Mayor Giuliani’s abortion talk gets more and more muddled. For starters there was his debate performance where he was for and against and for and against abortion. Then, last week he gave a major speech saying he was absolutely and totally for abortion rights:
“I believe abortion is wrong,” he said. But out of respect for other people’s fervent support of abortion, he said, “I would grant to women the right to make that choice.”
Giuliani said his views have evolved, but those two “core beliefs” always have and always will guide him.
“It means I am open to considering ways to limit abortion,” he said. “It means I’m open to seeking ways to reduce the number of abortions.
“Core beliefs” – it doesn’t get much stronger than that. Your “core beliefs” are those things that define you, those things that you hold to be true, those things that you will fight for with all that you have. So Giuliani holds core beliefs about protecting a woman’s right to choose.
Except…
Yesterday, he said was open to appointing Supreme Court justices who might be open to overturning Roe v. Wade. Huh?
“I’m going to select strict constructionist judges. They’re free to take a look at Roe against Wade, take a look at the limitations, but I believe I should leave it to them to decide that.”
He is, to borrow a favorite conservative phrase, behaving downright “Clintonian.” He is trying to have it not just both ways on an issue but every way. And that is alarming, because a man who isn’t willing to fight for his core beliefs is a man who is likely incapable of fighting for any beliefs.
There is, of course, method to this apparent political madness. Giuliani is trying to have the impossible apple. He knows how adored he is by conservatives for his get tough, no nonsense leadership. We wouldn’t have screwed up Katrina, would have had heads roll for Abu Ghraib, would never have allowed Walter Reed and most of all wouldn’t have let the Iraq War become the Iraq Quagmire. He also knows, of course, that conservatives tend to be socially conservative as well – they don’t like abortion.
So his campaign bet is that he can convince conservatives that even though he is pro-choice that he will appoint “strict constructionist” judges to the bench who will rule in a pro-life way. Interesting gamble for conservatives – after all, they have already seen what he does with his “core beliefs”.
posted May 15, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Donny, If you weren’t so obviously clueless, I would be extraordinarily angry with you for the thoughtless and callous way you treat others who do not agree with you. As someone who has spent the past 25 years working with young (and not-so-young) women in crisis, I have to say that your comment is among the most inane I have ever heard – and I have heard some doozies. Most women who find themselves considering an abortion are not promiscuous – a lot of them have only been with one person, the one who got them pregnant. There are as many reasons that a women – or young girl – finds herself wanting to end her pregnancy as there are women. You have NO RIGHT to make blanket judgements regarding one of the hardest decisions that a women ever has to make. How dare you presume that YOU know every situation and the mind (not to mention the heart) of everyone who faces that decision. Ignorance such as yours makes my job – counseling women and convincing them that there are other viable options – so much more difficult. As soon as I start talking about adoption, support and options, a lot of the time the first response is to freak out because of the things that narrow minded bigots say . I believe abortion is wrong in most cases, and I do my best to encourage other options, but I am not the one who is pregnant and who will have to go through it. I pledge myself to support the women in whatever she decides – and I have a pretty good track record of convincing the women I work with that there are other ways to handle this – but I have also done my share of walking through a gauntlet of cruel, heartless people who have no compunction about calling names, verbally assaulting women who are already in pain and making huge leaps to conclusions that are based on their inability to let people live their own lives. perhaps you should examine your self and re-think what it means to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
posted May 15, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Katie, You are so right on. As a former women’s counselor myself, I applaud your work on behalf of those who need the care and compassion to make their own judgements about their lives. It is so hard, and yet I found it wasn’t necessarily the client’s that made my job harder, it was the obstacles to their making lasting choices and changes in their lives that took their toll on me. And that work is always made far harder by the callous outsiders who criticize and heap blame on the client you are trying so hard to create a safe space for, I remember. Continue your work with the confidence that love is always the better environment in which we can help people make good choices for themselves than fear.Don’t let the Donny’s of the world get to you.