Apparently, it is an affront to feminist principles that a high society hostess was not regarded as suitably qualified to be President of the United States, despite all those years as a doormat for the biggest misogynist going. So those who hold such principles are going to vote instead for the well-known feminist, John McCain.
At least (from their point of view), McCain is not against abortion. Not really. No one who would ever be allowed anywhere near the Republican nomination ever has been since the issue arose, or ever will be. Pretending to be keeps blue-collar Catholics and white Evangelicals voting Republic, and so keeps the Republican Party in existence. If it ever actually happened, then they would simply declare "Mission Accomplished" and go home to the Democratic Party, which would then come under greatly increased pressure to deliver on the protection of workers and consumers, on fair tax, on universal health care, on Social Security, and so forth.
So it will never actually happen: no Republican President will ever do anything about abortion, and if you want something done about abortion, then the last thing that you should do is vote Republican in a Presidential Election. As the Clintons 4 McCain clearly understand. When will the pro-life movement? When McCain reaches out to the Clintons 4 McCain, even though they are going to vote for him anyway, and nominates a pro-abortion running mate? Or not even then?
Virginia is said to be key Clintons 4 McCain territory. Obama should in that case name Jim Webb as his Vice-Presidential nominee. Not least because I know just the man to take over as the Democratic Senator for Virginia.
Rubbish! The Democrat Party can and will at some point get those mythical "blue collar" Catholics voting for them again. But only when the Party itself changes.
ReplyDeleteYou still haven't explained how any Presidential candidate could qualify as anti-abortion - according to your "only-conservative-in-the-village-not-really-anti-abortion" definitions.
But most US Catholics are pro-abortion anyway. The real reason Obama's now four points behind McCain amongst likely voters is presumably because he just doesn't give the impression that he gives a damn about America.
"The Democrat Party can and will at some point get those mythical "blue collar" Catholics voting for them again."
ReplyDeleteWell, it perfectly easily could, by returning to being the party of defined by social justice (a good Papal term, of course), with social libertinism optional, rather than the other way round. Not ideal, but then politics isn't. Most Americans with the highest stake in social justice are at least broadly, and often very strongly, pro-life and pro-family.
A few super-rich super-liberals might not like this shift, but there are too few of them to matter, especially if religious money that is currently being poured down the Republican drain is instead diverted to the Democrats.
"You still haven't explained how any Presidential candidate could qualify as anti-abortion"
We'll probably only know if or when such a person is elected and goes about appointing genuinely pro-life Supreme Court justices. But that person certainly won't be a Republican, for the reasons that I gave.
"But most US Catholics are pro-abortion anyway."
If you include rich and/or barely observant ones, yes. The poorer ones are much more likely to be regular attendees, and much more likely to be pro-life. It's a huge natural and historic Democratic coalition just waiting to be reached.
"The real reason Obama's now four points behind McCain"
Oh, I think we all know what that is. It is also the real reason why Clinton's "feminist" supporters can't stand him.
Who is funding these people. No doubt the same people who funded the original Clinton campaign itself.
ReplyDeleteOh, doubtless.
ReplyDeleteAIPAC, unrepresentative either of Israelis or of American Jews.
And those well-known woman-loving Jew-lovers, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, on whose behalf Clinton promised to use nuclear weapons against Iran, where there are more women than men at university and where there is a reserved Jewish seat in the Parliament.