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Back in March when Abu Gonzales was hanging on as the AG, he gave a speech where he said the following:

“I’m not going to resign. I’m going to stay focused on protecting our kids.”

Protecting our kids? I found this very curious. It seemed to come out of left field. Obviously he was trying to cover his ass and divert attention away from his atrocious and incompetent tenure as the AG and his involvement in the US attorney purge scandal.

Then I came upon this passage in The Wimp Factor (p. 176) by Stephen Ducat:

In 1997, GOP pollster Frank Luntz fired off a memo to Congressional Republicans titled "Language of the 21st Century." He told his comrades, "[We need not] change our substance or create a separate women's agenda" because "listening to women and adapting a new language and a more friendly style will itself be rewarded." Elsewhere in the memo, he waxes more brazenly Machiavellian and instructs his fellow Republicans, "Women consistently respond to the phrase 'for the children' regardless of the context." (Emphasis added.)

So it wasn't out of left field, but out of the Luntzian Republican playbook of trying to garner support and sympathy via words and phrases. Because the last thing Republicans are capable of is accepting responsibility and having an iota of accountability.

Color me neither surprised nor shocked.