Taken For Granted
I know the CW–Palin has locked in the base, freeing McCain to move left. But jeez, McCain isn’t moving to the left just on immigration, and he isn’t moving subtly. Listen to this new radio ad, which might as well be titled “Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Research.” That’s how often the phrase is repeated. How much more Screw-You-I’m-Taking-You-for-Granted can McCain get? Are conservatives complete suckers? ~Mickey Kaus
I suspect this is a rhetorical question, since the come-to-Palin revival has made clear once and for all that there are no policies so offensive or objectionable to conservatives that they cannot be erased from memory by political stunts and symbolism. McCain/Palin will endorse ESCR, but because Palin has “walked the walk,” as they say, it will not matter that McCain is still compromising a principle that pro-lifers believe is non-negotiable. (Notice how during the Gibson interview she very carefully avoided committing a McCain administration to opposition to ESCR and kept emphasizing that she was talking about her personal opinion.) Instead of seeing through the Palin selection as a ruse and understanding that she is being used as little more than a prop to lure social conservatives to the polls to elect an administration that will ignore them entirely, most conservatives are now completely on board with the GOP ticket.
For all Larison’s bluster, the fact remains that McCain-Palin is indisputably a better ticket for pro-lifers than Obama-Biden. The rhetorical footwork of this post– “political stunts,” “symbolism,” “a principle that is non-negotiable,” “ruse,” “prop,” etc.– attempts to, but really can’t, distract attention from pro-lifers’ sound political judgment.
A better ticket in what sense? I suppose McCain will probably (I emphasize probably) do less damage in his Court appointments than Obama would, but I would remind everyone that most of the worst activist justices in the postwar era were appointed by Republicans and a Court dominated by Republican appointees handed down the Casey decision. Do you want to tell me that McCain’s position on ESCR is consistent with what pro-lifers believe? Palin’s selection *is* a ruse designed to keep you voting for the GOP even though the GOP leadership has no intention of taking your priorities seriously. If you don’t care about your vote being taken for granted, that’s your business, but at least own up to the reality that Republicans take pro-lifers for granted.