It's been a rough stretch for the GOP lately. They thought Obamacare would collapse, but instead it beat expectations. They thought Cliven Bundy would become a symbol of Obama's overreach, but instead he became a symbol of right-wing prejudice. They thought their new Benghazi panel would lead to Obama's impeachment, but instead found themselves grumbling when one of the key Benghazi suspects was arrested. They didn't even bother to think about House Majority Leader Eric Cantor until it was too late. And when they swung into action to save their friend Sen. Thad Cochran, they had to turn to the very same African-American Democrats whose votes they've spurned for decades because their own base had abandoned them.
But now that their best buddy Hobby Lobby has achieved victory in its pursuit of religious liberty, the worm has finally turned, right? After all, liberty is a word even liberals should support, right? So clearly conservatives should hug their new best friend Hobby Lobby tight and close and bask in the warmth of all its freedom-loving glory. Except, as David Corn and Molly Redden of Mother Jones report, it turns out Hobby Lobby are major funders of right-wing minister Bill Gothard who turns out to have a little problem:
Gothard made national news in March when he resigned from the Institute after a website posted the accounts of more than 30 women who accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching. One of his accusers said he molested her when she was 17. In a statement he issued in April, Gothard noted, "God has brought me to a place of greater brokenness than at any other time in my life…I have asked the Lord to reveal the underlying causes and He is doing this." Gothard further stated, "My actions of holding of hands, hugs, and touching of feet or hair with young ladies crossed the boundaries of discretion and were wrong."
Well, maybe that's a little bit too much freedom for the GOP to be associated with. So what now? Well, I hear Speaker Boehner is planning a lawsuit in the not-too-distant future ... that should give Republicans something to get excited about.
