"George Tiller's slaying has accomplished what anti-abortion activists had tried to do for decades: The doors to his Kansas clinic will shut forever. The announcement Tuesday from Tiller's family was a tainted victory for the nation's anti-abortion movement."
Uh, yeah, I guess "tainted" is one way of describing it.
Related: Thomas Frank has a great column in the Wall Street Journal about the reaction to the Tiller killing.
A larger reason for the shock and surprise — and this is true for the right generally — is this: The culture wars are not meant to be taken seriously. Yes, right-wing invective dabbles in nightmare visions of treason and conspiracy and rampant paganism and a homegrown holocaust right here on Main Street, U.S.A. Yes, it ritually denounces liberals as members of a class fundamentally alien to the American way of life. But these are the ingredients of entertainment, not politics.According to the unwritten rules of the culture wars, the "base" isn't supposed to act on it when the performers describe a world gone crazy. They're an audience; they're supposed to hiss, applaud, donate, vote and go home.
"According to the unwritten rules of the culture wars, the “base†isn’t supposed to act on it when the performers describe a world gone crazy. They’re an audience; they’re supposed to hiss, applaud, donate, vote and go home."
This applies to the liberal base too, right? Only instead of "baby killers" and "the gay agenda" those guys are supposed to hiss at W and Cheney and "the religious right," applaud, donate, vote and go home.
Blurg. Count me out.
The murder of Redskins safety Sean Taylor was also a tainted victory for Dallas Cowboys fans.
I am a bad person because I smiled... if only for a split second.
Is there a Wii game we can invent for these people where they can stand in front of the TV twitching and off people who try to move into their neighborhood?
Super Martyro World
For fuck's sake PLEASE STOP CALLING HIM AN "ABORTION DOCTOR!" I have an inordinate amount of OBGYN friends and this seriously upsets them. Some perform D&C procedures regularly for a whole host of reasons as part of their care. But they also do a lot of c-sections, vaginal births, IUD insertions, polyp removals, etc etc. Are they "abortion doctors" too? Damnit.
Here here! Conversation that has never occurred in med school:
"What are you going to specialize in?"
"Abortion."
I would have answered killing babies so their unborn souls will spend eternity in hell.
And it's akin to calling the pro-choice movement the "pro-abortion" movement, which deeply irks me.
ABORTIONS FOR EVERYONE! FUN! YAY!
Absolutely. At work I corrected a colleague who said abortionist (O Ireland!). "Actually he was a women's health specialist."
Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.
"Taint" = Inter faeces et urinam nascimur ridemus.
If we can't have a women's clinic on this site, I will personally donate 1000$ to build a gay bar. Seriously.
They should have both a women's clinic by day and a gay bar by night.
"Gaynecology"