Legalized abortion is the Republican Party's best friend.

[OrlandoGator]

No other issue energizes their lunatic base more. No other issue is more divisive. No other issue raises as much money for them.

Overturning Roe v. Wade would be catastrophic for the future of the Republican Party. The strife involved in the "valiant fight for the unborn" is much more valuable to them than anything else.

[skypilot]

1. If Roe v. Wade were ever overturned...

...the Republicans would still have homosexuality waiting in the wings as an issue.

[OrlandoGator]

3. Yeah, they'd have to fall back to guns and gays...

...but abortion energizes people more than guns and gays combined.

[China_cat]

5. Get rid of abortion as an issue

and you just might see more guns...used on gays.

[Cha]

6. That's true..but they'd

women and men galvanized in droves at the polls if they turned over roe vs wade.

[Modem Butterfly]

2. One big national fight raises more money for the RNC than 50 state fights

It also provides energy to their presidential campaigns.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. That's a bullshit argument.

NARAL is quite a large organization, and abortion has been legal for quite a long time.

That they would kill Roe v. Wade would do nothing to their outfit, except change their tune to "help keep abortion illegal".

[OrlandoGator]

7. Gee, thanks for your tact.

I'll have to remember this next time you present ideas.

[Ravenseye]

8. True, but

it would also energize the pro-choice lobby again, which now is imho pathetic compared to the anti-choicers. Ok I don't mean the lobby, I mean the people.

How many pro-choice americans donated to pro-choice lobbies last year compared to anti-choice ones? Probably alot less. Why? It's legal.

Make it illegal and you'll start seeing the illegal abortions again. The women dieing. The blood in the streets, in the back alleys, in the homes. People who right now are reading their newest Harry Potter book and sipping a cup of tea will be donating 10 times the dollar amount, and marching in the streets 10 times as much.

So yeah they'll change their tune, but their donations and activists will slip. They won't be marching on washington, as much, to 'keep abortion illegal', they won't be donating as much money, etc.

Giant Pendulum.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. Yeah, of course.

I agree with that assessment (though I guarantee they'll still be marching), but it's extremely blind to think they don't want to see Roe overturned just because it'll hurt fundraising. The fundraising will still be there one way or another. And further, it will HURT fundraising in a much more substantial way if they abandon the anti-choice crowd. Those assholes will just form a new party.

[Ravenseye]

11. Oh no, they WANT it overturned

There's no question about that. Their goal is to overturn roe v. Wade and perhaps push further to get a constitutional ammendment about it put in.

It's a matter of political strategy though. Sometimes you need to take a step back, in order to take two steps forward. I'm not necessarily saying this is the time to take a step back...I'm saying that a big problem with progressives is the full assault, no retreat, political war of attriion method it takes. There are other ways to win.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. Well I don't dispute it'd finally energize our side.

And yes, I do think we need that kick in the ass. I just don't want people think the Republicans really are just going to sit on their hands on this one. There's too much at stake and the penalty for inaction would be a intra-party civil war.

[lastliberalintexas]

12. We agree on something Vash!

I agree- the fundies have been waiting patiently for long enough. If they aren't rewarded for their patience soon, we'll see Roy Moores in the Constitution Party.

[lastliberalintexas]

10. I disagree somewhat

I don't think it really matters to those people anymore whether abortion is legal or not- it's still an issue for them. So long as it's legal, they paint us as baby killers and rally their base.

If Roe was overturned and abortion made illegal in a majojrity of states, it wouldn't matter to those people. Even the fear that a Democratic victory would mean The Return of Roe would be enough to galvanize these nuts. The abortion issue is a win for republicans no matter what, since either way they can rally the troops.

Don't belive me? It works with the gun nuts, who vote merely on the *fear* that Dems will take their guns. It would work just as well with the fundies.

[OrlandoGator]

13. Dems like Feinstein give pro-gun people good reason for that fear.

Flame away if you'd like, but it's rather difficult to convince people that you don't want to take their guns away when prominent Senators are saying things like, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in,' I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."

Just sayin'.

[lastliberalintexas]

16. And Dems like Feinstein, Clinton, Boxer, Kerry, et al

would give the fundies just as much reason to fear The Return of Roe, right? After all, we'd have 90% of the Dem party out saying that they'd like to see abortion made legal again, not just one extreme anti-gunner. The fundies would actually have more reason for their fears than the gun nuts do! And they'd vote accordingly.

[OrlandoGator]

18. I agree...overturning RvW would make the Dem party 10 times stronger.

The benefit to the GOP does not outweigh the cost.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. That explains "Partial Birth Abortion" laws...

The keep writing these idiotic laws that are clearly unconsitutional (at least they were the Sandra Day O'Conner on the bench). All they would have to do is put in provisions to protect the life and health of the mother, and the law would pass muster (because that's what Roe v. Wade provides for). So why do Republicans keep doing it?

If you answered, "Because they're fucking morons, Jeff, why else?" you'd be only half right. They do it because they're fucking morons who know that they need only dangle the raw meat of abortion in front of the base, and millions of checks will be written across Indiana and Kansas. Some septuagenarian in Terre Haute who hasn't been laid since the Eisenhower Administration will be dashing off half of her monthly Social Security check before the next news cycle.

The abortion issue is a cash cow for the Republicans. I honestly don't think they'll ever overturn Roe v. Wade unless the radical right-wing forces the issue.

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. It's time for Democrats to stand up and propose

a Constitutional Amendment. I put this in GD Polotics, but it deserves a mention here, too. :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1943006&mesg_id=1943006

I propose a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee the right of making medical and reproductive choices to the individual.

[candy]

19. The lunatic base,as you said,will always want abortion illegal,but

most Republicans would not want Roe vs Wade overturned.

Republicans get abortions too.

[OrlandoGator]

20. They do, they just pretend that only rich people deserve the right.

n/t