The John Kerry Post of the Day

My latest discovery about my favorite cheese-eating surrendermonkey-looking Ketchup King cum Presidential candidate:

A couple weeks ago, I triggered a debate with some friends (not here) about Kerry's apparent inconsistency on abortion. Kerry said that he believes life begins at conception, in accord with what his Catholic religion says. But he also thinks women should have the right to choose. Peter Jennings and Kerry expanded upon this recently:

Peter Jennings: You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?

Sen. Kerry: My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in. Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that.

Jennings: Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say "life begins at conception"?

Kerry: Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard.

Jennings: If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?

Kerry: No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins. Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice. I believe in the right to choose, and the government should not involve itself in that choice, beyond where it has in the context of Roe v. Wade.

Jennings: Can you imagine yourself ever campaigning against abortion?

Kerry: Well, I don't think - let me tell you very clearly that being pro-choice is not pro-abortion. And I have very strong feelings that we should talk about abortion in a very realistic way in this country. It is a very complicated, incredibly important moral issue that people have to face, also. And if you talk to any woman, as I have, who has faced that choice or who's been raped or who's suffered incest or who's faced that kind of choice, there are huge moral implications. I think leadership needs to honor that, those moral implications, appropriately, and I think we need to adhere to the standard that Bill Clinton, in fact, so adeptly framed, that abortion should be rare, but legal and safe. And that's the standard that I apply. But I think we should talk more about alternatives to abortion.

Jennings: If I were really skeptical, Senator, I would say that when you use the phrase "life begins at conception," you're attempting to speak to those people for whom that is a slogan, making them totally opposed to abortion.

Kerry: Not in the least. It's a belief that is a belief of mine. It's consistent with everything I've always said over 35 years of public life. It is not a new statement, but it is consistent with my personal belief system about who chooses and what happens. I do believe we should talk about alternatives to abortion. I think we should talk about adoption. I think we should talk about, I think it is responsible to talk about abstinence, but I also believe you should talk about proper education of people - sex education. You need to have proper knowledge about use of condoms to avoid AIDS. You need to be smart about these things. So what we need to do is have an honest dialogue and not succumb to the cynicism that sort of reduces these things to simplicity. It's not simple. It's a very complicated, highly emotional, very searing decision. I don't want the government making that decision for people, and that is a bedrock belief. But it doesn't change what I believe about how life goes on.

Okay, this is (pardon my French) unadulterated crap.

Give Jennings credit for actually pursuing the question and not letting Senator Ketchup walk away from his statements. In his statements last month, Kerry said he accepts the view that life begins at conception (which I assume accords with Catholic teaching) and that he's personally opposed to abortion, but that he doesn't want to impose this view on others. Fine and good, but the position is blatantly hypocritical and morally repugnant -- and it's really the latter that bugs me. If you truly believe that life begins at conception, then any abortion would have to constitute the taking of a life. Period, end of story.

Here, Kerry's desperately trying to find a way to reconcile his asserted personal beliefs with the opportunity to advocate for the right of women to have abortions. Note, for the record, that I'm not saying that an elected Catholic official should refuse to enforce Roe v. Wade; point in fact, that's their duty as elected officials. But to advocate for a woman's right to choose to abort something you concede is human life is an explicit promotion of someone committing a homicide.

Unless you're John Kerry, who apparently can shut off his own morality in the public sphere in order to pursue votes. According to him, there's a distinction one can draw between "life" and "personhood." What's sad is that some people will believe this. Kerry himself realizes it's BS, since he tries to shift focus to topics like sex education. It's either a life or it isn't; it's either a person or it isn't. This is probably the same type of tortured logic someone might apply if forced to rationalize the abhorrent 3/5ths counting regime in the Constitution. The problem for Kerry is that he can't logically answer the second question -- if life begins at conception, then how can the taking of an innocent life not constitute murder?

To me, Kerry's trying to have his cake and eat it too. I don't necessarily know that you're a bad Catholic if you refuse to accept Church teachings on a particular issue. If he disagrees with the Church's teaching, he should say it. If he honestly believes that life begins at conception yet supports abortion rights, then I'd truly question his character and moral standing. Personally, I think he's just trying to appeal to the voters and doubt that he believes life begins at conception. If he does... well, that's much more frightening.