John Kerry is running for President again and is trying to correct the mistakes of last time. He evidently sees that criticisms of him by Catholics for his pro-abortion views injured his standing among Catholic voters and so he’s trying to move to the center, picking up some of those “moderate” Catholics without losing the radical abortion fringe.
In a speech at Pepperdine, Kerry called for common ground between pro-aborts and pro-lifers. He said that both sides were “overly partisan” and that there were areas they could agree on, mainly the standard Nanny government initiatives pushed by liberals. But dig below the surface and there’s nothing new here. It’s the same ground covered by Bill Clinton who claimed he was “personally opposed, but…” and who wanted to make it “safe, legal, and rare.” For that matter, it was the same speech given by Hillary Clinton in January 2005.
It’s also the same old moral equivalency and political expediency. Come on. If you really believe that life begins at conception and that it is a child, how can you not impose this moral calculus on others. Could you imagine a US Senator saying, “I’m personally opposed to the murder of Israelis and I believe that they are human, but I will not oppose Iran’s attempts to nuke them. I will not oppose Hezbollah’s choice to kill them.” I am not saying that is what Kerry is saying, but I’m saying that what he says about abortion is as morally incomprehensible.
Even the most radical pro-aborts see this as nothing more than political rhetoric.
But Nancy Keenan, NARAL president, noted that Kerry’s record speaks for itself. ``As someone who consistently supported a woman’s right to choose and has the voting record to prove it, Senator Kerry is acknowledging what NARAL Pro-Choice America has been saying for years: This decision is a personal one between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her God,” Keenan said.
Unfortunately, some line-straddling Catholic Democrats may see this as an excuse to support his candidacy.
Update: It’s interesting to notice that when you look at the whole speech, you see that the mainstream media has the same abortion myopia with regard to pro-abort Dems as it does with pro-life Repubs and Catholic prelates. Abortion was just a small part of the speech, but dominated the article covering it. It’s always about abortion.
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