, you’re now dealing with behavior and I’m trying to figure out exactly what you’re trying to mean by that. Because you’re dealing with — race and sexual preferences are two different things. One is a behavior-related and preference-related and one is something inherently — skin color, something obvious, that kind of stuff. You don’t walk up to someone on the street and look at them and say, “Gay or straight?”

KEYES: But you think that even if you can’t see they’re that way, you don’t think someone is born gay necessarily?

LANKFORD: Do I personally? No. I don’t. I think it’s a choice issue. Are tendencies and such? Yes. But I think it’s a choice issue.

We've seen a similar lack of discipline from the conservative ranks on women's issues. Loyal readers of this blog know that Digby and I are less sanguine on the advantages of Republican extremism against women than most (we tend to worry about the Overton Window effect.) Still, it's undeniable that where Republicans had hoped to thread the needle on a message about "religious liberty", they were undermined by one whackadoo after the next (including Rush Limbaugh) exposing their real misogynistic agenda. Regardless of the long-term effect, there's no doubt it's been a short-term political disaster for them due to a lack of discipline from their rank and file.

This has been and remains the inherent danger for Republicans in relying on an increasingly retrograde base of voters to maintain power. They end up electing people who won't keep their heads down and hide how they really feel. And that in turn makes it difficult for Republicans to generate the message discipline they need to pass off bigotry and selfishness as wholesome virtues. They just can't help themselves anymore.


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thereisnospoon 5/15/2012 07:30:00 AM