The GOP’s huge 2014 problem: The religious right is still calling the shots

[DonViejo]

After the Tea Party insurgency, the war on women became the central tenet of Republican orthodoxy

AMANDA MARCOTTE, ALTERNET

As the 2014 election season gears up—and various politicians start floating the possibility of a 2016 presidential run—the question of what Republicans need to do about the religious right is only getting more serious. It’s become apparent that the religious right is an electoral albatross for Republicans. The invention of the “Tea Party” reflected this desire to bamboozle the press into forgetting that the Republican Party is controlled by a bunch of right-wing Christians, by floating this narrative that this new insurgence of conservative energy was somehow more about economic conservatism than social conservatism.

That narrative has basically collapsed in the face of overwhelming evidence that the Tea Party’s main impact is encouraging Republican primary voters to back even more embarrassingly Bible-thumping candidates than usual, from Ted Cruz to Christine O’Donnell. It’s impossible to ignore that the biggest result of the supposed Tea Party revolution has been to refocus Republican energies on attacking abortion rights and expanding the war on women to include attacks on previously non-controversial issues, such as insurance coverage of birth control and maternity care. Turns out the “Tea Party” was the same old religious right people know and loathe.

The religious right is increasingly a problem for the Republican Party. But it’s not one they can get rid of without creating even more problems for themselves.

The 2012 election really demonstrated how much the religious right hurts Republicans in general elections. The various “rape philosophers” who lost elections after making offensive remarks about rape victims were, by and large, expressing ideas about female sexuality and sexual violence they got by being stalwart warriors for the religious right. Todd Akin’s claim that “legitimate rape” didn’t result in pregnancy is a fairy tale told by Christian conservatives to convince themselves that exceptions in their preferred abortion bans for rape are unnecessary.Richard Mourdock’s claim that rape happens because it’s God’s plan was more of the same.


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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/14/the_gops_huge_2014_problem_the_religious_right_is_still_calling_the_shots_partner/

[HockeyMom]

1. My poor daughters

both the straight and gay one. They shouldn't have to fight all over again what their mothers already did.

[AlinPA]

2. Santorum, Huckabee, Jindal and Cruz will promise anything for their vote. The teabaggers

and the religious right control the party now.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. +1. The God botherers are in control. And the DEMS just wanna find the "middle ground," wherever the

f/ck it's at this week!

[DFW]

4. The God Squad rules because people are afraid to call their bluff

Ask them to prove that God is "on their side," and they will toss a bunch of quote from the English translation of the Bible at you. But for most quotes in there, there are contradictory quotes as well (great scene from Porky's II with that, if anyone remembers). It's not like God sat down with a typewriter one day and pounded out what he thought a bunch of American bigots ought to be screaming on Fox Noise two thousand years later.

The religious right is composed of humans, using texts written by other humans as an excuse to be control freaks over yet other humans. Their God won't smite their opponents, so they do it. When they do, they need to be exposed, arrested and shown for the phonies they are.

The God Squad is the man behind the curtain. Pay attention him.

[Coyotl]

5. Religious attendance is dropping faster than old people die.

The influence of religion in American politics is dying along with religion itself.