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  •  But.... (none / 1)

    I see no alternatives for women other than to stick with the Democrats and work towards change and keeping the womens issues front and center. Jumping ship accomplishes nothing but to tear the party apart. To be a Majority, we must find a way to unite and work through our disagreements without the party fraying at the edges and tearing.
    I am a Strong civil rights and womens right activist but I think the only weapon against the right wing thugs is for a big tent party to exist ..our only hope.

    Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King Jr.

    by wishingwell on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 04:48:44 PM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    •  Pro-choice IS both sides. Anti-choice is extremism (4.00 / 4)

      Taylor is 100% against a woman's right to make her own medical and moral decisions. Make no mistake: the hardline anti-choice position actively works to erode the "other side". (Harry Reid and John Kerry are anti-abortion personally, but unequivocally pro-choice. This isn't mere semantics.)

      Selling women out (which is what legitimizing anti-choice hardliners does) in the name of "both sides" tolerance is like saying Democrats should welcome white supremacists because, after all, they're the other side of equal rights for black Americans and, hey, let's expand that big old tent and "win". Dems must draw a line somewhere or stand for nothing.

      I see no alternatives for women other than to stick with the Democrats and work towards change and keeping the womens issues front and center

      Fine words. What rights have you relinquished lately and how often have they been thrown overboard for expediency? What I see is a presidency and administration that guaranteed in 2000 that abortion rights were safe, a Dem party that passively trusted that and, lo and behold, in '05, not only have a whole satellite of women's rights been whittled away but legal access to birth control is being shut down by people who hold precisely Taylor's 100% anti-choice position. (Planned Parenthood rating of Taylor's voting record.)

      Beyond Taylor's usefulness during the current Katrina concerns, one alternative I see for women is to support only those individuals that are unequivocally for CHOICE -- whether or not they're personally against abortion -- and to withhold support for any party who erodes that.

      Dems apparently didn't see a million (bipartisan) voters march for reproductive rights in '04. I didn't see a million NASCAR dads march for anything. Guess whose votes the Dems went after?

      I'd like to see less legitimizing of bigots and extremists who erode civil rights, less vilifying of the Dem base that actually gets out the vote, and more party unity in standing up to the GOP's various frauds.

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