Does the GOP really want Roe V Wade overturned?

[tinrobot]

Roe V Wade has been a gold mine for conservatives over the past few decades. They have squeaked by a lot of elections by spouting "pro-life" rhetoric. While the pro-life fundies are certainly not a majority in this country, the tend to be monolithic and have a high voter turnout. There are very few single issue blocks of voters, but the pro-life crowd is probably the largest and most reliable.

While the GOP expouses the evengelical rhetoric, we have seen time and time again, the GOP's primary agenda is being pro-business and making themselves and their corporate buddies richer.

By overturning Roe V Wade, the GOP potentially loses (or at least dilutes) a very large part of it's base. Instead, it's to the GOP's advantage to let Roe V Wade drag on over many election cycles. That way, they can use the fundies as tools to enact their real agenda - dismantling the social safety net and enriching themselves in the process.

I think that perhaps Meirs (and maybe even Souter) is a way to keep the suspense and kep the pro-life crowd in the GOP camp. If the court is always one vote away from overturning Roe V Wade, the fundies can continue to be played in elections years to come.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

1. Of course not

It's their biggest fear.

[Oerdin]

17. Yep

The GOP wants these "culture war" issues to always be there but to never be solved. The biggest draw they have for the losers who vote for them are the fear that someone some where is having kinky gay butt sex or that a rape victim is having an abortion. If these issues went away there'd be hardly any reason for their base to show up at the polls.

The GOP basically inacts policies to help the super rich who give them money and use regressive cultural populism to keep the red neck class voting for them.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Depends on who in the GOP you're talking about

If you're talking about the corporate overlords and the power brokers, no, of course they don't. But if you're talking about Ma Voter sitting at home in the Midwest or Appalachia, hearing from their preacher every week about the Holocaust against the unborn, yes, they want RvW overturned.

[Wilms]

3. DLC gets a lot of mileage off the debate, too. n/t

[MsConduct]

4. I think they do. It's part of their plan to run everyone's lives. n/t

[tatertop]

5. maybe yes

I think they will overturn it.

[Jade Fox]

6. It's a terrifice wedge issue, and repeal would be a disaster....

simply driving abortion underground.

So, no, they do not really want Roe v Wade overturned.

[Democrats_win]

7. They'll do just fine after Roe V Wade reversed. They'll use same fear

tactics saying those "liberals" want to make abortion legal, so vote for us and we'll keep it illegal. Only difference will be that abortions will only be performed in back alleys or women will no longer have a say in what happens.

[Mr_Spock]

12. lol - you forget that there are millions of pro-choice Republican women

who are simply ignore this issue in their minds and are mute on this point. Their silence would show up hugely at the polling station.

[mike_c]

8. yes and no....

Therein lies the essential schizoid relationship between the GOP and its fundy allies. The GOP would be bereft without the anti-choice issue-- it's the glue that keeps a major part of its coalition together-- but the fundy base lives and breathes for the repeal of Roe v Wade. THEY want it desperately. They gnash their teeth and rend their hair over it. GOP strategists know that they have to provide intermittent rewards to their base to keep them coming back, so they have a delicate balancing act to perform regarding Roe.

I think Bush is a destabilizing factor, however, despite his loyalty to the GOP. His first loyalty is to himself, and orchestrating the downfall of Roe v Wade would elevate him to Reagan-like status among the fundies, with whom he allies himself not only politically but also philosophically. He's not the only republican with that philosophical identity, either. Being the party that caused repeal of Roe v Wade would hurt the GOP badly, but it would make dubya a lifelong celebrity among the American taliban. I think that in Bush's mind, that trumps party loyalty any day.

[Telly Savalas]

9. It's still an effective wedge issue even if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Overturning Roe v. Wade doesn't immediately translate into a ban on reproductive choice, rather it just gives legislative bodies the option to exercise such a ban. So there would still be the fight to enact anti-choice laws.

Even if abortion were totally outlawed, they can still use it as a wedge issue by invoking fears of the dreaded Godless Libruls who are just jumping at the opportunity to overturn the radical right's precious abortion laws.

[DemNoir]

10. No way

The day the Supreme Court overturned Roe V Wade the fundies would start to pressure the Republicans to pass a federal law prohibiting abortion. That's were the trouble for them starts.

About 45% of Repiblicans are pro-choice, it would completely tear their party apart. The Democratic party never really recovered from Vietnam, abortion will be the Republicans Vietnam.

[McCamy Taylor]

11. Nope. Would make (the wrong) Americans go out and vote.

[pattim]

13. Hell no. That would be a disaster for them.

They'd have no reason to vote (R).

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

14. Of course not. They HAVE all the antichoice votes now. They only stand

to LOSE votes from those NONFUNDIE Repub voters who just like their money and taxbreaks and have disdain for their Bible thumping political bedfellows, who might start getting nervous if they thought the country was actually moving in a really socially rightwing direction.

[no_hypocrisy]

15. This is a political doublebind: the GOP want to eat their cake and keep

it too.

They want to overturn RvW and then probably pass a federal ban on abortion to control all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

The GOP would regret overturning RvW for these reasons:
1. If Congress doesn't have a federal law banning abortion, the GOP will likely go broke financing each state election from governor down to state assemblymen to ensure that individual states ban abortion. 2. It's far more expedient to do the former than the latter as well.
3. Their religious will come up with something else fascistlike to give them. That takes away attention and money from permanent world warfare and taking money away from poor people.

On the other hand: If RvW is overturned, the GOP can keep their base in place indefinitely as they will be seen as delivering on a BIG promise. Maybe the Diebold machines will be so ubiquitous by that time, any state's election can come out anti-abortion.

[ellenfl]

16. imo, it's too much of a wedge issue for them. the gop does

not want it overturned, the fundies do. the fundies are not the majority in the gop but their vote IS needed.

ellen fl

[kestrel91316]

18. IMHO, the Christofascist/Dominionist RW who run the Republic

Party (not a typo) will not rest after they overturn RvW. They will pass a federal law banning all abortion, and then they will get to work on overturning Griswold v Conn.

If you think otherwise, you haven't been paying attention.

They will have plenty of other issues to bring their voters out - this isn't the only thing they care to vote on. Gays (not just marriage, but any rights), unmarried people living together, women in the workplace, fetal protection (to the point of investigating all miscarriages as possible murder). They won't be happy until we have the Republic of Gilead.

[Zinfandel]

19. I've always known and said that the republicans have ...

NEVER wanted to over-turn Roe v Wade.

Limit it, yes, and legislate it to where women can't really get an abortion, if that's their choice...But never do they want it illegal,

The abortion issue brings in tons and tons of cash for the republicans (GOP) every elections, as well as millions and millions go out to vote for republicans on that single issue, abortion.

No fucking way does the GOP want to see Roe vs Wade over-tunned.

That's why Bush's Supreme Court nominees, are really put in place because they are pro corporation and anti-environment.

The fact that these same (judge) nominees, say they are anti-choice is definitely to please that same right-wing single issue voting base...And it's part of the Republican platform.

The GOP doesn't ever want to give up the money and the votes that the abortion issue brings to them, by legalizing abortion.