Let’s just get something straight. For all the sound and fury on the right, two of its biggest issues — gay marriage and abortion — are now in the “approved” column for a majority of Americans. For all the sound and fury from the right, the opinions about the abortion issue have remained fairly steady for years, while gay marriage has surged ahead in acceptability.

One notable finding pertains to the labels “pro-choice” and “pro-life” _ which are widely used by rival advocacy groups and are presented as either/or choices in most polls.

In the new survey, 70 percent of respondents said the term “pro-choice” describes them somewhat or very well, and nearly two-thirds similarly embraced the term “pro-life.” In all, 37 percent said they had a mixed identity _ either embracing or rejecting both labels equally. Only 12 percent identified as “strongly pro-life” and 13 percent as “strongly pro-choice.”

Nineteen percent said abortion should be legal in all cases and 37 percent said it should be legal in most cases. Fourteen percent said it should be illegal in all cases; 26 percent said it should be illegal in most cases. …Real Clear Politics

As for same-sex marriage…

Five years ago, at 36 percent, support for gay marriage barely topped a third of all Americans. Now, 53 percent say gay marriage should be legal, marking the first time in Post-ABC polling that a majority has said so. …WaPo

Three points a year is a pretty rapid gain for a social change that was expected to be slow and difficult thanks to obstructionist on the right.

Rick Perry, Texas governor and undeclared pretender to the Oval Office, is a politician first and foremost. Everything he does… Well, there may be a couple of private things he does that can’t be considered “political” but by and large the guy is a pol. You may have noticed that think and slick, self-conscious haircuts are the mark of rightwing politicians and fundamentalist Christian preachers. Governor “Good Hair” Perry is right in the middle of that picture.

That’s why Perry’s move towards a very special “prayer day” seems so out of character.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has made economic populism the cornerstone of his political ambition in Texas, has jumped headfirst into America’s culture war as he ponders whether to run for president of the United States.

Perry has asked one of the nation’s leading anti-gay groups, the American Family Association, to sponsor a “Day of Prayer and Fasting” in Houston later this summer. It’s billed as an “apolitical Christian prayer meeting,” but on Tuesday the event drew heated rebukes from the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Sparking the controversy are the group’s views on Christianity, its staunchly anti-gay platform and the inflammatory statements of one its executives, Bryan Fischer. In an interview with The Texas Tribune on Tuesday, AFA president Tim Wildmon said Jews, Muslims, atheists or any other non-Christian would “go to hell” unless they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. …

…Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor had been planning the event since December and was comfortable with the Tupelo, Miss.-based AFA as a host of the social conservative extravaganza. AFA is picking up the tab for the event, including the rental of Reliant Stadium in Houston, home to the NFL’s Houston Texans. …Texas Tribune

Cross posted from the blog Prairie Weather.