WaPo EDITORIALIST E. J. DIONNE JR. OFFERS THIS DISTURBING BUT INTRIGUING PIECE ON PRO-LIFE STRATEGY.
His thesis seems to be that by ruthlessly backing the strongest Republican candidates, even if they are not pro-life, Republicans have gotten themselves in a position to appoint more anti-Roe judges and justices, while by being inflexible on the subject of abortion, Democrats have weakened their ability to resist such appointments.
The basic idea is thus that the Republicans have been able to construct a "big tent" by keeping the overall direction of the party controlled by pro-lifers while also allowing anti-lifers to participate on the fringes.
Now some Democrats are trying to do the same thing by promoting stronger Democratic candidates even if they are pro-life, with the result again that there are likely to be more votes for anti-Roe judges.
He concludes:
Karl Rove must be grinning about all this. By managing the abortion issue with considerable cunning, Republicans are winning the power to stack the courts with the very sorts of conservative judges the pro-choice movement fears. You have to wonder why it is so hard for so many Democrats to learn that a little open-mindedness on a very difficult question is not only a virtue but also a necessity.
