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I actually feel some sympathy for Rudy over the abortion issue, even though I disagree with him.

My own position is that I vehemently oppose abortion as birth control (for convenience) but can understand it for valid medical reasons, such as a fatal defect that will only leave an infant a few hours or days of very painful life. In effect a form of euthanasia, which I also oppose but can understand. I can also understand abortion as a choice when you’re looking at the alternatives between the life of the mother and the life of the baby.

That last hypothetical, however, points out my biggest problem with this question. In that case I would strongly lean to the life of the baby, but can understand, even if I disagree with, those who would choose otherwise.

I just don't feel wise enough to make that choice.

Life is about making choices, some extremely painful. Having driven an ambulance for a living I have been confronted with some impossible choices where there was the issue of life and death on the line. I can tell you it's not easy, but not recognizing that type of situation exists guarantees that bad things will happen through inaction, even if you don't mean it to, so sometimes you have to take on the questions you never want to. The thing is you have to live with those choices afterwards. I think the most compelling argument against Roe v Wade is the testimony of Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" of that Supreme Court decision, proclaiming how wrong the decision was and how much she regrets the results of that decision.

But I believe that abortion as birth control should be made a crime.

Now, a viable (if not yet possible) alternative is the removal of the baby from the mother’s womb, but then bringing it to term in an artificial womb. How long will it be before we can do that? Five years? Certainly no more than ten. Now, what are the moral and societal issues raised by that prospect? Many women will argue that it’s “their fetus” therefore they get to deny that option. I would “cry havoc” over that argument, but you know it will be raised.

Then you have the question of who will pay for this child, who will raise it, etc. There are several million abortions around the world each year, around a million in this country. An overwhelming percentage of those abortions are of non-white babies. What does that sort of statistic do to the demographics of this country? Of the world?

There is a truism that I have come to believe in utterly: “you can never do just one thing.”

I have lots of problems with Rudy on lots of issues, abortion and gun control being the biggest. If he had the brains to frame the question in this fashion I believe that he could completely overcome abortion as a liability and win a huge number of votes on both sides of the question. That still wouldn't make him my choice in this next election, but it would go a long way towards convincing me that he can handle complex problems in a constructive fashion. The biggest strike against him, bigger than his stands on these issues, is his inability to handle these questions honestly and in a fashion that will avoid offending the majority of Americans. He failed that test, at least on FNS today.

I have lots of problems with Rudy on lots of issues, abortion and gun control being the biggest.

Agreed. However, having stated that, I think the years of nearly even division over fundamental issues that relate to some of the deepest aspects of our private lives and beliefs may have brought the American political system to a point where the two dominant parties cannot satisfy the ideological needs of many of our citizens. This is possibly the result of a public's desires- unchecked by reality- outgrowing any capacity for legislators etc. to provide solutions.

We may now be living in an era that closely resembles the mid-1800's. Perhaps the Dim and Pub parties can no longer contain the aspirations of their constituents; and so, IMHO, we are possibly witnessing the inevitable political breakups and subsequent reformulations that historically follow long periods of intense national frustration and disappointment.

I believe it quite possible that Rudy may very well be brought to the belief that he no longer belongs in the Pub party. If this is the case, we might well see a 2008 campaign that results in a POTUS being elected with less than forty percent of the votes cast. And, in that event, the winner could easily be a Pub, a Dim, or an Ind.