wedge-issue

Though he is master emeritus on fear-mongering and wedge-issue politics, I don't think he even comes close to meeting the criteria for "conservative" as the word is being used today.

Cheney named Conservative of the Year 2009

Joint support for other drives, such as the pending Employment Non-Discrimination Act aimed at barring job bias against LGBT people and nominations like Feldblum's, has deepened familiarity and cooperation and caused fear and wedge-issue appeals to intolerance to lose traction.

Jim Dickson: Prom Flap Highlights Alliance of Pride and Growing Power Jim Dickson 2010

Using adoption as solely a common ground tool or, worse, as a wedge-issue between anti-and pro-choice advocates is unfair most of all to women, but it also does nothing to further the discussion on either side of the debate.

Amie Newman: Pro-Choice and Adoption: Outside the Culture Wars 2010

For now, they prefer to stay away from the kind of wedge-issue politics that were once a hallmark of their campaigns.

California's gay-marriage decision unlikely to shift campaign focus from economy 2010

John McCain has run a dispirited, dishonorable, duplicitous, wedge-issue driven and erratic campaign during a time when his country is at war and faces the gravest economic crisis since the 1930's.

Gary Cohan: Conduct Unbecoming: John McCain's Dishonorable Endgame Gary Cohan 2010

John McCain has run a dispirited, dishonorable, duplicitous, wedge-issue driven and erratic campaign during a time when his country is at war and faces the gravest economic crisis since the 1930's.

Conduct Unbecoming: John McCain's Dishonorable Endgame 2010

Using adoption as solely a common ground tool or, worse, as a wedge-issue between anti-and pro-choice advocates is unfair most of all to women, but it also does nothing to further the discussion on either side of the debate.

Amie Newman: Abortion and Adoption: Pro-Choice Adoption: Outside the Culture Wars 2010

John McCain has run a dispirited, dishonorable, duplicitous, wedge-issue driven and erratic campaign during a time when his country is at war and faces the gravest economic crisis since the 1930's.

Gary Cohan: Conduct Unbecoming: John McCain's Dishonorable Endgame 2010

The "post-racial" and "moving beyond division" ideas are what scare the Republicans most, since they defy their comfortable demographic and wedge-issue electoral advantages.

Is Bogus Michelle Obama Rumor Based On A Work Of Fiction? 2009

Voting against a silly, stupid, wedge-issue resolution like that would've been politically stupid.

Utter waste David 2007