Most people know it. Abortion has its foot on the throat of American politics in a way that no other issue does. The Culture Wars in general are bad. As Solon remarked to Harrogate on the phone the other day, Obama seems earnestly hopeful to tone down the culture wars, to get rid of the hate and the zealotry and to do the hard work of finding compromise on these boilerplate questions. But sadly, "Maverick" John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin pretty much demolished any possibility that the Culture Wars can be toned down any time soon.
Yea and verily, the Palin pick reinforces the fact that once again, Republicans will be given a reprieve, among many human beings in America, for any kind of accountability at all with respect to questions of war and peace, questions of economic justice, and questions of governmental transparency.
Now, as the New York Times has reported, and as TChris posted today on TalLeft, the Republican Party retained in its official platform bans on Abortion with NO EXCEPTION, including cases of Rape, Incest, or Even if the Life of the Mother hangs in the Balance.
This, despite the fact that McCain in 2000 and again as recently as May, argued that exceptions should be made in those cases.
(BTW, you have to give it to TalkLeft, especially Jeralyn Merritt and TChris. Both of them supported Hill full-throttle during the primary, and now, despite the persistent deluge of craziness in the site's comment box, Jeralyn has been calling McCain and Palin out on ideological grounds, wire to wire. She is, in other words, unlike the cartoonish "Hillary supporters" among her commenters, actually credible as a Hillary Clinton supporter. What has happened to that site, via the comments, is a sad, sad thing; under another moniker Harrogate used to post there copiously, and enjoyed the banter. Now it is on the verge of collapse. It is one of many things that makes Harrogate, who voted for her in the primary, wish that
Hillary Clinton would go on a little offense against the people who are overtly and cartoonishly exploiting her, and mocking her supporters. Sigh.)
But anyway. Seriously, where is this Abortion Train taking our politics? One very possible scenario is this:
1)McCain and Palin win. It is a vindication for those who see abortion as murder. (As per the status quo. Any Wars McCain starts along the way, any damage he does to the economy, he will not be held accountable for);
2)McCain puts two to three justices on the High Court. He has already stated that Scalia and Thomas are his models;
3)Roe v Wade finally goes down.
But what then? Guerilla warfare state-to-state. Hand to hand combat, literally.
Harrogate has come to believe that one way or the other, the Abortion Divide is going to lead to widespread outbreaks of violence and will further strangle our politics along the way.
Compromise would have been nice. Reasonable efforts to lessen unwanted pregnancy. Efforts to put in place social programs for the poor. Comprehensive sex education.
You took a laudable shot at it, Obama, but you failed on this one, even if you win the election. And solon is damned right. John McCain has shown himself bereft of even a scintilla of political or personal honor.
No comments:
Post a Comment