“If he were to change the party platform,” to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life, “I think that would be...”
Actually pretty smart since that’s about where the nation is at mentally.
Actually, it's not. For two reasons:
1. Doing so would absolutely expunge many social conservatives from the GOP base, while pissing off even more conservatives of all stripes.
2. We're getting very, very close to achieving what you say is "where the nation is at mentally". But, if you want to get there, you're not going to get there by compromising even before any negotiations have begun.
Everybody should consider this. A compromise in favor of "except in case of rape, incest or risk to the mother's life" is certainly an improvement on the current state of abortion policy and constitutes important incremental progress toward the long-term goal.
And we're not ever going to get even that far if the party doesn't continue to stand foursquare for its current platform.
If necessary to make progress toward achieving the aim, compromise later -- NOT now.
If McCain could guarantee that he could get it done -- with the exceptions -- it would be a deal worth considering. But he can't guarantee this, so it would be a stupid move on his part.
Not that he isn't capable of making one...
“1. Doing so would absolutely expunge many social conservatives from the GOP base”
I consider myself a social conservative (among other things) and yet I do believe that exceptions do and should exist.
“2. We’re getting very, very close to achieving what you say is “where the nation is at mentally”. But, if you want to get there, you’re not going to get there by compromising even before any negotiations have begun.”
I understand where you are coming from, first rule of negotiation (in my mind) is always demand that which sounds extreme so that when you do compromise you actually wind up getting something that is acceptable to most thinking people.