For the last several months, liberals have entertained themselves by making a mockery of the federal judicial confirmation process. Anyone paying even a modicum of attention realizes that the fight over these nominations is based mainly (solely, one could argue) on the issue of abortion.
The Left, including Senate Democrats and groups like NARAL, have treated nominees like Priscilla Owen, Carolyn Kuhl, Janice Rogers Brown, Bill Pryor, Charles Pickering, and Miguel Estrada with utter disdain.
They have labeled these men and women as "extremists," "anti-woman," "radically right-wing," "far-right judicial activists," "virulently anti-choice," "out-of-the-mainstream judges," "conservative ideologues," "controversial," and "hostile."
On what do liberals base their epithets for these nominees? On the fact that these people are conservatives who might oppose abortion.
Maybe they're right. Maybe these nominees would oppose abortion from the bench and rule against the pro-abortion crowd. But should that be considered "out of the mainstream"?
Those on the Left ought to take a look at where the nation is today on the issue of abortion.
Yesterday, Gallup released a poll which shows the country to be pretty evenly split on the abortion question. The poll found that 48 percent of Americans consider themselves "pro-choice" while 45 percent consider themselves "pro-life."
If half of the country agrees with President Bush and his judicial nominees on abortion, how then are these people "out of the mainstream"?
Using the Left's logic, if pro-life nominees are to be considered "extremist" or "controversial" or "radical," then conservatives ought to be able to make the same claims about pro-choice nominees whose views on abortion are supported by the American public as much as the views of pro-life nominees.
But if you want to talk about real extremism, take a look at the partial-birth abortion fight.
There is a radical contingent on the Left - a group wholly given over to the abortion lobby - which supports even the brutal and disgusting procedure of partial-birth abortion.
Are they out of the mainstream? You bet your bottom dollar they are.
According to the aforementioned Gallup poll, 68 percent of Americans believe partial-birth abortion should be illegal, while 25 percent want it to remain legal. This statistic includes, not surprisingly, 90 percent of pro-lifers who believe it ought to be against the law.
What is truly interesting is that there are more self-described "pro-choice" people who believe partial-birth abortion should be illegal than who believe it should be legal. The poll shows that 50 percent of pro-choice Americans oppose PBA while 42 percent support its legality.
When more than two-thirds of the country believes an appalling abortion procedure should be illegal, including half of those who normally support your abortion position, and you still do everything you can to keep it legal, who then is "out of the mainstream"?
Based on "Pro-Choice"/"Pro-Life" Orientation
Pro-Choice:
Pro-Life:
