Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, discussing his party's new
100-page autopsy of what went wrong in 2012, says the problem isn't what Republicans are fighting for it—it's how they are fighting for it.
I think our policies are sound, but in many ways, the way that we communicate can be a real problem.
For example, Reince says the RNC's problem with women in 2012 wasn't about the fact that the GOP platform supports banning abortion in all cases, including rape...
We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children.
...it was about the fact that GOP candidates did a lousy job of explaining their support for the platform:
I think that we had some biologically stupid things that were said in the last election that make it more difficult for us to make that case and I think that we have to do a better job to make sure that people understand the issues, but it's not about altering our principles. It's about the way we communicate.
The political problem with what Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock said wasn't simply about biological stupidity. The problem was that they also reminded people what most Republicans really believe and did so at a time that Mitt Romney was
trying to muddy the waters.
There's really no way to defend banning abortion in all circumstances including rape without sounding stupid to the vast majority of voters, so if Republicans don't want to sound like idiots, they really need to change their position. If they don't, there's no way to put lipstick on that pig.