McCain: crazy as hell, statist, interventionist. Like George Bush, but with rabies. But you know, we've only got 300 million people in this country, so I'm sure he is the best possible choice for one of the two options we will have.

The only good thing that has come out of the campaigns is that I have been able to get in a word with my mother about abortion. She is pro-choice because, basically, everyone else in her area is, and my mother thinks any extremism must be wrong, because it is after all so extreme! She defends abortion based on rape and life of the mother cases, though I have explained to her that her view puts her in the position of restricting abortions to 1% of their current rate. She doesn't want to think about it, because she doesn't want to become an extremist or hold an unpopular view.
It is pretty distressing to me that my own mother holds this view. When I was about 13, she told me that if I got pregnant as a teenager, she would make me have an abortion. She was clearly quite proud of herself for having arrived at such a noble and clear-headed view of how such situations should be handled. I told her I didn't think I could go through with something like that. As was (and sometimes IS) typical, it did not occur to her that I might, you know, need to be consulted for my view in such a situation. Frankly, I think the conversation woke me up a little to the reality of sex (that it makes babies) that at that age I had not really thought much about. The idea of being pressured by my own mother to kill my child was pretty terrifying.
Anyway, I mentioned, offhand, that one of the things that is so upsetting about Obama is that he opposed the "Born Alive" bill that aimed to prevent babies surviving abortion from being suffocated or just exposed in the hallway of a hospital until they die. Mom just gasped and said "Oh my God!" So, maybe she will reflect on this a little more. Unfortunately, though, I don't think she will.

5 comments:

Cacciaguida said...

Research that FRC sponsored in the early '90s showed that the "mushy middle" on abortion isn't just "mushy": it strongly dislikes pro-lifers for making them think about abortion.

Re McCain: I read today in a Ponnuru article about him (a hostile one, oddly enough) that when confronted by a New Hampshire voter who demanded to know what the candidate would do about overpopulation, McCain replied, "With respect, sir, that's old Club of Rome stuff." The Club of Rome being a Malthusian think tank that had a brief vogue in the '70s. Sounds like McCain's instincts are good.

Anonymous said...

On abortion, I think McCain's instincts are good, but I just think there's now way he would have as good on stem cells as Bush was. Otherwise, I agree. But I'm voting for him. Actually, I decided he was the best available option in the Republican field last Summer. Not by much, and heaven knows he has major flaws, but still the best of the bunch. So in that limited sense I would say that I am "pleased" that he will get the nomination. Should've been Phil Gramm -- or in 8 years, Bobby Jindal! -- but thems the breaks. Hopefully he'll pick someone like Chris Cox as his VP.

Jane said...

My mother has a somewhat similar stance along the lines of "I'd rather not think or talk about it." It's very frustrating.

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