Former Bush-Cheney campaign strategist Matthew Dowd is terribly upset about these divisive "culture wars" we're having now that his side is losing them.
April 5, 2015

Former Bush-Cheney campaign strategist Matthew Dowd is terribly upset about these divisive "culture wars" we're having now that his side is losing them. Dowd's usual job on ABC's This Week is to repeat "both sides" over and over again at every opportunity to muddy the waters any time the topic turns to Republicans behaving badly.

This Sunday he was asked about a column he wrote for ABC on Indiana's so-called "religious freedom" law and his response was to opine about how terrible it is that the country is so polarized and divided.

RADDATZ: And I'm going to start with you, Matt Dowd, you wrote this week that the religious freedom is fascinating, disturbing and sad. But let me read you what Ron Brownstein wrote in the National Journal. He thinks this could be the biggest landmine facing Republicans.

He said "Pence's agonies underscore the challenge Republicans face, reconciling the demands of their culturally conservative base with the evolving realities of an America steadily growing more diverse, secular and tolerant. That widening gap may be the biggest obstacle to Republican hopes of recapturing the White House next year -- agree?

MATTHEW DOWD, ABC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it makes it difficult when you get involved in a cultural war. It makes it easier for a primary, but more difficult in a general election and where the country stands today.

To me the reason why I thought this was both fascinating and sad and disappointing is that these issues drop into the body politic and because there's this underlying boiling going on that we don't see, they drop in and then everybody gets polarized.

And to me the thing that disturbed me the most about this is that you couldn't be -- people couldn't say -- you could be a person of faith who goes to church, who, you know, prays to god and tolerant and compassionate at the same time.

And the other part of this that I think was disturbing to me was how big business responded in some what I think a hypocritical way. They criticize Indiana, but they do business with China and Saudi Arabia. To me, it's ultimately, if you're going to do that then do it worldwide and not just in Indiana.

Maybe Dowd should take the matter up with his buddy Karl Rove.

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