Republicans Finally Caught the Car

John Ellis: “Ever since the Roe v. Wade decision, Republicans have used the abortion issue to attract support from (mostly) white evangelical Christians and ethnic Catholics and to paint Democrats as baby-killers. It was a perfect issue in that no one ever expected the Court to reverse its decision, so Republican candidates up and down the ballot could pledge allegiance to the cause secure in the knowledge that the cause was forever lost. GOP political consultants compared the abortion issue to a dog chasing a car. The dog would bark and run and bark and run but it would never catch the car.”

“And then it did.”

“Fifty years of relentless hard work by the anti-abortion movement finally delivered a Supreme Court willing and able to reverse the Roe (and Casey) decisions. Woe betide Republican elected officials who try to ‘distance’ themselves from the Court’s ruling. If you think the NRA is powerful in GOP primaries, you’re right. If you think the right-to-life movement is even more powerful in GOP primaries than the NRA, you are right again. Republicans who cut and run on the right-to-life movement will find themselves in a politically challenging environment. To say the least.”