In last night’s Republican debate in Arizona, Newt Gingrich responded to a question about abortion by saying something that I’ve been thinking since well before the Susan G. Komen foundation decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood and subsequently was labeled as “extremist” (hat tip: The Lesbian Conservative).
This is how view it: calling opposition to government-funded abortion “extremist” is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever seen. Now, I view abortion as murder and I am, therefore, strongly pro-life. So, from my perspective, even favoring the legality of abortion is an “extremist” position. And I am consequently bewildered that a position that is much less restrictive than mine is labeled “extremist” (one that I would, in fact, call extremist in the opposite direction). In other words, from my perspective, being against the government funding of murder is labeled “extremist,” as is opposing murder. Anything short of supporting murder is “extremist”. I realize it is not that black and white, but that is how it seems from my perspective. However, that is simply due to a vast difference in perspective. I don’t actively call people who are pro-choice extremist, nor do I necessarily think of them as extremist. That is because it is not up to me what is an extremist position; extremism is more defined with reference to cultural attitudes. And that is something that abortion proponents seem either not to believe, or not to care about. Or maybe the vast majority of people really do support the legality and governmental funding of abortion (but I doubt that is the case).
Anyway, what this post is really supposed to be about:
I am bracing for another surge in Newt Gingrich’s momentum. I might be (inaccurately) described as a Gingrich-hater (which would be inaccurate in that I don’t actually hate him, I just don’t like him as a politician). Maybe I’m being cynical, but it seems as if every time Gingrich slams down the media (for the life of me, I couldn’t think of a better way to say that), the conservative base rallies around him. Frankly, there isn’t anything Gingrich could say that would really make me like him any more, because I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. His words always seem dishonest to me. I mean, he is only in this to win. That is all he cares about. He will use anything to malign his opponents, even attacking Mitt Romney’s venture capitalism from the left.
The ridiculousness of this primary has been unbelievable; I hope I am wrong and it doesn’t get even more ridiculous with another post-debate Gingrich surge.
