Required Reading

Al Hunt says that gay rights will continue to split the GOP:

Social conservatives are determined to keep this issue alive, reasoning that the environment that produced changes in the laws last week will become more favorable after they have had time to stir up the grassroots. That will pose problems for Republicans in a general election; the politics have changed dramatically compared with a decade ago, when Republican political guru Karl Rove used the issue against Democrats.

Crucial elements of the Republican base haven’t changed. Most, not all, evangelical/born-again white Christians are troubled by gay rights. This group accounts for more than 40 percent of the Republicans nationally and for more than 50 percent of the vote in the important early Iowa and South Carolina Republican presidential tests. That guarantees Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee will make these issues uncomfortable for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.

Read the whole thing.

Hunt is right for a very obvious reason — it splits the party because there’s a big split in the party on the issue. And also because the Permanent Democrat Outrage Machine excels at finding local non-issues like that Indiana bakery, and turning them into national political opportunities.

Meanwhile, the GOP plays defense instead of looking for wedge issues to put the squeeze on the Democrats.