Well, that’s what the headline writer probably wants you to think. Here’s what the candidate said:
Leaving it up to individual states to outlaw abortion within their own borders is not enough, he said.
“That’s again the logic of the Civil War — that slavery could be okay in Georgia but not okay in Massachusetts. Obviously we’d today say, ‘Well, that’s nonsense. Slavery is wrong, period. It can’t be right somewhere and wrong somewhere else.’ Same with abortion,” Huckabee said.
So it’s not the kind of rhetoric one would want to use if one were trying to reach out to middle-of-the-road voters, or to those who haven’t really given the subject of abortion much thought. (These people exist, you know.) But it’s ideologically coherent; if one believes abortion is wrong, period, then one believes it ought to be outlawed everywhere, period.
I’m not wild about Huckabee myself. And, as I said elsewhere, I don’t believe legislation is the answer to the problem of casual abortion – at least, it’s not the only answer. But you sure can’t accuse Huckabee of wobbling. And that I like.
[cross-posted to PWPL]
No Comments