Most Americans know it’s true, but God-o-Meter didn’t expect to hear it from a high-visibility culture warrior. In a USA Today column this morning, right-wing radio host Michael Medved argues that most Americans–and even many pro-life activists–are simultaneously pro-choice and anti-abortion, placing them squarely in the camp of (gasp!) Rudy Giuliani.
The choice graphs:
[A]nger toward the former mayor distorts his actual position on abortion. Like most Americans, Giuliani takes a mixed, nuanced approach that defies easy categorizations.
Consider, for instance, the key differences between Giuliani’s platform and those of the leading Democratic candidates. Giuliani has committed to preserve the Hyde Amendment, banning taxpayer money for abortions; the top Democrats urge repeal and favor federal funding. Giuliani applauded the recent Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion; all leading Democrats condemned it in harsh terms. The former mayor supports tougher rules requiring parental notification (with a judicial bypass) for underage girls who seek abortions; Clinton and Barack Obama oppose such legislation. Most significant of all, Giuliani has specifically cited strict-constructionists Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and John Roberts as his models for future justices of the Supreme Court — and all three of those jurists have signaled their support for allowing states more leeway in limiting abortions. The top Democrats regularly express contempt for the conservative jurists whom Giuliani admires, and worked against the Alito and Roberts nominations.
In other words, it’s a major distortion to label Giuliani as “pro-abortion” and indistinguishable from Hillary Clinton or the other Democrats.
Wow. Will other conservative opinion shapers make similar pronouncements in coming months, or in the event that Giuliani seizes the GOP nomination? If they don’t, will ordinary conservative voters make the calculation themselves? God-o-Meter sees it hard to see how Giuliani wins the White House otherwise.
