Goldberg and Guthrie

... everything changed. As some readers of this blog may know, this was something of an obsession of Goldberg and I for a time. Basically, September 11 was given as the reason for so many absurd things. For example, "After the tragedy of September 11, Americans longed for something comfortable and familiar, and hence the ratings of Friends improved."

Well, from Karen Hughes (via Daily Kos, via Atrios)... after September 11, Americans began to learn the value of life... specifically, unborn life.

The full, awesome quote...

I think that after September 11, the American people are valuing life more and we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life," she said. "President Bush has worked to say, let's be reasonable, let's work to value life, let's reduce the number of abortions, let's increase adoptions. And I think those are the kinds of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy and, really, the fundamental issue between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life.

Kos does a good job destroying this - and pointing out that she is essentially putting on equal footing the majority of Americans who support a woman's right to have an abortion and Al Qaeda a terrorist network that ordered some of its members to hijack a plane and fly it into a building, killing thousands of American citizens. I repeat, to Karen Hughes, one of our President's most important advisors, terrorists and my mom are equally immoral. (My mom, I assume, is pro choice.) In fact, the terrorists and Rudy Giuliani are equally immoral, as are the terrorists and Colon Powell. I, for one, cannot imagine why we would let Powell run the State Department, given that him and our terrorist enemies do not value every life.

I know after September 11, when I learned that the terrorists were Muslim extremists, the first thing I thought was "by God, we've got to start forcing women to agree with our moral and religious views."

Of course, I suppose, if you honestly and truly believe that an abortion is a murder, then I suppose pro-choice people are as bad as terrorists - which is why I don't think most people believe this. But why isn't an abortion murder? Is it because an unborn life, while important, is not as important as a living, breathing person? Or is it because most people who are against abortion aren't sure what an unborn life is? And if we aren't sure, then who should be making the decision? George Bush and Dick Cheney, or the women actually facing this choice?