GOP on Arizona Anti-Gay Law: Make It Go Away

For years now the Republican Party at both the national and state level has been gleefully prostituting itself to Christofascists and theocrats and injecting foul and toxic religious belief into the civil laws.  Here in Virginia the Republican Party of Virginia has become little more than the legislative arm of The Family Foundation, a Christofascist hate group.  And for too long these political prostitutes in the GOP have gotten away with pushing religious based laws that make a mockery of the U. S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom for all citizens, not just Christofascists and Christian extremist.  In some ways Arizona's "turn the gays away" bill was a logical extension of what has been long occurring with GOP facilitation.  That the Arizona law has ignited a fire storm and an uprising by the business community has been nothing short of delicious to watch.  Indeed, the fall out has caused similar bills in Georgia and Indiana to get pulled or put on possible permanent by GOP sponsors.  Now, many Republicans want the Arizona bill to simply go away and have joined the chorus calling on Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to veto the bill.  Politico looks at the growing GOP stampede to see the bill killed.  Here are highlights:

As Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer weighs whether to sign a bill that would allow businesses to deny services to gay customers, top national Republicans just want the issue to go away.

Proponents of the legislation — which Brewer has until Saturday to sign or veto and is reportedly leaning against — say the bill is designed to protect religious liberty. But many Washington Republicans see it as a political loser, giving the left another cudgel to attack conservatives as intolerant while motivating liberals and younger voters ahead of the midterm elections. It also threatens to widen the chasm between social conservatives and GOP operatives, who have become increasingly public in their support for gay marriage.

“There are lots of economic and fiscal issues that people care pretty deeply about. I think those are good issues for us to focus on,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday when asked about the bill, SB 1062. “We’ll stay focused on Obamacare. Those are the issues we want to talk about.”

The state’s Republican senators, Jeff Flake and John McCain, are prodding the governor to veto the bill on financial grounds, warning that boycotts of Arizona could do untold economic damage to the state. They even worried about losing next year’s Super Bowl.

“I know that the entire business community is galvanized, in a way that I’ve never seen, against this legislation,” said McCain.  “I hope she moves quickly,” Flake said. “I just don’t see any reason to wait.”

Still, the legislation puts other elected Republicans in a touchy spot, not wanting to antagonize social conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage or force business owners to go against their conscience.

A Republican strategist active in congressional races said the bill will most likely be a nonfactor in the midterms if Brewer vetoes it. Boycott threats and strong opposition from the business community in Arizona could deter other states from taking up similar legislation.

“If it becomes law, it will be a big issue,” the person said. “All indications are that she’s likely to veto it, and if she does … eight months from now, it’s pretty much ancient history.”

If Brewer signs the legislation, the major concern of party strategists is that opponents would launch an effort to overturn it. A referendum in November would allow the debate about whether denying services to gays is discriminatory to simmer through November, drawing global attention and increasing turnout among younger, liberal voters. This could complicate GOP hopes of holding the open governorship and picking up targeted House seats.

Republican consultant Steve Schmidt, a supporter of gay marriage rights who was McCain’s senior strategist on his 2008 presidential campaign, called the bill a political mess.  “It makes the party of Lincoln and Reagan look small, closed and intolerant and exacerbates our political differences with every single demographic group in America that is growing,” he said.

Mike Murphy, another prominent GOP strategist, said the bill makes holding the party’s 2016 convention in Phoenix “a terrible idea.”

 

Being shameless whores to ignorance embracing hate-filled Christofascists can carry a price - as the GOP is finding out in spades.  The perverse side of me hopes Brewer signs the bill and that the ensuing shit storm causes the GOP nothing but problems until the law is struck down as unconstitutional under the precedent of Romer v. Evans.