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Credit Where Credit is Due

Jill

I don’t like Rudy, but good for him for bucking Evangelical pressure and stating his support for some public funding of abortion. This isn’t exactly a giant pro-choice victory, since of course he re-emphasized his personal opposition to abortion and state’s rights and blah blah blah, but in supporting public funding he’s taken a stronger pro-choice position than a lot of Democrats. And he’s a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. This doesn’t mean that we can rest on our laurels and consider the culture war won, but I think it does bode well for the decreasing influence of the religious right on the Republican party.

And the guy is sticking to his guns, even in the face of enormous pressure to pose as a social conservative in order to rally the GOP base. I still think he’s scum (see here), but good on him for taking this position.

12 thoughts on Credit Where Credit is Due

  1. i do think the culture war on abortion is won. the activist war is another story.

    i think great credit goes out to sandra day o connor for ‘saving’ the day with casey. she gave the pro-choice crowd enough time (another 2 decades) to win the culture war.

    :sitting on laurels:

  2. Does talking about “states rights” (seriously, couldn’t the come up with another phrase? Unless, I suppose, they don’t want to…) just mean that the speaker expects Roe to be overturned and is promising to let as many states outlaw abortion at that point as want to?

  3. I will certainly never vote for Rudy but at least he hasn’t turned into an absolute shill like McCain. Even though he’s now fellating the far conservative, Christian-Right and is the official cheerleader for Dubya’s Iraqi War, McCain still wants people to believe that he’s a “Maverick“, moderate Republican. But it’s still very early in the presidential race so who knows what Rudy will say and do next. Maybe he will sellout his political and philosophical values just like McCain (or was McCain always this conservative?), as the party-nomination date draws closer– just have to wait and see. But, pfft, I’m not holding my breath.

  5. The religious right has less power in the Republican party because of George Bush’s incompetence and bad strategies in the first place. Highly religious folk worship tradition, and when the tradition of the Republican party flounders, it becomes less of a battling cry party to fight for.

    As far as positions on abortion go, don’t get too excited. It’s not something that is going to go away, just because a domestic moderate Republican is in the mix. There are always domestic moderates of some sort around, but never high up on the ladder. The only reason he’s high up on the ladder is because of post-911.

  6. This doesn’t mean that we can rest on our laurels and consider the culture war won, but I think it does bode well for the decreasing influence of the religious right on the Republican party.

    A recent poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press is interesting re the culture war.

    Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007
    Political Landscape More Favorable To Democrats

    The section on Religion and Social Issues is especially interesting as far as how attitudes towards all the fun issues — abortion, women’s roles, porn and censorship, gay rights and marriage, religious traditionalism — correlate with age and other factors.

    There’s a summary of it here:
    http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312

    The full thing can be had in pdf format (yuck) here from a link on that page, or you can click here:
    http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/312.pdf

  7. It really bothers me when feminists who are normally pro-choice backpedal on pbulic funding for abortion. The women who often need abortions most are those who can’t afford the procedure on their own. Obiously, I see relatively few feminist back down on the issue, especially when compared to, I dunno, wealthy white conservative men. That’s still frustrating, but certainly less surprising.

  8. MattC, which feminists have backpedalled on public funding for abortion?

    I’m curious, because it seems so plainly obvious that if you’re pro-choice you have to also recognise that access to abortion is a public health issue. So – that would bother me, too, but I don’t know who you’re talking about. Who are you talking about?

  9. Rainne, I’m talking about feminist-identified women and men that I know in my personal interactions. I have met more than a few pro-choice people who shy away from endorsing public funding because they feel it is unjust to make pro-life people complicit in abortion (I disagree).But I know of no feminist leaders off of the top of my my head who hold the position, likely because it is as plainly inconsistent as you say. Maybe I should have made it clear that I meant feminsit and pro-choice people I know, not so much public figures.

  10. people who shy away from endorsing public funding because they feel it is unjust to make pro-life people complicit in abortion

    glad to hear you disagree with that line of reasoning, because it’s ridiculously exceptional, and not in the “synonym for skilled” kind of way. hey, i’m anti-war, but i still pay the taxes that fund the military’s $42,000 toilet seats.

  11. There’s a long tradition of tax resistance in the Anabaptist churches; many have gone to jail or suffered asset seizures for refusing to pay taxes that could be used for the defense budget. I don’t see many pro-lifers showing that same level of courage.

    If access to abortion is a right, then it follows that that right ought not be available only to the wealthy. (One could imagine a state banning abortion, and then claiming to comply with Roe because after all, women could always freely leave and fly to Canada or Japan to have an abortion.)

  12. I don’t like Rudy, but good for him for bucking Evangelical pressure and stating his support for some public funding of abortion. This isn’t exactly a giant pro-choice victory, since of course he re-emphasized his personal opposition to abortion and state’s rights and blah blah blah, but in supporting public funding he’s taken a stronger pro-choice position than a lot of Democrats.

    In terms of my stance on abortion, I am pro-choice. I don’t like Rudolph Giuliani since he is for gun control and he wants higher taxes. Plus, he’s a pro-war and I don’t agree with the war in Iraq since it’s imperialistic agression on another country.

    And he’s a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. This doesn’t mean that we can rest on our laurels and consider the culture war won, but I think it does bode well for the decreasing influence of the religious right on the Republican party.

    I am voting for Dr. Ron Paul. Ron Paul is an anti-war Republican and I will support him, even if I am one of the only few voters who will cast their ballot for him. It’s better than not voting at all and I want to make my voice count, even if it is a tiny one.

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