The Single-Issue Republican Party

What's the only issue Republicans care about? Outlawing all abortions.

That's why John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his Vice President - the only reason. And that's why every single Republican, from U.S. Senators to ordinary voters, believes she's an outstanding choice.

Isn't that extraordinary?

Of course the Republicans won't say this out loud. Instead they're pretending McCain chose Palin for other reasons. But every one of those other reasons turns out to be false.

She opposed the "bridge to nowhere." Then why did she run for Governor as a supporter in 2006?

She opposed earmarks. Then why, as Mayor of a village of 8,000, did she hire a lobbyist who delivered $27M in earmarks?

She stood up to corrupt Republicans like Sen. Ted Stevens. Then why did she serve on his 527?

She's a good-government "reformer." Then why did she fire the Public Safety Commissioner and lie about it? And why are Alaska taxpayers paying for the lawyers who are trying to block an independent investigation?

She puts "America First." Then why did she join and support the Alaska Independence Party, which actually wants to secede from the United States?

Every other reason is a lie. Abortion was the only reason.

Sarah Palin is the poster woman for opposition to abortion because she adamantly opposes all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. And she doesn't just talk the talk - she walks the walk by carrying her own Down's Syndrome fetus to term and making sure her teenage daughter carries hers. (Does anyone believe her daughter would have been allowed to abort?)

She is equally adamant in her opposition to sex education, which might explain her teen daughter's pregnancy.

McCain really wanted to pick Joe Lieberman, who shares his passionate desire to occupy Iraq for 100 years. But Lieberman is mostly pro-choice. McCain's second choice was Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who could help him compete there and across the industrial Midwest. But Ridge is also pro-choice.

McCain may be the Republican Party's nominee, but he's not the Decider, just window dressing. The real Deciders are the powerful leaders of the Religious Right, led by James Dobson, who have dedicated their lives to outlawing abortion.

Why would anyone other than an anti-abortion fanatic vote Republican?

Update 1: Katha Pollitt nails it as always:

Here's the reality: Palin is a rightwing-Christian anti-choice extremist who opposes abortion for any reason wha[t]soever, except to save the life of the girl or woman. No exception even for rape, incest, or the health of the woman. No exception for a ten-year-old, a woman carrying a fetus with no chance of life, a woman on the edge of suicide -- let alone the woman who is not ready to be a parent, who is escaping domestic violence, who is already stretched to the limit as a single mother. She wants to force over one million women and girls a year to give birth against their will and judgment. She wants to use the magnificent freedom the women's movement has won for her at tremendous cost and struggle -- the movement that won her the right to run those marathons and run Alaska -- to take away the freedom of every other woman in the country.

Update 2: Barack Obama is hammering McCain on abortion in a radio ad:

“Let me tell you: If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at risk. That's why this election is so important,” says the nurse-practitioner who narrates Obama’s ad. “John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right to choose. That's what women need to understand. That's how high the stakes are.”

An announcer then claims that “as president, John McCain will make abortion illegal,” before playing an exchange on "Meet the Press" in which McCain told moderator Tim Russert that he favors “a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions.”

“We can't let John McCain take away our right to choose. We can't let him take us back,” says the ad.

Too bad it's only a radio ad, because voters need to be reminded visually - and viscerally - of what McCain would "take us back" to (see photo of Gerri Santoro at top).