The Washington Post Strikes Again

JCECIL3 recommends E. J. Dionne's Jr. editorial. The latter makes the laughable claim:

Republicans in power have done remarkably little to live up to their promises to antiabortion voters...What Republicans have stopped pushing, or even talking much about, is a constitutional amendment to repeal Roe v. Wade, the landmark case legalizing abortion. They prefer gauzy language that sends soothing messages to pro-lifers without upsetting voters who favor abortion rights.

Is this guy serious? To put it charitably, the W. Bush administration has been less than stellar. But, one thing Bush has done right is advance the pro-life cause more than any president since 1972.

A constitutional amendment banning abortion has no chance of passing. Does anyone really think two-thirds of congress and three-fourths of the states would vote to ban abortion? It just won't happen. George W. Bush was smart to not waste political capital on such folly. Instead, he replaced choice-friendly Sandra Day O'Connor with pro-life Justice Samuel Alito.

Until Roe v. Wade is overturned, all pro-life measures enacted by governments at all levels can only affect abortion at the margins. George W. Bush made real progress in the pro-life cause by getting the Supreme Court one step closer to overturning Roe.

I would expect a Washington Post columnist to understand this.

Along with most of the mainstream media, the columnist also asks:

Will conservative Catholic bishops and intellectuals, along with evangelical preachers and political entrepreneurs, be as tough on Giuliani as they were on John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign?

I am not sure about preachers and "political entrepreneurs," but concerning Catholic bishops and intellectuals, I have no doubt the answer is yes.