A Question from a Webb Supporter

The Washington Post ^ | November 14, 2006 | John Whitesides

[DCBandita]

This is not an easy issue for me generally. It is not a choice I would make for myself, frankly, for a host of reasons. When an egg is fertilized, it's a mass of cells. Yes, cells with unique DNA but cells nonetheless, as indistinct to me as any other mass of cells. That's the first thing. The second thing is an essential belief that people just have sex. You can't teach it out of them or moral it out of them or browbeat it out of them. They have sex - they're made to have sex, driven to have sex in some normal propotional way. If you hate abortion, making it illegal isn't going to stop it. The only thing that stops it is to stop sex that leads to unwanted pregnancies OR to severaly minimize the likelihood that an unwanted pregnancy arises as a result of having sex. That would mean we would have to acknowledge that even young people (our daughters and sons) have sex and should have access to birth control. Yet the people I characterize as the "religious right" seem to be opposed to the sex, the birth control, and the potential abortion. I can't add that math up. And I don't believe women should be subjected to forced pregnancy for the sake of a bunch of cells. Harsh? Perhaps. But it's what I believe.

[rmlew]

Rudy does not believe in enforcing immigration law.
He also does not support small government. He does support smaller government and privatization. However, you must remember that New York is a welfare state.

PS. There is nothing conservative or moderate or small gvernment about supporting government funding of abortion, which Giulliani supported.

[beckysueb]

You must not have heard that terrorist statement asking Americans to vote for democrats BEFORE the election. He said if the democrats get in they will withdraw and help them defeat the great satan. Pretty safe bet as to whose side they are on.

[DCBandita]

I do mind. And I didn't support it.

[DCBandita]

I'm decidedly liberal on the issue of abortion.

[mrsmith]

I've seen every type come through FR.

This one has no depth, no soul.
There's no "there" there.

It's not just young it's petrified too.
Young people should be open to learning.

This one is just sad.
Of course anyone who wants to try awakening it is welcome.

[DCBandita]

The "bad guy" to whon I was referring is Saddam Hussein. And he wasn't a radical Islamist.

[DCBandita]

Gee... thanks for deciding that I'm "young". As to my soul, it's not yours to worry about. You proceed at your peril, however, assuming that I am "souless" due to my feelings on abortion. You have no idea or concept of how I help in my community or what sort of volunteer work I do in care for my fellow human beings.

That type of blanket categorization blinds you to compromise. Your choice, but to attempt to marginalize me by deciding you know me at that level hurts only you.

[Trinity5]

"I consider a fully automatic weapon unreasonable."

Why? The only crime commited with a legally owned full automatic firearm was commited by a police officer. Go figure.

[libertylover76]

I agree that we broke it and now should fix it. But I don't think that's going to happen since we haven't the will to re-do the war properly, despite McCain's call for more troops.

It ticks me off how conservatives worshiped Rumsfeld just 'cause Dems hated him. He was the doofus that undercut out ability to properly subjugate Iraq by his insistence on (a) calling the conquest a liberation, and (b) not telling his generals to annihilate Fallujah.

If we're not at long last going to send in overwhelming force (which I somehow doubt the Baker commission is going to recommend,) it's sad to say but true: we might as well get the hell out now.

[Thane_Banquo]

I was referring to Bill, who I believe is more moderate than Hillary. He achieved little in his Presidency, but what he did do was not the sort of federal expansionism of LBJ and FDR. The fact that he passed welfare reform and the marriage protection act would tend to discredit claims that he governed like a far leftist (whether he was a closet leftist is up for debate) I personally don't think Hillary would have passed welfare reform.

[cinives]

So in your litany of things you found objectionable about Republicans, you still don't see that the same things or worse went on under Democrats ? It's a horror when done under a Republican administration but worthy of another term when done by Democrats ?

Sounds like hypocrisy to me.

[SJackson]

I did. And to promote full disclosure, I was an active volunteer for the Webb campaign.

Good for you.

Perhaps not your intent, but you did more to assure a Guiliani/McCain/Rice nomination than any of the stay at home "true conservatives". Not my knocking out Allen, but by demonstrating to the RNC where the votes are.

To the stay at home third party "voters", votes as in I'll show up and vote.

[libertylover76]

The Bosnian adventure (which is but a pimple compared to the cancer of the Iraq adventure) was a mistake, but a mistake that didn't weaken our ability to tackle REAL enemies like North Korea and Iran.

[cinives]

Republicans ran Congress since '94, and forced welfare reform on Clinton. He only signed it when it hit his desk the 3rd time.

Everything that was moderate under Clinton was a result of the Republican Congress.

[DCBandita]

and I'm curious - why did the stay-at-home voters stay at home? Here at FR I hear that a Democratic majority in the Senate is a terrible thing - yet I am also hearing that there was an urging to stay at home. I mean this sincerely - why?

[DManA]

If you think you made a point by posting that to me then you didn't comprehend what I said. Of course there are benefits now. The pain comes later.

And by then people will have forgotten what caused the pain. And there will be demagogues telling people they are in pain because they are too free and that capitalism has failed them. And they may just believe those lies.

[Miss Marple]

Your CHOICE is to become pregnant or not. AFTER you are pregnant, you have a responsibility to that life.

I am for full access to birth control, and people can selsct whether of not to use it. AFTER one becomes pregnant, it's a whole different story.

I am Catholic. Our Church opposes birth control other than by natural means. We do not consider birth control an issue to fight for legislatively; it is a moral issue.

However, the Church considers abortion to be a non-negotiable issue when it comes to voting, because it is the taking of a life.

I fail to see why people who are irresponsible and get prregnant and then want an aboriton should get to be the dominant voice in this issue. Who speaks for the unborn?

[Petronski]

...what sort of volunteer work I do in care for my fellow human beings.

You don't mean your "fellow human beings." You only mean the human beings whom you consider to be human beings, the ones who survive the slaughter.

[DCBandita]

Which leads to the question - is it not better from a policy perspective (e.g., something for nearly everyone) to have the executive and legislative branches controlled by different parties?

Due respect, I'm looking back over the last six years and not seeing a lot of wonderful legislation coming out of it. No spending limitations, no cutting of pork, no serious attempt to address the economic divide, etc. Moral issues aside, I didn't see a lot of real legislation out of the Republican-led Congress under the Republican White House.