Daily Kos is an excellent place to go for detailed, well researched information about politics of all kinds. I loved how much more information I got regarding NY-23 here than I did from any other political web-site (I'm looking at you, CNN). However, when it comes to arguing on the fly with a conservative/republican, all the evidence in the world can't stop them from spouting crazy nonsense, especially if you don't have that evidence on your person at that very minute (birth certificate?). Nope, the only way to shut-up crazy is to use the same sort of convoluted logic that begat crazy in the first place. Every one here is way smart, smarter than me, so you probably haven't even considered this particular argument when it comes to defending a woman's right to choose...
I will set the scene:
You have been sitting at a bar for the past hour with a friend. This friend has brought another friend whom you've never met. Everything was pleasant, at first, but then a commercial featuring Barack Obama comes on the television. Your friend's friend, let's call him Chester, Chester says, "Oh, there's O-Barf-a, he makes me sick."
"I gathered that from the fact that you called him, 'O-barf-a', tell me, what about him makes you sick."
"His stance on abortion! Did you know that Barack Obama gets a coupon for a free double cheeseburger at Burger King every time a woman aborts her baby? It's murder, man, plan and simple, those are god's children growing in that womb, they're alive and deserve our protection."
You look at Chester. His eyes are like two raisins suspended in hair gel. "Chester," you say, "I cannot speak to the Burger King coupon business being true or false, except to say that double cheeseburgers are delicious and that if Barack Obama was REALLY getting that many free double cheeseburgers, there is no way he would be in the great shape that he's in."
At this point, Chester will take a long drink from his beer, you continue, "As to abortion and a woman's right to choose. We could argue endlessly into the night about when a life becomes viable, when it becomes a person with equal rights. People smarter than you or I have debated this point FOR DECADES and neither side has gained an inch. So, instead of arguing against what I don't know, when life begins, I am going to argue what I do know. Life may or may not begin at conception, but I know for damn sure, that American Citizenship begins at birth and that means, from day one, until month 9, those fetuses are illegal immigrants and I am damn tired for paying for their pre-natal, socialized, health care! I say, get 'em out of the womb and back to Mexico where they belong!"
See, now Chester's mind is broken. He hates abortion and women, but to an equal extent, he is also a racist and hates illegal immigrants as well, and there's an excellent chance he hates socialized Health Care even more than that! How can he choose? He can't. He will start to stammer, change the subject to sports, and you can go back to having a beer with your friend in peace.
Really, the deal here is to look at free-range conservatives (the ones without any political power or national TV platform) like a ball of yarn and you, my dear Daily Kos reader, are the cat (pootie). Bat them around, play with them like you would with an inconsequential piece of fluff, spare yourself the maddening frustration of trying to argue respectfully with someone who has a lollypop where their brain should be. Save up your energy to call your congressman, use your impeccable logic on him or his staffer, focus your ire into a laser that will burn him to his very core. Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I live in NE-02, Ben Nelson is my Senator, and I have some calls to make.
P.S.: If I happened to offend anyone with my cavalier attitude towards a very serious issue, know that I do believe very much in a woman's right to choose. I am sickened by the Stupak amendment and hope that more sensible heads prevail.