Ed Kilgore is unsympathetic to conservatives who are wailing about the fact that the Todd Akin affair is distracting voters from the state of the economy:
If conservatives do indeed want a “truce” on issues like abortion, that’s fine with me: let them start observing one. Leave Planned Parenthood the hell alone. Stop pushing for laws that challenge Roe v. Wade. Shut down all your ultrasounds. Tell Bob Vander Plaats to stop trying to run pro-marriage-equality judges off the Iowa Supreme Court. Take all those dog whistles about “respect for life” and “constitutional originalism” out of your platforms and speeches. Promise us you won’t put unholy pressure on a President Romney to ensure the next new member of the Supreme Court will vote to turn abortion policy back to the states or even protect zygotes under the 14th Amendment.
The chart on the right, from the Guttmacher Institute, shows what Republicans have been up to since their historic state-level gains in the 2010 election. Have they been focused on unemployment or job creation? Nope. Mostly they’ve been busily passing photo ID laws, immigration restrictions, and an enormous raft of new abortion hurdles. Actions speak louder than words, and over the past 18 months the new wave of tea-party Republicans has very clearly shown us what they really care about. Now they’re reaping what they’ve sown.
