Say what you will about the dying white establishment — this is also a dark and frustrating time to be a pro-choice Republican. You joined the party because you love personal freedom, and now your confreres insist (again) that it doesn’t apply to their female constituents. Take it from Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, who has a 0 percent rating from the pro-life National Right to Life Committee, speaking in the New York Times postgame story on the gender gap.
“It has never made sense that my party, the party of individual freedom and personal responsibility, thinks the government should be involved in issues” like abortion, [Senator Susan] Collins said. “We are the party that trusts individuals to make their own decisions. That is one of the defining issues of the differences between Republicans and Democrats. So this is just bewildering to me.”
It’s bewildering to us, too, girl. But the GOP can’t say she didn’t warn them. In August, Collins told Kathleen Parker that“it seems like we’ve been thrown back decades into debates most everyday people think were settled years ago … the platform seems designed to alienate a lot of moderate women. I don’t get it.”
