It used to be said, and perhaps it still is, that Republicans don't actually want to overturn Roe v. Wade because it would mean they'd have to give up the issue as an election year tool. Perhaps we need to look in the mirror and wonder if the same logic doesn't apply to us liberals as well.
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We all know the story by now. Embattled GOP chair Michael Steele speaks him true mind in an interview with GQ and says the following:
Q: Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
STEELE: Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.
Q: You do?
STEELE: Yeah. Absolutely.
And this was followed later by:
Q: Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
STEELE: Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap.
How do we react? Just like our friends over at Red State might we ridicule the one person of power in the party that happens to agree with us on some issue.
Rather than celebrating the fact that there is a person in a leadership position coming to a pragmatic view on a very devisive issue, rahter than welcoming this bit of bipartisiship we all claim we clamour for, we instead scuttle it in a fit of laughter and ridicule doing nothing more than ensuring this type of growth never sprouts up again lest it receive the same treatment.
For example, a main page post says "Steele is Toast":
Steele has been a joke since he was elected. The job of the national committee chair is not to be advocating policy. It's mostly an operational position; nuts and bolts of raising money, helping state parties and getting Republicans elected. There is a public/press side to it, but the mandate is to be a mouthpiece for the party, staying on message that's largely driven, when you don't have the White House, by the legislative leadership. As such, Steele should be talking about the budget, attacking Obama, whatever. He should not be prattling on about reproductive rights.
And why is it that we do this? Probably because if we agreed on this issue, we too would lose it as an issue come election time.
What if, instead of ridiculing Mr. Steele, we had come out with a statement welcoming the progress made by the leaders in the GOP? What if several members of congress did the same thing? What if Obama had acted quickly enough to make a statement welcoming this most unexpected shift in GOP policy?
Sure, its a long shot, but maybe a few Republicans would have welcomed the positive press from the majority of Americans who believe in a women's choice and the majority of Americans who believe in some sort of recognition for gay couples that we could have actually made progress on these two issues.
What happened? We reacted like the politically rabid dogs we are...we laughed and ridiculed instead of seeing a place where we could agree. We failed what Obama has called us to do.
And now that Steele has come out and "clarified his words", I say opportunity lost.