Former GOP Senator Alan Simpson tells Fareed Zakaria that Republicans “like to give the saliva test of purity and then they lose and then they just bitch for four years. It’s an amazing party.”
ZAKARIA: Senator, when I was growing up and coming of age, I remember you were thought of as a pretty conservative guy. I mean you were representing Wyoming, after all. And to listen to you now, you sound like a moderate. Have you changed or has the Republican Party changed?
SIMPSON: Well, I think the Republican Party changed. But where - where - what happened with me is, I always felt that abortion is a hideous and terrible thing.
Let’s all admit that. But it’s a deeply intimate and personal decision. Here’s a party that believes in government out of your lives, the precious right of privacy and the right to be left alone. Well, then what are you doing in this issue? Partial birth abortion is not an emotional issue, it’s a medical issue. It’s to free the birth canal for a - hopefully, a later child. I mean it’s madness.
Gay-lesbian issues, we all have someone we know or love who’s gay or lesbian. What the hell is this all about? Madness. And if we’re going to get trapped in that we’re headed for some more strife.
