Speaking of Oxymorons...

To quote Dubya: ..."I'm interested in finding somebody who shares my philosophy today and will have that same philosophy 20 years from now." Hmmm...I wasn't sure that he actually had a philosophy. Seriously though...if you are not aware, he is speaking of his nominee to fill O'Connor's vacancy on the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers. He is being accused of discussing the abortion issue with her.

Which brings me to this point. The history of politics when referring to Abortion. We all know that this is a horribly old issue. At least 175 years old, to be exact. Before that time, the American Government couldn’t give a shit about abortion. In fact, one might hear about abortion services like we hear about fast food restaurants. Then there was some debating about the health issues of abortion amongst the medical communities, and roughly about 20 out of the 33 states in the union had it banned by the year 1860.

But it actually took another 100 years for abortion to become a political issue in the united states. In the 1960’s, pro-choice advocates pushed for legalization of abortion in certain circumstances. On November 3, 1970, voters of Washington State liberalized the state abortion statue by passing Referendum 20 by a 56.6% majority. The law allowed women and their doctors to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. It stipulated that abortions must be performed in a hospital or other approved facility and that it must be done during the first four lunar months after conception. It also stipulated that the woman must have consent of a parent or guardian if she was under 18 and consent of her husband if she was currently living with him. She must have been a resident of the state for at least 90 days. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down the ruling on Roe v. Wade. That ruling lifted many of the restrictions on abortion in Washington. Now, a woman could have an abortion through the 24th week of pregnancy; there wasn't a residency requirement. It also stated that a facility that had "such legal/medical controls as would be protective of her health" could perform abortions during the first trimester. Roe v. Wade did not address the issues of spousal or parental consent, but by the mid-70's the Washington State Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court handed down decisions that freed a minor from parental consent and a wife from a husband's consent.

Conservative groups saw an opportunity to increase their strength by exploiting the abortion issue. The founders of the New Right, in an effort to gain more supporters, turned to the evangelical and fundamentalist churches. They sent mail encouraging support for their cause, using the Supreme Court's recent decisions on abortion rights and the removal of prayer in public schools as the motivating factor. They asked church members to give money and to become politically active. The money began to pour in. These conservative groups had their origins in the Barry Goldwater campaign for the presidency in 1964. Among Goldwater's supporters were a core group of individuals who believed that there was a movement called "secular humanism" that was steering our country away from a "God-centered society" towards atheistic socialism. These supporters founded a variety of groups formed to fight communism, civil rights, feminism and other political and social reform movements of the sixties. During the 70's and 80's the social reforms continued and with them, growing opposition in the form of right-wing organizations promoting "family values." After Roe v. Wade, abortion became a major focus of many of these groups. In addition to the controversial substance of the decision, it was also proof of a Supreme Court out of control (in their view), making law instead of interpreting it.Copying the strategy of the civil rights and antiwar movements, the New Right turned to the churches. They developed committed supporters. The leaders in this movement began strategizing about ways to empower themselves. They knew that to achieve their goals, they would have to have influence over the political arena. They wrote manuals for their followers teaching them how to get elected to office. They worked together, often serving as advisors on each others boards. Television soon became the preferred method of reaching the masses. Televangelists seemed to spring up everywhere: Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Oral Roberts and Jerry Falwell reached millions of viewers each week. The leaders of the New Right met with Jerry Falwell and asked him to head a religious right political organization that would put pressure on Reagan and other elected officials to conform to their views regarding abortion, gays and lesbians, sex education, school prayer, teaching creationism, separation of church and state and other issues. That was the beginning of the Moral Majority, which supported Reagan and Bush in the 1980 presidential election. They also supported many candidates for Congress who subscribed to their views. They tried to hinder the campaigns of candidates who were pro-abortion or disagreed with their overall philosophy. The Moral Majority had organizations in every state, and claimed credit for helping to elect Republican right-wing candidates.Reagan appointed several of the religious right activists to federal positions but largely ignored the social issues that motivated them, one of the most important issues being abortion. Some believe that this is what gave rise to the militant antiabortion groups that emerged during the mid and late 80's, such as Operation Rescue, started in 1987 by Terry Randall. The job of legislators has been described as being political as well as law- and policy-making. State and Local Politics states that "the primary job is to defuse these pressures [of competing interest groups] so that the political system can function intact without blowing wide apart." An argument can be made that the Reagan administration failed to defuse the anti-abortionists and, by ignoring them, effectively fueled their fire.Washington has been a victim of the violence that antiabortion protesters have demonstrated all over the country. For example, the Feminist Women's Health Center opened a clinic in Everett in 1983. They were greeted with a barrage of harassment, hate mail and personal threats. They were bombarded with phone calls to jam the phone lines and disturbed by as much noise as the protesters outside could make, all in an effort to close them down. The first fire bombing came shortly after they opened their doors. Before they were closed for good, less than a year after they opened, they were fire-bombed twice more. Although some of the leaders of the anti-choice movement denounced these actions, others thought they were justified.With the Reagan administration focusing on foreign policy and economic issues, the religious right became frustrated. In addition they had a number of setbacks when three initiatives to restrict abortion failed in Washington in the mid to late 80's, with two not even reaching the ballot. The antiabortion cause was waning. They stepped back and refocused on the local level. They began going after state and local offices -- including local Republican Party organizations. They had long since given up on starting their own political party. Taking control of the Republican Party was the best political move they could make. This was the beginning of the fight for the Republican Party in Washington State. The earliest success came with the Pat Robertson campaign for the presidency in 1988. Pat Robertson was one of the early televangelists, and is the founder of The 700 Club. He used his show to introduce politics and politicians to his viewers and to encourage them to become politically active. During Pat Robertson's bid for the Presidency in 1988, he carried Washington state in the primary caucuses which was a large contrast to both the rest of the country and polls of Republican voters within the state. This demonstrated the vulnerability of the caucus system to takeover by small but committed groups. With the ease of contacting and staying in touch with their constituency through weekly church attendance and his television programs, Robertson's supporters were able to organize a large attendance at the caucuses, voting for Robertson's delegates. Since state presidential caucuses generally have a sparse turnout, even a small group, if it fully attends, can have a powerful impact on the results of the caucus. This could be one of the reasons that the state has moved to a presidential primary to either replace or supplement the caucuses.

This is a small bit of information just to prove my original thought before I got all misconstrued by factual information. I find it hard to believe that George Jr. would pick someone that he knew was pro-abortion. We know that he has brought “Jesus back to the White House”, according to the Christian Collation.
Why do we allow people to force issues down our throats such as abortion and gay marriage? My thoughts about abortion are plain & simple. A man shouldn’t decide them. Any man. It should be purely a woman’s decision. And leave it at that. Nothing else. So shoot me, I was raised Catholic, and I’m pro-choice. Who would have thought?