Two conclusions can be reached regarding Sen. Vitter's and Congressman Boustany's endorsement of Rudolph Giuliani, a pro-abortion candidate for president ("Getting Hitched," April 11). First, both men reasoned that a person can hold killing unborn children to be lawful yet still possess the highest character necessary to be president. Let's test their reasoning: If Guiliani supported the legalization of wife beating, would he be qualified for president? Of course not. Mr. Vitter, Mr. Boustany, their respective wives and even Giuliani's third wife would stay miles away from him. Why then is Giuliani (or anyone else for that matter) qualified to be president given his support for dissecting children? On the scale of horrors, isn't abortion quantifiably worse than wife beating in that it necessarily kills the victim?
Second, we can conclude that both Vitter and Boustany made the political calculation that supporting Giuliani was compatible with their own pro-life supporters. This is a huge miscalculation. Pro-life voters know that Giuliani, if elected president, will appoint Supreme Court justices who will uphold abortion for generations to come. Any promise by Giuliani to nominate only "conservative" judges, if elected, is simply vague political cover under which Vitter and Boustany can try to crawl. If Giuliani's support for laws permitting the dissection of children is so entrenched that he is willing to stand against his party's current platform and a large percentage of its voters on this issue before the election, why would he do anything but protect Roe after he is elected? Vitter and Boustany are not so naive as not to also know this. Moreover, a Giuliani victory will further marginalize the pro-life vote within the Republican party. No longer would any future presidential candidate from any major party believe it necessary to secure the pro-life vote to win. Pro-life voters know this, as do Vitter and Boustany.
One good thing may come out of this. Vitter's and Boustany's defections make it increasingly apparent that the Republican party is the proverbial pot of water over the fire in which pro-life and Christian voters sit. When supposed pro-life officials sell out one year and a half before the election for some unknown political gain, it is clear the water is boiling and the time to hop to a different party (Constitution Party?) or to form a new one was yesterday.