It’s the economy... er... I mean vagina, stupid!

Guest post by tmcbpatriot

Ed. note: I'd like to welcome a new guest blogger to The Reaction, the patriot who writes the blog Take My Country Back, which I discovered a while back while doing the round-up at Crooks and Liars and of which I've since become a big fan. Given the high quality of his blogging, which focuses on one of our most beloved topics (i.e., Republican craziness), I expect he'll become a regular contributor here. Stay tuned for more from him, but also make sure to check out his excellent blog.

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tmcbpatriot's informative and always entertaining blog, Take My Country Back, emanates from somewhere out in the Midwest. He writes passionately and as often as possible about a confused, mindless right wing hopelessly lost in the abyss of endless lies and misdirection.

Sexytime!

"General Motors Posts Largest Annual Profit Ever, Despite Lackluster Fourth Quarter" — "Weekly Jobless Claims Fall To Four-Year Low" — "U.S. Stocks Rise on Improving Economic Data"

No, these are not the thought bubbles from the mind of a future Republican president. These are headlines from today's news! These are Obama administration headlines and they have made Republicans stand up, take notice, and naturally move the conversation to something other than the economy.

Republicans have been screaming about the economy ever since the day after it was handed over to Obama. Since that day we have heard how Obama is destroying the American way of life, how he is a socialist, how his administration is waging class warfare on the rich in order to bring Communism to our shores, and on and on.

It is the same tired lines we always hear when a Democrat is president. And as always, when the economy improves, even slightly, Republicans have a problem. Sure, we are still a long way off from anything resembling lasting recovery, but nevertheless and regardless of Republican obstructionism on everything Obama has tried to do these past four years, the economy does seem to be improving. And that is something Republicans just had not counted on.

So what do obstructionist Republicans, who have tried everything to stop Obama, do when the policies put in place by said president actually seem to be helping to improve the economy? Well, you do what Republicans always do in times like this. They bring out the vaginas! Yes, I said it.

You see, Republicans have three go-to subjects no matter what the situation when they are trying to gain power — the economy, war, and sex. Their economic argument, of course, is weak. It always is. And with the outcomes of Iraq and Afghanistan, their best bet now, and forever always, is to talk about sex... and boy are they talking about it!

All we have heard about recently has involved women's issues.

Contraception, birth control, abortion, insane definitions of "personhood," you name it. Since Republicans were swept back into Congress in 2010, the narrative has been heavily vaginal.

Republicans don't care about jobs. They know that for them talking about jobs and the economy after winning elections is a losing battle. Sure, they promised jobs in 2010, but sex brings in more donations and riles up their evangelical base far more than boring low-paying jobs.

Sex is so popular in fact that the Republicans' moral policeman, Rick Santorum, is now leading against Mr. Capitalist 1% Mitt Romney in the polls. Sex trumps money every time. It never fails.

Question now is, do Republicans really think they can win in November using just their vagina monologues? Will pretending that the entire country is as religious as their base get them to a win in November? How will it play in Peoria when come election day voters are heading back to work, able to keep their homes, and essentially becoming more able to make ends meet than they were before? Even if just a little? Will the vagina still be able to distract us then?

Don't count on it. But until then, expect a lot more sex and a lot less substance coming from the right. Come to think of it, when has it ever been any different?