Giuliani and Planned Parenthood
by Ryan Sager
Tue, 8 May 2007 at 8:09 AM
updated Tue, 8 May 2007 at 8:18 AM
I don't think there's any effective way to deflect the fact the Rudy Giuliani gave money to Planned Parenthood, so his communications shop is out there doing its usual ineffective job of arguing that Mr. Giuliani is "personally opposed to abortion."
They also argue that "it's a sign of leadership to stand by your position in the face of political expediency." This would be true if Mr. Giuliani were actually standing by his position.
Unfortunately for Mr. Giuliani, he's been dancing around his position by using the completely insincere line about how much he hates abortion personally, despite his position that it must remain legal, while trying to find small ways to appease the pro-life crowd (cheering the Supreme Court's partial-birth abortion decision, saying he'll support the Hyde Amendment).
The fact is you really can't claim to abhor abortion and give money to Planned Parenthood at the same time.
The truth seems to be that Rudy Giuliani doesn't particularly care about abortion one way or the other — that he sees it as a major distraction from the issues he wants to be talking about. (I have more than a small amount of sympathy for this sentiment.)
But this is a Republican primary, so abortion is inescapable.
Some would argue that a pro-choice Republican simply can't win the primary. I think Mr. Giuliani has (had?) the potential to be an exception. But he needs to be forthrightly pro-choice and stop twisting himself up like a pretzel. He still has time to find a better way to deal with this (not that many primary voters are paying attention yet). But that time is running short.
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