Calling abortion rights advocates “babykillers” is pretty much a no-no in our civil society, and for good reason. Such talk only serves to inflame: nobody likes being demonized so they get pissed and return fire; on the other side, demonization and over-the-top rhetoric just opens the gates for more of the same from the maddened crowd.
On yet another 50-50 issue in a 50-50 country, we just don’t need the noise.
I’m not one to troll the news or the internet for the dumbest, loudest MFers on the other side of the aisle [I'm a gentleperson of the right and I don't mind] to rail against, but Nancy Pelosi is no mere blogger or even backbencher—the erstwhile Speaker of the House is still the House Minority Leader.
“Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today. They will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers don’t have to intervene if this bill is passed. It’s just appalling.”
Huh? Not just me, but somebody on her side of the aisle is obliged to say, WTF? If there’s a rhetorical or substantive difference between “babykiller” and “[Republicans] will be voting to say that women can die on the floor” I’d like to know what it is.
Perhaps someone will try to defend her out of culture war loyalty, but on substance, Politico tells us that the bill still provides the customary exceptions for “cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother.” If accurate, that puts Rep. Pelosi’s charge in the neighborhood of a dirty lie, since it wouldn’t permit anyone to “die on the floor.”
And even if Politico isn’t quite accurate here, surely there’s a more statesmanlike way for a top Congressional leader to convince the American people that the bill is imprudent.
[The bill is an attempt to restore the status quo ante Obamacare, where the 1976 Hyde Amendment bans government money being spent on abortions---a position still held by more Americans than not. It was also the goal of the late, great Stupak Amendment, the last gasp of the last Democrat pro-lifers in congress.]
Now, I’m used to overstatement, demonization and over-the-top rhetoric like this from the Pelosis of America: I know even her supporters are inured to it, so numb they barely notice. We barely raise an eyebrow, perhaps whimper a faint protest. But this isn’t right, unless it’s OK for me to start calling her and hers demagoging partisan hack babykillers.
Which I’d rather not. I’m a civil fellow, a good citizen, play by the rules. I’d rather the gentlepersons of the left get their own house in order. Because if they can be held responsible for the incivility and divisive rhetoric of anyone, surely it’s ex-Speaker Pelosi, only months removed from the third-highest office in the land per the 25th Amendment.
There are cynically partisan reasons to hope she just keeps digging deeper and her supporters help: I like to think that the American voter is as repulsed by this sort of talk as they would be by “babykiller,” the sort of rhetoric that’s the last resort of the unreasonable. Abortion is perhaps our most difficult issue of conscience of all, and I do believe that the vast majority of Americans have searched the souls on it good and hard, regardless of their eventual position on the spectrum.
Each side seeks to coax the conscience of the other; “babykillers,” or letting women “die on the floor” are of the same stripe, divisive enemies of the clarity of good conscience that we all seek.