The rumors tonight in Washington are that Jeffords may not do the dirty after all. Who knows? More to the point, who cares? Jeffords is a de facto Democrat on most of the important issues. He voted for HillaryCare, for goodness’ sake. His defection will help scupper some of Bush’s more extreme judicial appointments (good), won’t jeopardize the most important part of his agenda, the tax cut, (good), and will force W into more accommodations with moderate Democrats rather than with prickly liberal Republicans (even better). If Bush and Rove don’t panic, this can surely work to their advantage. The Democrats’ strongest weapon in 2002 would have been recapturing one of the two Houses. Now they’ll have to share the burden of leadership and, to some extent, responsibility for what transpires. They have already dictated the terms of Bush’s education bill, so I don’t see any drastic damage they can do in the months ahead. And the Republicans can go into the 2002 cycle with some fire in their belly, instead of in a defensive crouch. My only worry is that Jeffords represents a kind of political creature that largely destroyed the Tory party in Britain in the 1990s. The Tory Wets, as Thatcher dubbed them, were forever bleating on about their “conscience,” moderation, etc etc, while essentially supporting an ever larger welfare state and ever higher taxes. In the long run, best to get rid of them – because they are a treacherous breed who largely want to get rid of principled conservatives. And better to get rid of them before they try and get rid of you. Are you listening, Senator Chafee?
BURYING FETUSES: An interesting nugget from Britain, where National Health Service nurses are actually campaigning for the right to bury abortions and miscarriages. “Parents should be given the same choice on the disposal of fetal remains as for a stillborn child. They should be clearly and sensitively informed of the options available to them, both verbally and in writing, by trained health professionals,” the nurses’ report advised. They refused to be drawn on whether they were implying that the fetuses should have the status of a human life. They were merely arguing, they said, that these measures were necessary to be sensitive to grieving or traumatized parents. Interestingly, it is against the law in Britain to dispose of fetuses without burial if they are aborted or miscarried in the third trimester. I have no idea what the laws are here about it, and what the Medicaid and Medicare systems mandate, but I’d be interested to hear if any of you know about it. I wonder if NARAL would object in principle to treating dead fetuses with dignity, even if they’re quite happy to extinguish live ones.
The Dish 