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Title: BULL$HITTING YOU INTO OBLIVION? - As campaign heats up, Republican candidates are rushing to the right
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URL Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit ... 5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html
Published: Aug 8, 2015
Author: By Sean Sullivan
Post Date: 2015-08-08 10:03:59 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
Keywords: 2016
Views: 125
Comments: 3
In the span of a few days this week, Scott Walker emphasized that he opposes abortions, with no exceptions in cases of rape or incest or to save the woman’s life. Marco Rubio shot down a suggestion that he advocated exceptions for rape or incest. On immigration, Rubio said he backed a fence to keep illegal immigrants out of the country, echoing front-runner Donald Trump’s call for a new border wall. And on same-sex marriage, Rick Santorum compared the legalization of such unions to the infamous Supreme Court ruling that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens. Some of the statements reflected shifts in priorities or positions over the long term; Rubio, for example, has abandoned Senate legislation he helped craft that would give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. Others reflected candidates’ decisions to emphasize conservative positions more than they had before. Either way, in the most wide-open Republican presidential field in memory, most of the contenders continued a rush to the right this week in the hope of capturing the attention of the GOP base. The strategy is clearly aimed at primary contests in states such as Iowa and South Carolina, which are dominated by large blocs of evangelicals and other conservative voters. But it could also cause the eventual nominee problems in a general election with a more moderate electorate. On social issues ranging from abortion to same-sex marriage, much of the Republican field has now taken positions that are at odds with mainstream American opinion. For example, 3 out of 4 Americans say a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Moderate Republicans said Friday they are concerned about the potential for Democrats to revive their “war on women” line of attack from 2012, when they successfully portrayed presidential nominee Mitt Romney and other Republicans as out of touch with or even hostile to the concerns of women. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats have moved swiftly to capitalize on some of the remarks this week, particularly those made at Thursday night’s widely watched Republican debate in Cleveland. “I think there is a lot of work to do, and obviously it is a harder challenge when you have a [Democratic] woman candidate and potentially the idea of the first-ever woman president,” said Katie Packer Gage, a former deputy campaign manager for Romney. Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Friday compared the crop of Republican hopefuls to Todd Akin, whose 2012 Senate bid was derailed when he said “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy. “Every Republican running for president still agrees with him about denying a woman’s right to make her own health-care decisions,” Wasserman Schultz said. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, attacked Republicans in a fundraising e-mail: “Ten men stood on stage and ignored 51% of the American population.” Women made up 53 percent of the electorate in the previous two presidential elections, according to exit-poll data. President Obama won 55 percent of their vote in 2012 and 56 percent in 2008. Democrats hope Clinton could boost those numbers in 2016 if she becomes the nominee. 
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#3. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#0)
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"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" -- Au H20 Moderate Republicans -- burn' em in the same pile with McDonald burgers and moppet paintings.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestModerate Republicans said Friday they are concerned about the potential for Democrats to revive their “war on women” line of attack from 2012
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