Captain's Quarters Finds a Reasonable Columnist that Sounds Foolish!

It's E.J. Dionne Jr, no less! Get the story here.

Captain Ed observes that Mr. Dionne Jr. stands along among liberals. While some have criticized NARAL's ad for it's lack of strategic value, only Mr. Dionne Jr. cites its immorality:

He gives what looks to be the first severe scolding by an unimpeachable voice on the Left to the pro-abortion contingent for the silence that discredited not just NARAL, but also the main force of the opposition to the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court:

Fellow liberals, face it: The advertisement created by NARAL, the abortion rights group that opposes John Roberts's nomination to the Supreme Court, is outrageous. It ties Roberts to people who bombed abortion clinics. If this isn't guilt by association, I don't know what is. ...

You can consult FactCheck.org, a Web site run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania -- not a haven for the right-wing conspiracy -- to find out all that is wrong with the ad. Just consider: Roberts filed the brief in question on behalf of the United States government (i.e., the administration of President Bush's father) in the spring of 1991, seven years before the Alabama clinic was bombed . The brief did not support clinic bombings. There is a difference between "bombers" and "protesters," as any civil libertarian knows. The Supreme Court, by a vote of 6 to 3, sided with Roberts's interpretation, and Congress then, rightly, passed a federal law aimed at preventing violence against abortion clinics.

Give Dionne credit. Most people who argued against these ads either did so because of the injustice of the smear campaign against Roberts, which includes all of the Right and darned few voices on the Left. Those on the Left who argued against the advertisement did so on the basis of expediency -- how it adversely affected the anti-Roberts strategy. Dionne so far stands alone on the Left (thus far) to argue both injustice and stupidity, and he does a marvelous job of it.

The Captain has it dead right! Dionne actually sounds Foolish (Although I concur again with the Captain that Mr. Dionne blows it at the end). Would that more voices from the left would hold NARAL and her sister agencies accountable. Then again, I have to give credit to the NY Times for writing a fair report on the recent controversy. They could have carried NARAL's water. They didn't.

People value fairness. NARAL and co. will get further if they argue fairly. The problem is that fair-minded individuals are beginning to question the fairness of abortion-on-demand. Thus, a fair presentation of the facts may not get the pro-abort lobby anywhere. However, the character assassination that they attempted will hurt their effort. They can't try it again without putting their cause further at risk. Quite a box they find themselves in.

I'm not smiling. I'm not! :)