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An Electoral Dead-End
Part Two of Three By Dave Andrusko In a passing comment in Part One, I mentioned that pro-abortionists are consoling themselves with the illusion/delusion that if only, ONLY Democratic candidates had promoted abortion more, their mid-term losses would have been…something…fewer, I guess.
Rutten's response cuts right to the chase. "In the Democrats' case, though, it's hard to imagine anything more ill-timed than an attempt to revive abortion as an electoral wedge issue." He lists several inter-related reasons, the common thread of which is this won't work with Catholics and/or with the leadership of the Catholic Church. 1.Referring especially to voters in Rust Belt states ("where Democrats suffered dramatic reversals"), Rutten writes, "For four decades, no presidential candidate has won the popular vote without carrying Catholics. Making support for access to abortion a litmus test ignores that historical calculus." 2.He cites the selection of Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to be the new President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Dolan is regarded as an articulate advocate for asserting the church's opposition to abortion ahead of any other issue," Rutten says. 3.True or not ( I have no idea), Rutten writes that many of the Bishops who voted for Archbishop Dolan over Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson agree with "Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput and soon-to-be curial Cardinal Raymond Burke that Catholics who hold positions favoring abortion rights … ought to be denied communion." Much of the remainder of the column is saturated in hyperbole from critics of these three men. But that does not change Rutten's bottom line. Regardless of what NARAL and Planned Parenthood tell the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Washington Post, and POLITICO, an even firmer embrace of abortion is an electoral dead-end for Democrats. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
Judging
by his approach, Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten is
hardly one of us. But his column, "Will abortion be an issue
again?" does a very good job of debunking the notion that
Democrats would be better off (paraphrasing "a number of
longtime activists") if the party were to "reassert more clearly
and forcefully its commitment to reproductive rights."