Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Ideological Purity Gone Wild

The Republicans are eating their own again...

Sam Brownback (R-Dobsonia) has placed a hold on Bush's nomination of Julie Finley to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe... because she's pro-choice.

As WaPo observes,

Mrs. Finley's opinions on abortion, whatever they may be, have nothing whatsoever to do with European security and democracy, peacekeeping in Chechnya, or the enforcement of arms control treaties, the main issues of concern to the OSCE.

A standup comic once claimed that Keith Richards' role in the Rolling Stones was to make Mick Jagger look healthy. I think Brownback is one of many Republicans whose role in government (or outside of it, for that matter) is to make Bush look moderate and sane. And if they can turn the U.S. into a combination theocracy/kleptocracy in the bargain, so much the better.

On the other hand, if some Chechen terrorist finds a way to turn aborted fetuses into WMDs or an army of very small zombie warriors, Ms. Finley's ideological blinders may prevent her from reacting quickly enough to the gathering danger. Best to be prepared for every eventuality.

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