Thursday, December 11, 2008

Birds of a feather

The photo shows George Bush with one of the recipients of his Presidential Citizens Medal, Professor Robert George of Princeton University. Apparently everyone calls him "Robby". Robby and Dubya wore almost identical ties.

Here's a sample of George's writing about the presidential race --

Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States.

He's unlikely to be in the White House much after January. But one wonders whether he really expects the number of abortions to rocket under an Obama administration? If he does, it's not clear that sitting in Princeton is the right way to do anything about it.

In the article from which that quote is drawn, he goes on to argue that the pro-choice slogan "Against abortion? Don't have one" is as silly as a hypothetical anti-slavery slogan "Against slavery? Don't own one". It's an interesting analogy for him to make because his extreme anti-abortion position would in a key sense make women property of the state (and it doesn't stop there). It's revealing the kind of acknowledgments that George Bush feels safe making when there isn't an election imminent.

White House photo by Chris Greenberg