GOP fun!

The best thing about the GOP majority is watching them have to vote.  They have too.  They can no longer hide behind the Democratic majority and just say what they won't do.  It's the cat who stalks the bird from the bush, only to have the bush all of the sudden vanish.

They initially were called out about climate change.  The Senate, realizing there were cameras involved and this was going to constitute an official stance, voted 99 - 1 to say, "sure, climate change is happening."  Most of the Republicans who voted for this have insisted climate change was a myth in the past, but there is a difference between tea party fund raiser and the floor of the Congress.  They can't afford to have official votes geared toward appealing to their fervent base haunt them when it comes to a general election.

Then came abortion.  This was a little tricker, as I can't quite figure out who pulled the bill before the vote.  The bill would have been a ban on all abortions after 20 weeks unless pregnancy was due to a rape, but only rapes that were officially reported to the police.  Female Republicans, wanting to avoid another fiasco where Republican men got in front of cameras and insisted on defining what is and what is not rape, usually insulting and re-victimizing rape victims when they did so, just wanted the language changed to allow abortions in all cases of rape.  The GOP men refused and so the bill was pulled for a different abortion bill, a far toned down bill.  Mind you, with young voters, going after abortions is very unpopular, so that could have weighed on their decision as well.

Going on the record is a worst case scenario for the GOP.  They really had it nice in the past, getting all of the benefit of the doubt.  Now, they can't hide anymore and they'll either tone down legislation, pull bills from the voting calendar, or go completely against what they have stood for publicly for years, hoping they'll be forgiven by their tea party followers to avoid being labeled as far right loons, which they are.