Republican Extreme Views Do Not Represent Mainstream America
Dec 29th, 2011 | 10 responses
I’ve spent most of my adult life (unlike many of my generation, I could both drink and vote at age 18) being wary of single-issue politics. However, as the parties have become increasingly indistinguishable from one another once they get into power, making a decision based on a single issue may not be as much of a cop-out as I used to think.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has been portrayed as opportunistic in his political views, but his recent comments in Iowa on abortion go beyond campaign hyperbole.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry confirmed to a pastor on Tuesday that he no longer supports abortion in any cases, including rape… Until now Perry had supported abortion in certain situations…
In addition, Perry parroted Newt Gingrich (R-GA) Tuesday night when he said he would ignore a Supreme Court ruling in the hypothetical scenario that the Court found unconstitutional a move to “extend constitutional rights to the unborn,” a.k.a. the “personhood” movement.
Asked what he would do if the Supreme Court overturned so-called “personhood” legislation under a Perry administration, the Texas governor responded that “obviously, you would enforce the right to life” rather than the court’s decision.
As for Gingrich, the former House Speaker said the solution would be to “write the bill so it is not appealable.”
“I think you could write an exclusionary” clause, he said.
Joining the no abortion what-so-ever chorus: Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.
First, no abortion to save the life of the mother? No abortion if a woman is raped and becomes pregnant? That’s the path to women as chattel, to a world envisioned in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Second, this extreme position may make Perry the darling of the social conservative wing of the Republican party, but mainstream it’s not.
- “A woman should have the right to decide to terminate a pregnancy in the first few months of her pregnancy.”
Strongly agree 45%; Somewhat agree 19%. (Time Poll conducted by Abt SRBI. June 20-21, 2011. Margin of error ± 3%) - “Do you think abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases, or illegal in all cases?”
Legal in all or most cases: 54%, illegal in all or most cases, 45% (ABC News/Washington Post Poll. July 14-17, 2011. N=1,001 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.5%) - “Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances or illegal in all circumstances?”
Legal in all, 26%; legal in some, 51%; illegal in all, 20%. (Gallup, July 15-17, 2011.)
Third, the President of the United States swears to uphold the law of the land. Perry seems to believe he gets to choose which laws to uphold whereas Newt thinks the legislative and executive branches can collude in such as way as to shut out the role of the courts, you know, a role that is outlined In The U.S. Constitution.
It’s only in recent memory that Iowa has played an outsized role in the presidential election. Back in 1976, a little-known southern Governor came in second in the Democratic caucus (“uncommitted” came in first) and then went on to unseat the incumbent Republican, Gerald Ford. That was the exception, not the rule:
- 1980: Ronald Reagan came in second to George H.W. Bush. That wasn’t the way they entered the White House.
- 1988: Bob Dole won and Bush finished third, but Dole didn’t get the nomination.
- 1992, Bill Clinton finished third but won the election.
- 1996: Bob Dole won in Iowa and took the GOP nomination but Clinton retained the White House.
- 2000: Another southern governor (although one with a higher profile), George W. Bush, won Iowa.
- 2008: Barack Obama, a relatively unknown Senator, won Iowa and the election.
10 Responses to “Republican Extreme Views Do Not Represent Mainstream America”
How about this injustice to women;
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/an-injustice-for-women-in-uniform.html
dduck,
Yes, that’s really disgusting.
One of the things that has become a hallmark of the modern conservative movement is a disrespect for education, especially college education from an Ivy League for some reason. Being educated is linked to being liberal and is openly mocked by the right. This manifests itself in various ways, but one of them is the disdain for the judicial branch.
Lawyers are necessary. In a society ruled by laws we need people who have taken the time to understand them. It seems to me that whenever the judicial side of the govt does its job, its referred to as “judicial activism”. Implying that the courts are simply reacting according to political beliefs, and since they are educated it is therefore a liberal slant. Usually this is when some religious conservative gets told they can’t butt into someone else’s business. Perry’s outrageous comment that he basically thinks our legal framework can be tossed aside because the bible says so is just another example of why I can no longer support the GOP. Disdain for our laws, disdain for educated decision making, its all a symptom of a scary group of people that ironically think of themselves as real Americans while they simultaneously and openly want to trash what it is about our system that makes us America. Crazy.
dduck..It is also my understanding that military based health facilities are prohibited by law from providing abortions, so there are no ways other than paying for it themselves to obtain this procedure. But this is what you get when you have the extremes from parties winning most seats in congress. Nothing logical in the middle that most Americans can buy into.
Slamfu. One only needs to look at SCOTUS and find how politics have entered into the judicial system. Not only has partisan politics taken over sensible politics, it has also taken over the courts. The judicial system was designed to be the weakest of the three branches, but when decisions can be made that impact the outcome of elections before the final results are tabulated, the judical system has outgrown its designed strength.
If congress does not like the outcome of judicial rulings, then they have the right to introduce laws that will address those overturned by the courts. However, the President does not and should not have the right to call judges making rulings before himself or congress just because they do not like the outcome of rulings.
RP, said: “However, the President does not and should not have the right to call judges making rulings before himself or congress just because they do not like the outcome of rulings.”
But that doesn’t mean he can’t diss them in a public forum.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/obamas-state-of-the-union-address-criticism-of-the-supreme-court-campaign-finance-ruling.html
Why exactly does this surprise anyone?
The right has been heading towards this conclusion for two decades now, and Obama’s election only served to exacerbate their extremism.
That they would come to the conclusion of ignoring the third Constitutional branch of our government was as inevitable as the sunrise.
Interesting Gallup article today relevant to this:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/151814/Americans-Huntsman-Romney-Paul-Closest-Ideologically.aspx
Thanks, guys — yes, I know that I should not have been surprised but for some reason I was. I was POed. And dduck I’m pretty sure I linked to something about that in the essay.
I don’t know what to say about the Gallup survey – http://www.gallup.com/poll/151814/Americans-Huntsman-Romney-Paul-Closest-Ideologically.aspx — I saw it as I was wrapping up and it made my head hurt. Just goes to show how disconnected most people are from where politicians really stand, IMO. Kinda like the surveys that show Daily Show viewers more knowledgable about candidate positions than FOX news viewers (or whatever the other show was).
I think there are plenty of holes in the Gallup survey. It would be more relevant to look at how independents feel the candidates’ views compare to their own rather than taking an average of all respondents.
DaGoat-
I tend to agree with you on this. A heck-of-a-lot of Liberal Social issues are being adopted without popular opinion being considered. They might take it out on the Democrats this time around. Which will make me proud.