The draconian 'prolife' bills by GOPers are multiplying by the day. Now Marco Rubio plans to sponsor the anti choice bill that the House passed.
"Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today agreed to be the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old. A similar measure passed the House last month and a state version is now being debated in the Texas legislature, where it is likely to be approved."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/07/03/marco-rubio-works-to-appeal-to-conservatives-with-an-anti-abortion-proposal/
Greg Sargent interprets this as a kind of plan b-if immigration reform fails he'll have the deep anti abortion bills to build up his resume for 2016.
"The thinking is straightforward: If immigration reform fails, Rubio will have to rebuild trust and stature with a large number of conservatives. Opposition to abortion — given its constant throughout the GOP coalition — is the easiest path to take. By championing abortion restrictions, Rubio will attract the attention of pro-choice advocates and the acclaim of their pro-life counterparts. It’s not a bad strategy, and given the intensity of conservative opposition to abortion, it will probably work."
I'm not sure this is what's going on. My take is more that the anti abortion bill is Rubio's way of trying to get back in the good graces of the conservatives after his support for immigration reform that many see as traitorous. It is true as Sargent says that there is a conservative argument out there that all the GOP needs to do is optimize the White vote and they can ignore the Hispanic vote.
Karl Rove, among others have ripped this theory to shreds but as usual the facts don't matter.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/06/louie-gohmerts-complaint-about.html
I'm still not convinced that Boehner doesn't bring this up to a vote ultimately. I do think though Rubio has to make up for his support of it by taking a hard lone on abortion .This whole episode with this-basically illegal-20 month bill has been about pleasing the base in Congress even though it's obviously futile.
After the House passed it, Boehner rather comically was insisting that the economy is their number one concern. Indeed, most Americans just don't see why abortion is suddenly on the table as such a lightening rod all of a sudden..
Even in Texas-a fairly conservative state-there's saturation. While the bill that Governor Rick Perry is trying to ram through is not very popular-only 40% support vs. 51% who don't-an overwhelming number of Texans-80%-don't think that it's a good use of 'special session' time:
"The findings from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that 51 percent of Texas are opposed to a "proposal would put in place new restrictions and regulations on abortion providers that would likely result in the closure of all but five abortion clinics in the state of Texas, all of which are located along the I-35 corridor, and would ban most abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy" — provisions that describe the bill likely to pass the legislature during the latest special session called by Gov. Rick Perry (R). Forty-two percent support the proposal."
"Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today agreed to be the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old. A similar measure passed the House last month and a state version is now being debated in the Texas legislature, where it is likely to be approved."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/07/03/marco-rubio-works-to-appeal-to-conservatives-with-an-anti-abortion-proposal/
Greg Sargent interprets this as a kind of plan b-if immigration reform fails he'll have the deep anti abortion bills to build up his resume for 2016.
"The thinking is straightforward: If immigration reform fails, Rubio will have to rebuild trust and stature with a large number of conservatives. Opposition to abortion — given its constant throughout the GOP coalition — is the easiest path to take. By championing abortion restrictions, Rubio will attract the attention of pro-choice advocates and the acclaim of their pro-life counterparts. It’s not a bad strategy, and given the intensity of conservative opposition to abortion, it will probably work."
I'm not sure this is what's going on. My take is more that the anti abortion bill is Rubio's way of trying to get back in the good graces of the conservatives after his support for immigration reform that many see as traitorous. It is true as Sargent says that there is a conservative argument out there that all the GOP needs to do is optimize the White vote and they can ignore the Hispanic vote.
Karl Rove, among others have ripped this theory to shreds but as usual the facts don't matter.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/06/louie-gohmerts-complaint-about.html
I'm still not convinced that Boehner doesn't bring this up to a vote ultimately. I do think though Rubio has to make up for his support of it by taking a hard lone on abortion .This whole episode with this-basically illegal-20 month bill has been about pleasing the base in Congress even though it's obviously futile.
After the House passed it, Boehner rather comically was insisting that the economy is their number one concern. Indeed, most Americans just don't see why abortion is suddenly on the table as such a lightening rod all of a sudden..
Even in Texas-a fairly conservative state-there's saturation. While the bill that Governor Rick Perry is trying to ram through is not very popular-only 40% support vs. 51% who don't-an overwhelming number of Texans-80%-don't think that it's a good use of 'special session' time:
"The findings from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that 51 percent of Texas are opposed to a "proposal would put in place new restrictions and regulations on abortion providers that would likely result in the closure of all but five abortion clinics in the state of Texas, all of which are located along the I-35 corridor, and would ban most abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy" — provisions that describe the bill likely to pass the legislature during the latest special session called by Gov. Rick Perry (R). Forty-two percent support the proposal."
"But a huge majority of 80 percent agreed with the following statement read by the pollsters: "A special session of the legislature should focus on issues like education, jobs, and the economy, instead of bringing up social issues like abortion that were already addressed in the regular session of the legislature."
Republicans have been claiming that the burst in anti choice legislation in GOP state after state shows that the American people are turning against abortion rights. This is to interpret things rather loosely. Just because many GOP governors were elected in 2010 on the energized Tea Party platform-under frustration with the slow recovery and opposition to Obamacare-hardly proves that every state with a GOP Governor or legislature right now wants to see Roe v. Wade strongly cutback and for most clinics that perform abortions within the state-whether or not abortion is their main focus to be shut down.
At the state level, what we're seeing is that any place the GOP has power it is abused egregiously. At the national level, people like Rubio are kind of doing a quid pro quo-immigration reform is the one progressive idea that they will support. To make it up to the base, they are moving even further to the Right on abortion. Of course, they didn't run like this in 2012-then when Democrats knocked the GOP for Akin, Mourdock, et. al. they insisted that this was just a diversion from the economy.
So the GOP may welcome Hispanics while closing the door further on women? To say nothing about their standing with Blacks which is by definition going to be a lot worse now with the SJC's rollback of the Voting Rights Act.
No comments:
Post a Comment