GOP hones its core agenda
Flag burning, gay marriage, abortion top Republicans' Senate plan

Saturday, April 15, 2006; Posted: 8:17 p.m. EDT (00:17 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/15/GOP.checklist.ap/index.html


Well it's an election year, time to dust off the old rabble rousing nonsense issues to drive the base into a feeding frenzy!

Abortion and Gay marriage are certainly no surprise but. . . flag burning? Really? again?

What has happend here? Far be it from me to act surprised that the Republicans are living in the past, but seriously I had no idea that the problem was this bad. Come on now, when was the last time anyone even burned a Flag in protest inside the United States?

I really blame this on the Democrats - they're not presenting enough of an opposition to the Republicans. The GOP is getting lazy and restless, and has reverted to trying to fight the liberals of 1960 instead - they want a real fight, but can't find one in our contemporary era so they're forced to resort for this. I'd almost feel sorry for them if they weren't so black hearted and cruel.

Interesting factoid about any ban on flag burning: it'd mostly target the Millitary. Yep - according to the code of conduct reguarding discarding old flags which our armed forces adhere to, a retired flag is to be disposed of by burning. Oops!

If a flag touches the ground, it is supposed to be burned. Also, when I was in 8th grade, our school had a flag-burning ceremony for an old school flag too. This was around 1983.

i am not one to go around burning the flag but laws against it should not be made for the simple reason as where will it end?

i am not one to go around burning the flag but laws against it should not be made for the simple reason as where will it end?

Too true, it's just more macho nationalistic chest beating. Any law banning flag burning is a law saying that you're not allowed to make that kind of statement. It'd be too clear a breach of the 1st Amendment, and that's why they never go anywhere with this issue - it's just a tool they take out and brush off on election years to start throwing rocks at the hornet's nest that is the right-wing base.

At least I looked around before posting this as a topic. Oh, well. Two cents to the fountain.

Source: USA Today (AP) (http://www.usatoday.com/)
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-15-senate-gop_x.htm
Title: "Social issues top GOP pre-election agenda"
Date: April 15, 2006

Looking forward to November, and in consideration of American political values, one of the few things people can agree on is that the Bush Wars are going poorly. Democrats, for instance, still don't know what to do about the mess in Iraq, and are unwilling to take prominent positions expressing growing worry over progress in Afghanistan. Republicans, on the other hand, will grasp after the social front in their effort to retain the people's endorsement come the midterm elections. The Associated Press reports that marriage, abortion, and free speech are all target issues atop the GOP agenda.

Protection of marriage amendment? Check. Anti-flag burning legislation? Check. New abortion limits? Check ....

.... In a year where an unpopular war in Iraq has helped drive President Bush's approval ratings below 40%, core conservatives whose turnout in November is vital to the party want assurances that they are not being taken for granted.

"It seems like for only six months, every two years — right around election time — that we're even noticed," said Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council.

"Some of these better pass," he added. "You notice when it's just lip service being paid."

USAToday.com (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-15-senate-gop_x.htm)

'Tis true, indeed, that social conservatives are only given notice when the time comes to beg for votes. You might think they would be smarter than to fall for the same appeals to American values, but the American voter is either desperate or thick.

"If they get to these things this summer, which we expect that they will, that will go a long way toward energizing the values voters at the base of the Republican Party," said Bauer, head of Americans United to Preserve Marriage.

GOP leaders long have known that the war and merely riding the coattails of a second-term president could disillusion their base.

If there was any doubt, conservatives issued a concise warning last month. Four groups representing evangelical Christians said an internal survey found that 63% of "values voters" — identified as evangelical Christians whose priorities include outlawing abortion and banning same-sex marriage — "feel Congress has not kept its promises to act on a pro-family agenda."

USAToday.com (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-15-senate-gop_x.htm)

These are the same evangelical Christians who felt underrepresented at the 2004 GOP convention, and include the same traditional conservative voices who blamed homosexuals and others for 9/11. It is a difficult balancing act for GOP politicians, who wish at once to appease their strong base while also hoping to appeal to swing voters.

Republicans seem headed for a rhetorical repeat of 2004, minus, of course, Cerberus in the form of a bunch of disgruntled vets who hate John Kerry. While paranoia reinforced the values platform of "middle America" (God, guns, and gays), it may be that smaller efforts will find less satisfying results. With the war in a seeming shambles, it will be difficult to demonize "unpatriotic" candidates like Max Cleland, a man who apparently gave three limbs fighting a war for a country he hates. And without an attack dog like the Swift Vets, can the GOP carry its slogans of, "Our Bitches, Our Bodies", "It's the Gays, Stupid", and "Freedom is the Liberty to Do What We Say Is Right"?

Of course they can. This is a two-party system, and it's the Democrats they're up against.

And, as an added bonus, it's the American voters they're appealing to. I mean, think about it: "No abortions. No gay marriage. No flag burning." No, no, no. Did you ever hear so positive a political message?

Add to that the preferred apathy toward stem-cell research and the trifecta becomes a square.

Republicans, of course, are worried because it has not been hip to be square since it was cool to be Huey Lewis.

Whatever happened to Fay Wray?
____________________

Notes:

Associated Press. "Social issues top GOP pre-election agenda". USAToday.com, April 15, 2006. See http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-15-senate-gop_x.htm

Nice to see where their oh-so-important priorities are at.

:rolleyes:

- N