Conservative Donnybrook

There’s a symposium of Republicans on “what now?” at Slate, and in this entry, Ross Douthat takes Douglas Kmiec to task on his pro-life Obama boosting.

What I don’t understand at all is Kmiec’s position, which seems to be that the contemporary Democratic Party, and particularly the candidacy of Barack Obama, offered nearly as much to pro-lifers as the Republican Party does. I am sure that Kmiec is weary of being called a fool by opponents of abortion for his tireless pro-Obama advocacy during this election cycle, but if so, then the thing for him to do is to cease acting like the sort of person for whom the term “useful idiot” was coined, rather than persisting in his folly.

Those seeking a primer on the case against Kmiec’s putatively pro-life position on Obama and abortion can begin here or here or here. Suffice to say that what he calls “outright lies and falsehoods” about Obama’s views were, in fact, more or less the truth: The Democratic nominee ran on a record that can only be described as “very, very pro-choice,” and his stated positions on abortion would involve rolling back nearly all the modest—but also modestly effective—restrictions that pro-lifers have placed upon the practice and/or appointing judges who would do the same. There may have been reasons for anti-abortion Americans to vote for Barack Obama in spite of his position that abortion should be essentially unregulated and funded by taxpayer dollars. But Kmiec’s suggestion that Obama took the Democrats in anything like a pro-life direction on the issue doesn’t pass the laugh test. …

Oh snap!

UPDATE 7/8: Kmiec responds, with some nastiness couched in patronizing, hurt-feelinged, I-forgive-you simpering. 

I am stunned by the coarseness of your writing, Ross. While we have not met, so little of what you have written is in any way respectful or acknowledges that you are addressing not some abstraction but a fellow human that I can only pray that if any of your family or closest friends come into contact with this commentary that they reach out to you in the most gentle and understanding way, without precondition, to calm an anger that is harmful to the soul.

Genuine love and affection do not reside on the Internet, so I cannot extend it to you, but in my heart, I forgive your great unkindness. I do hope you can free yourself from its enslavement. 

He goes on to use it all as a teaching moment, explaining that Ross Douthat’s “hate” is of a piece with the bloodthirsty hordes who attended Sarah Palin rallies and thus demonstrates everything that’s wrong with the Republican party. 

And then Tucker Carlson responds with this: “Hey, Doug. Toughen up. Seriously. I’ve read suicide notes that were less passive-aggressive than this.”

I love it.