Personally, I think the biggest outrage in all this is that someone tricked Susan Collins. Not sure how the universe can possibly make sense anymore in light of that tectonic shift in the bedrock of consensus reality, but here we are.
So we’ve all been fretting about Democratic messaging heading into the midterms. I know I have. And, hey, along comes an issue that affects, well, just about everyone in the country one way or another. Think we can make hay while the sun is still burning our beleaguered eyeballs out of our newly gobsmacked noggins? I think we can.
On Monday, Politico published a leaked copy of SCOTUS’ decision to dial back the clock half a century, and now Republicans are going to have to answer some uncomfy questions heading into the midterms.
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The days of Republicans hiding behind SCOTUS’ skirt are over. The ball is in their court now, and they’re going to need to start providing details on what they really stand for vis-à-vis abortion rights.
Of course, Republicans have gotten a lot of attention lately by flogging made-up dangers to children. In their world of make-believe, kids are routinely traumatized after learning of the existence of slavery and LGBTQ people. It’s nonsense, of course, but since when has nonsense ever stopped a Republican?
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But here’s a real danger to kids: Many, many Republicans want a world where a 12-year-old child raped by their uncle would be forced to give birth to the abuser’s baby. Numerous Republicans have endorsed this outcome, and it’s what they’ve dedicated much of the past 50 years to achieving.
It’s a horrifying thought, and every Republican candidate in the country needs to be asked about it, tout de suite.
Of course—surprise, surprise!—they really don’t want to answer this question, as this Tuesday Insider story makes abundantly clear. When asked whether they’d support rape and incest exceptions to abortion bans, several congressional Republicans were cagey, to say the least.
[S]ome Senate Republicans refused to tell Insider whether they support such exceptions in the wake of the publication of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling protecting abortion rights.
"We don't have a decision by the United States Supreme Court yet, all we have is a leak which is as despicable as it is dangerous," Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy told reporters. "You're asking me a hypothetical question. Come back and see me after the Supreme Court rules."
Sen. Rick Scott, the leader of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, offered only, "Let's see what the decision is, and then let's see what states do."
Needless to say, Republicans would prefer to focus on the “outrageous” SCOTUS leak rather than confront what this decision will mean for millions of vulnerable people. Why? Because they’re soulless fucking ghouls, that’s why.
“Again, I’m not projecting ahead,” said Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst. “We need to go through the process with the Supreme Court ... but let's focus on what happened, which is putting the justices in jeopardy with public opinion when they are an independent judicial institution and what this does to the institution. It is absolutely wrong.”
Hmm, you’d think people who’d spent their entire adult lives agitating for this outcome would feel more like celebrating. It almost makes you wonder if they’ve been full of shit this whole time and were just using Roe to cynically mine votes.
There are a lot more questions I’d like to ask these pro-life warriors—such as, what’s the future status of the Plan B pill, IUDs, and contraception as a whole?—but let’s just see how they handle this not-so-hypothetical puzzler first.
Good luck, Republicans. You got what you wanted. Now it’s our turn to go on offense.
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