You say:
The evidence suggests that we have yet to convince a whole lot of people of the wisdom of the pro-choice Democrat way of thinking on this.
But what is "the pro-choice Democrat way of thinking" on abortion?
You seem to be intimating that most Democrats are pushing an "easy," "abortion is morally neutral" frame a la Sam Rosenfeld. That's not the case at all.
For example, John Kerry's position:
"On abortion, I myself, by belief and upbringing, am opposed to abortion but as a legislator, as one who is called on to pass a law, I would find it very difficult to legislate on something God himself has not seen fit to make clear to all the people on this earth. . . .
seems like exactly the kind of nuanced position that you are calling for. But it didn't help him win.
And the fact that both the Senate Democratic leader and the Democratic governor who just gave the rebuttal to the state of the union address are both, as you say, "anti-choice," suggests that leading Democrats are already doing what you advocate, and it's not helping us win elections.
Further, it's pretty clear the Republicans are not winning elections by being nuanced on the abortion issue -- their platform says:
Ban abortion with Constitutional amendment We say the unborn child has a fundamental right to life. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation that the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect the sanctity of innocent human life.
We say the unborn child has a fundamental right to life. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation that the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect the sanctity of innocent human life.
The fact is, Democrats are not losing elections because of the abortion issue. By 66-25 the public does not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade. By 57-40 the public thinks that abortions ahould be legal in most or all cases. By 59-38 the public believes that abortion laws should be made either less strict or remain the same as they are today.
The problem for the Democrats is much larger than just abortion. We have an anti-health care reform Congress and President, and we have an anti-minimum wage increase Congress and President so by your reasoning we have not convinced "a whole lot of people of the wisdom of the pro-Democrat way of thinking" on these issues. And yet the public largely supports universal health care and increases in the minimum wage.
The problem is larger than just abortion. On any number of issues public opinion is far closer to the Democrats than it is to Republicans, yet we are still losing elections. Figuring out the reasons why will get us a lot farther than another round of tedious hand-wringing over the abortion issue.
