Friday, January 28, 2005
The remaking of Hillary Clinton
In a recent post I made an esoteric attempt to say that Hillary Clinton has learned from the mistakes of John Kerry and is actively moving to C her A in preparation for her own White House run. The subtle suggestion I made was that the numbers showed that Kerry lost the "morality" crowd in a big way and that Hillary is making a valiant, if conniving, effort to solidify her Jesus credentials.
Thanks to the ever-watchful eye of Milbarge over at BTQ, we are presented with another fine example of her political repositioning -- abortion. Cynic that I am, had I been older than I was in 1973, I probably would have predicted that abortion would be a non-issue in two generations if Roe could be sustained for at least 10 years. That has not been the case. To this day, a large segment of the population firmly believes that abortion is wrong and are willing to support politicians who agree with them. At the same time, the Democratic party has been co-opted by the most radical pro-abortion groups on the left. So tight is the ideological stranglehold, that they have a history of lock-step opposition to even the most reasonable limitations on abortion.
Whatever else she may be, Hillary is not an idiot. She, and others on the Left, recognize that 1) a majority of Americans believe there needs to be stricter limits on abortion and 2) there are as many people who identify themselves as "pro-life" as those who self identify as "pro-choice." Hillary realizes that, by taking such an extreme rhetorical stand on the issue, Democrats are ceding those pro-life votes to the Republicans.
My personal beliefs aside, I believe that Hillary is not a pragmatist/opportunist in appearing to move to the middle. I say appearing, because, in truth, she has not really made any policy step away from the traditional Democrat unwavering support of abortion. This "new, moderate" stance is neither new nor moderate. She has not moved one iota away from the most extreme support for abortion on demand -- support that has earned her a 100% rating from NARAL. If asked, we would find that she still supports partial-birth abortions and opposes notice and consent laws -- in fact, not three weeks ago she was slamming Bush for not providing financial support for international organizations that promote abortion. As one Democrat consultant stated, this is "not a change in position as much as an example of change in the way Democrats can talk about things."
Despite the heralds, Hillary's position itself is just a repackaged version of her husband's edict that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare," and there can be no doubt that her intent is to insure that the first two are met while giving lip-service to the third. The only solution Hillary is offering to end the tragedy of abortion is the same warmed-over approach of more sex education and birth control. The overwhelming majority of teenagers already get comprehensive sex education, yet we are still experiencing over 1.3 million abortions every year.
You know what? Hillary's plan works. Even the stolid Washington Times has proclaimed her "pronouncement" as a move to the middle -- as if her statement that people need to find "common ground" on the issue is anything more than blind opportunism.
If, indeed, this is a "move to the middle," where are the howls of protest from the "extreme" left? There aren't any because they support everything that Hillary is doing. They know that having Hillary in the White House is the best way to protect their agenda for the next generation. Many of them also know that, contrary to being an admission of weakness, this position is a natural public-relations progression of the abortion on demand movement. Historically, the Left has had to rely on the argument that abortion is just the removal of unwanted tissue. This is not a person, they say, just a fetus. They would quote some doctors on viability and then try to shift the argument to one of privacy, not morality. Now, after 30 years of this willful ignorance, Hillary is comfortable admitting that abortion is indeed a moral choice. This rhetoric gives Democrats the ability to say "tut-tut" every time the issue of abortion arises, collect the votes of those who buy that this is somehow a middle path, and then go about the merry business of insuring that abortion on demand goes forward unhindered.
Thanks to the ever-watchful eye of Milbarge over at BTQ, we are presented with another fine example of her political repositioning -- abortion. Cynic that I am, had I been older than I was in 1973, I probably would have predicted that abortion would be a non-issue in two generations if Roe could be sustained for at least 10 years. That has not been the case. To this day, a large segment of the population firmly believes that abortion is wrong and are willing to support politicians who agree with them. At the same time, the Democratic party has been co-opted by the most radical pro-abortion groups on the left. So tight is the ideological stranglehold, that they have a history of lock-step opposition to even the most reasonable limitations on abortion.
Whatever else she may be, Hillary is not an idiot. She, and others on the Left, recognize that 1) a majority of Americans believe there needs to be stricter limits on abortion and 2) there are as many people who identify themselves as "pro-life" as those who self identify as "pro-choice." Hillary realizes that, by taking such an extreme rhetorical stand on the issue, Democrats are ceding those pro-life votes to the Republicans.
My personal beliefs aside, I believe that Hillary is not a pragmatist/opportunist in appearing to move to the middle. I say appearing, because, in truth, she has not really made any policy step away from the traditional Democrat unwavering support of abortion. This "new, moderate" stance is neither new nor moderate. She has not moved one iota away from the most extreme support for abortion on demand -- support that has earned her a 100% rating from NARAL. If asked, we would find that she still supports partial-birth abortions and opposes notice and consent laws -- in fact, not three weeks ago she was slamming Bush for not providing financial support for international organizations that promote abortion. As one Democrat consultant stated, this is "not a change in position as much as an example of change in the way Democrats can talk about things."
Despite the heralds, Hillary's position itself is just a repackaged version of her husband's edict that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare," and there can be no doubt that her intent is to insure that the first two are met while giving lip-service to the third. The only solution Hillary is offering to end the tragedy of abortion is the same warmed-over approach of more sex education and birth control. The overwhelming majority of teenagers already get comprehensive sex education, yet we are still experiencing over 1.3 million abortions every year.
You know what? Hillary's plan works. Even the stolid Washington Times has proclaimed her "pronouncement" as a move to the middle -- as if her statement that people need to find "common ground" on the issue is anything more than blind opportunism.
If, indeed, this is a "move to the middle," where are the howls of protest from the "extreme" left? There aren't any because they support everything that Hillary is doing. They know that having Hillary in the White House is the best way to protect their agenda for the next generation. Many of them also know that, contrary to being an admission of weakness, this position is a natural public-relations progression of the abortion on demand movement. Historically, the Left has had to rely on the argument that abortion is just the removal of unwanted tissue. This is not a person, they say, just a fetus. They would quote some doctors on viability and then try to shift the argument to one of privacy, not morality. Now, after 30 years of this willful ignorance, Hillary is comfortable admitting that abortion is indeed a moral choice. This rhetoric gives Democrats the ability to say "tut-tut" every time the issue of abortion arises, collect the votes of those who buy that this is somehow a middle path, and then go about the merry business of insuring that abortion on demand goes forward unhindered.
Centinel 8:07 AM #