‘Religious Freedom’ Jesus Crow Laws a Perfect Campaign Issue For 2016

In one of the most stunning cases of socially conservative overreach in political memory, Indiana’s discriminatory Trojan horse “religious freedom” law has suddenly thrust politically poisonous anti-gay politics into the 2016 election cycle. In less than a week, Indiana’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” has gone from being a big wet kiss to anti-gay social conservatives to an overwhelmingly reviled threat to the state’s economy and reputation.

Since signing the law last Thursday, Governor Mike Pence (R) has tried to weather a tsunami of backlash from citizens and businesses by insisting that there’s nothing discriminatory about the law, but promising to fix/clarify it by week’s end. The swiftness and crushing force of that backlash has even forced Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) to reconsider signing his state’s RFRA law.

Along the way, though, a raft of Republican presidential hopefuls have jumped on the original law’s bandwagon, staking out territory that will endear them to a sizable chunk of their base, but placing them on the wrong side of everyone else. The lone Democrat who matters right now got it right…READ MORE

By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.