Abortion debate makes Republicans fear for votes

[DaveColorado]

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20051129&ID=5313955

Abortion debate makes Republicans fear for votes


Financial Times
All Financial Times News

Abortion-rights groups are mobilising their forces against Samuel Alito, President George W. Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, and pro-choice Democrats have vowed to question him closely during his confirmation hearings, looking for any indication he might cast a deciding vote against abortion rights.

But the possibility that Mr Alito might move the court closer to overturning Roe v Wade – the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal in the US – is also prompting concern from another part of the political spectrum: suburban Republicans, who worry that such a move would destabilise the delicate political balance that gives them much of their support.

"You're going to have a lot of very nervous suburban candidates" if Roe is overturned, said Tom Davis, a Republican congressman from suburban northern Virginia, near Washington.

The comments from Mr Davis – who led his party's congressional campaign committee in 2002 – show the tension between the long-sought goal of social conservatives to outlaw abortion and Republican hopes of attracting growing numbers of suburban voters.

-more

[DanCa]

1. Looks like the red god religion card is going to bite them in the ass.

[deadparrot]

2. I have no doubt that that's absolutely true...

However, I wish it didn't have to come to this.

[DaveColorado]

3. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before there is change

[wildeyed]

24. That has been my feeling since the last election.

No one I now who voted for * actually agreed with his policy positions. They voted based on some murky, manipulated gut feeling. Well now they are going to have to live with the results of voting for someone who opposes what they actually believe in and want for their country. But I guess reality will sink in for them, finally.

[djg21]

5. It doesn't have to.

The federal gov't can pass legislation legalizing abortion and they can take the issue out of the hands of the high court. This is what they should have done, but they're cowards!

[Megahurtz]

11. They're Idiots! n/t

[sarcasmo]

4. If this is what it takes to get more folks to come out and vote then so be

It.

[jamesinca]

6. They won't overturn Roe v. Wade

They need it to mobilize their base, they need something to complain about. Just like George needs bin-Laden alive to keep people afraid, the fundies need abortion. I doubt the SCOTUS will overturn it, it is a gift that keeps on giving to the Republican party.

[Sir_Snooze]

9. Thank God for Roe vs. Wade

By god, religion will not choose people's fates. In this respect, I give you my thought of the...forever:

"Everyone has the right to live as they please, so long as they don't forcibly interfere with the rights of others to do the same".

A fetus isn't alive. Just because it can do little flips and stuff doesn't mean it's alive at all. Rocks can turn; water moves all the time. Is that alive?

Screw Pro-Life and Screw the religions that endorse it.

[Arkana]

26. Be careful in your phrasing--it's "anti-choice," not "pro-life."

If the anti-choice people were truly pro-life, they would be against the war and against the death penalty, which they are not, for the most part.

[Alcibiades]

18. You are absolutely right.

Ive been saying this for some time. Most fundamentalist Christians are deeply apolitical at heart--after all their riches are not in this world (or whatever). Without abortion, these folks go back into the woodwork.

Every Republican nominee since Bork was supposed to be the fifth vote to overturn Roe, but surprise, surprise, surprise, it never works out that way. My bet is that it will turn out that either roberts or Alito regards Roe as "settled law."

[chrisau214]

23. This is absolutely true.

But how long can they continue to dangle the carrot before even the most clueless among the anti-choice crowd realizes that they are being played?


Chris

[VaYallaDawg]

25. Bingo!

They need a permanent straw man to rail against, and abortion is one of the handiest of all. It's code for looking down their noses at "the underclasses."

[ktlyon]

28. exactly

Look what happened to the welfare issue. Since Clinton "ended it as we know it" the issue is gone. They can't afford the backlash but the religious right will never stop the fight.

[drm604]

7. I think the plan

was to keep promising it but never actually deliver, while blaming the mean nasty evil libruhls for their continued failure to deliver.

They had to know that they couldn't continue the farce forever. I think that maybe each of them was individually hoping that it would last long enough for them to get into office, make their millions, and retire.

But now they're at the point where they're going to have to put up or shut up.

[savemefromdumbya]

8. when I see abortion topics I yawn

Sorry but the abortion thing is overdone in politics. Politicians should stay out of gyny issues.

[Bridget Burke]

29. But they WON'T stay out of "gyny" issues....

Sir....

[stepnw1f]

10. The Pukes Let Their "god" In the Door

only to find out it was the devil itself. Stupid greedy arrogant fuckers playing with something they really can't handle.

[DaveColorado]

12. "They won't overturn Roe v. Wade"

That remains to be seen.

If Alito gets confirmed they only need to replace Stevens with another Scalia type.

[stepnw1f]

13. I Say Prevent It From Ever Happening

Enough pressure on Congress WILL do it.

[DinahMoeHum]

14. Roe v Wade has been the 'Puke Party golden goose that keeps on giving

and the fundies seem intent on killing it.

:evilgrin:

[tgnyc]

15. I smell a wedge issue...

Let's give 'em the "gay marraige" treatment: If, heaven forbit, your daughter is attacked, the GOP wants to force her to carry and deliver the baby!

[OnionPatch]

16. Sometimes I almost

wish they would overturn it because I think when they do, people are going to wake up to the fact that the religious fanatics have taken over our government and run as fast as they can from the GOP. I really don't want it to come to that, though.

I personally think they WILL overturn it if they can. They can use it as an issue to rile up the pious whether they're fighting to outlaw it or fighting to KEEP it outlawed.

[chicagiana]

17. The frog analogy ...

A frog dumped into a boiling pot will jump out. A frog dumped into cold water will sit patiently and be boiled as the temperature is gradually raised.

The sooner the right wing fundamentalists get their way, the better off we will be in mounting a response.

[girl gone mad]

19. After watching the Frontline report..

on the current state of abortion rights, I think it needs to come to that. Rights are just being stripped away, little by little because Roe v. Wade simply does not offer enough protection to women and doctors.

It needs to be legislated, not left up to the judicial branch. Republicans know this would cost them dearly, though.

[TaleWgnDg]

21. Did you ever stop to consider that the Republican Party . . .

.
Did you ever stop to consider that the Republican Party . . . really does not want to overturn Roe v. Wade? Seriously. Why do I say that? Because if Roe is overturned, it will be a political blessing for the entire Democratic Party, locally and nationally. There would be a huge backlash!

The Republican Party uses Roe to get out the votes, to receive campaign funds, to organize at the grassroots level, and to get candidates elected into office. It's a farce. Similar means is flag burning, prayer in school, and 10 Commandments in public places. And, it works.

Take this crap away from the Republicans and their entire party falls apart. And, please don't assume that I am anti-abortion, for I am not. I've worked long and hard for years to keep choice available to women particularly to pregnant teenagers.
.

[Raine]

22. I would be curious to see

what kind of issue they will use if they manage to overturn it cause Roe v Wade has served them so well.

[converted_democrat]

27. Gay marriage, and they are already putting it place....n/t

[cyr330]

20. Good to hear

I'm happy to know that pro choice people are making themselves heard. As it stands, the majority of Americans is pro-choice.

While I believe that abortion should be done on demand at the request of whoever wants one and whenever they want, I have some respect for those who disagree (as long as they believe in some choice).

It would be so delightful to see those fuckers suffer a backlash with their Victorian "morals" they're always bragging about.

[madmark]

30. If Roe v. Wade were overturned, the pro choice Democrats would crush the

Reps at all levels of government.