6/12/00 6:00 p.m.
Welcome to Abortion Month
The media's relentless obsession with tweaking Republicans on a contentious issue.

By NR's Ramesh Ponnuru & John J. Miller

n article by Robin Toner discusses Bush's running mate and the GOP's politics of abortion in today's New York Times, but it leaves readers with the impression that pro-lifers are out of step even with the Republican Party. "The political risk for Mr. Bush is that his effort to satisfy his conservative base could undermine his appeal to the center. The latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, conducted May 10-13, showed that ... [a]mong Republicans, 32 percent supported a total ban" on abortion, writes Toner. This isn't even Bush's own position — he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.

Here comes what one unnamed Republican in Toner's article called "abortion month" — the media's relentless obsession with tweaking Republicans on a contentious issue. The subject would be just as rollicking on the other side of the aisle if it ever were to receive a similar amount of attention, as The Hotline's Bullseye poll showed earlier this month. But can you imagine the New York Times ever writing an article that says: "The political risk for Mr. Gore is that his effort to satisfy his feminist, pro-abortion base could undermine his appeal to the center"?

Complicating factors even more is the Supreme Court's imminent partial-birth abortion decision, due for release by the end of June. All signs suggest that the Court's devotees of Roe are about to steamroll state laws banning a procedure that comes frighteningly close to infanticide. This may help Bush and pro-lifers in the fall: If Roe makes banning partial-birth abortion impossible, it uncovers the extremism of the Gore position and perhaps creates an opportunity for Austin to make Bush's moderate pro-life views look reasonable in comparison.

Rocky Mountain High
The Colorado English for the Children initiative — an anti-bilingual-education measure modeled on California's Proposition 227 — has started collecting signatures for placement on the fall ballot. It has also picked up a prominent local supporter in Rita Montero, a former member of the Denver school board. She will serve as a consultant and a public voice for the campaign, says Linda Chavez, one of the effort's leaders.

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