Third Way Dispatch

As the Senate prepares to take up the issue of immigration, everyone in this town is nervous.

We can thank Governor Rounds and the Republican South Dakota Legislature for one thing – they may have spurred a new kind of debate on abortion. Their recently-passed law to criminalize all abortions may become known as the law of unintended political consequences.

It was not long ago when press coverage of the abortion debate consisted of two buzzwords: choice and life. Up until the 1990s, the message from pro-lifers centered upon life, murder, infanticide, blockades, and fetuses in jars. But then they got wise and changed their tune from the absolutism of banning abortion to regulating it. On the pro-choice side, however, the messages have largely stayed the same: the right to choose, non-interference with the doctor-patient relationship, and the need to protect women’s health and women’s rights. Not surprisingly, the life movement began to gain support and the choice side watched the Congress, Presidency, and State Legislatures slip away.

Last year, the National Republican Congressional Committee had two very special guests at their gala dinner honoring President Bush: porn star Mary Carey and adult film producer Mark Kulkis. The NRCC noted that the two had ponied up their dough – $2,500 each – so they were happy to have them. Indeed, so were many of the gala guests – an NRCC spokesman said he was “surprised by the number of people who wanted their pictures made with her last year.”

All of that should have been just a wee bit embarrassing, given the pious posturing about family values that we hear from the President and his political allies.

But apparently, it wasn’t embarrassing enough – Roll Call reports today that Ms. Carey is coming back for this year’s presidential gala. The sequel – NRCC Party Girl Two – is out this week at a massive Washington ballroom near you.

Some in Congress are taking a different approach to pornography. Senator Blanche Lincoln and a number of her colleagues have a bill that would require real child access prevention measures on Internet porn sites and would impose a massive excise tax on online porn. We think that’s the right approach to online pornography – regulation and taxation, not invitation (to dinner with the President). (Read our Message Memo on online pornography.)

Governor Rounds just today signed into law South Dakota’s near-total ban on abortion. With this devastating moment for personal liberties comes a long-awaited break for progressives. For too long now, progressives have been losing the battle of reasonableness with moderate voters, whom we call the “abortion grays” (see our issue brief Who is Winning the Abortion Grays?). Here’s our chance to turn things back around.

Thank God for the NYPD and its Commissioner, Ray Kelly. At least someone is doing their job.

Last week, New York’s finest concluded an 11-month undercover operation by smashing the largest illegal gun running ring in the history of Big Apple law enforcement. 116 guns were confiscated – from AK-47s to handguns –and gun trafficking arrests were made in some of America’s top gun running states of Virginia, Georgia and Ohio.

But where was the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms? Cracking down on the illegal trade in guns is supposed to be their job. After all, illegal guns move across state lines – this is the very definition of a job for the feds.

Let’s be clear. The Vice President did nothing wrong.

“He was not careless or incautious or violate any of the [rules]. He didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to do,” said Mary Matalin, the Vice President’s spokesperson who had the benefit of not being on the scene when Dick Cheney blasted birdshot from a 28-gauge shotgun into the chest and face of hunting partner Harry Whittington. No, far from it. In fact, Mr. Whittington was lucky that Cheney was around. ”Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him so they were right there,” afforded Katherine Armstrong, the owner of the property where nothing improper happened Saturday. And let’s face it – if anything, Whittington is to blame for getting between a quail and Cheney’s firearm. You see, Whittington “had not made his presence known” when he briefly separated from the hunting party. Whittington should apologize to Cheney for ruining the afternoon and spoiling a good hunt. But why should anyone apologize when nothing really happened.