The Logic Of McCain

A reader writes:

You asked, "By what logic can gay rights be more significant an issue for a religious party like the GOP than abortion?"

By the electoral logic. Anything touching on homosexuality cuts into the Republican strategy to define this, along with every other, presidential election as a choice between a folksy, ordinary, and masculine patriot and an elite, peculiar, and effeminate cosmopolitan. Merely mentioning anything gay, let alone having gay friends, wavering on gay marriage, etc. punts you in the latter camp. You can't say the same for abortion.