McCain-Palin and the Sanctity of Life

In my essay, "The Secret Life of Senator Infanticide," I confessed that Barack Obama's consistent votes against Illinois' Born Alive Infant Protection Act was perhaps the most disturbing revelation so far on Obama's extreme left-wing ideology (and that really is saying a lot).

Frankly, I was appalled (and nearly sick) reading stories of babies left to die in soiled-utility closets. Knowing that readers of this blog might share my indignation, I distributed my essay via e-mail to dozens of regulars.

Some responded by redistributing the post on their own pages (thanks here and here), but others were not so pleased with my pro-life audacity. Especially upset was Elaine from Elaine's Place, a generally nice women with whom I've had occasional contact, who sent this uncharacteristic attack in response:

Here I thought you were a nice Reagan neocon and instead I find you are a right wing extremist, in the same category of left wing extremist Wade Churchill. I was shocked....then mad...........then just plain disappointed. And what's really frightening is you are in a teaching position! I shudder at the thought.

Well, you know, I shudder at the thought of the indifference to life among Obama defenders, including the many, many more like Elaine who've become so enamored of the oratorical powers of "The One," that they've checked their intellectual faculties at the gates of Mile High.

So on that point, next to Andrew McCarthy and Elizabeth Scalia, this week's essay by Jeff Jacoby - on the power of life in the John McCain-Sarah Palin presidential ticket - is unsurpassed in moral clarity: "A Stark Choice on Abortion":

DURING a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania last March, Senator Barack Obama was asked about teenagers and sexually transmitted diseases.

He replied that "the most important prevention is education," including "information about contraception." Then he added: "Look, I've got two daughters - 9 years old and 6 years old. I'm going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at the age of 16."

If Obama had deliberately set out to appall prolife voters, he couldn't have uttered four words more jarring than "punished with a baby." The equation of any new child with punishment set teeth on edge, and Obama's campaign quickly issued a clarification. The candidate, a loving father of two, believes that "children are miracles," it said; he only meant to underscore the importance of reducing teen pregnancy. But Obama's unscripted words needed no clarifying. They tartly encapsulated the extreme position on "choice" he has staked out in his career.

What brings Obama's revealing turn of phrase to mind, of course, is the pregnancy of Governor Sarah Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned," Palin and her husband announced in a statement. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support. Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Granted, Obama was engaging in a hypothetical speculation, while the Palins were dealing with a real-life family challenge. Still, what a contrast! To the Democratic nominee, a teenage daughter's unforeseen baby is a punishment to be prevented; to the Republican Veep-designee, it is a blessing to be embraced.

Jacoby also mentions Obama's clinical, lawyerly dodge of the issue at last month's Saddleback Civil Forum, adding this:

And when has a Republican ticket ever been so unabashedly prolife? Senator John McCain, long one of the Senate's reliably prolife votes, is a father of seven, including an adopted orphan from Bangladesh. His running mate lacks McCain's voting record, yet her bona fides are even more impressive: When Palin and her husband learned last winter that she was carrying a baby with Down syndrome, they never considered not having him. More than 90 percent of pregnant American women in the same position choose abortion. Palin chose life....

Ambiguities may muddle the 2008 campaign, but not when it comes to abortion. The next president and vice president will be the most pro-choice in US history. Or the most pro-life.

With the selection of Sarah Palin, social issues have emerged as the undeniable dividing line in the 2008 election.

The differences between the Democrats and the Republicans on the sanctity of life couldn't be more clear, and frankly, if there's any extremism involved here, it's on the far left-wing end of the spectrum.