Stuart Rothenberg: Republicans are Terrible at Politics

An interesting point by Stuart Rothenberg, worth reading by any GOP party officials, activists, officeholders, and political consultants.

The gruesome tale of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell is a good example of why Republicans are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of American voters.

Regardless of whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, Republicans appear to be missing (or may have missed) an opportunity to influence public opinion on a polarizing issue.

Were Democrats in the same position, they would already have a piece of legislation drafted with the name of a victim on it, and they would be in the middle of a relentless public campaign for its passage. It’s what Democrats do best — putting a face and a story together to promote a policy position: the families of Newtown and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for gun control, and Lilly Ledbetter for equal pay are two recent examples.

Like the infamous shootings, the story of Gosnell’s abortion clinic is so terrible that, to the average person, there really is no controversy about the alleged misconduct or the need to prevent incidents. But even though the details started to become public over two years ago, most people on the Right chose to ignore the story, just like most of the media and those on the Left, until the last week or so.

Based on the GOP’s inability to communicate a coherent message and pro-choice advocates’ push to blame pro-life positions for the Gosnell situation, Republicans could get blamed for this too.