Friday, February 25, 2005

If They're So Honest, Why Won't They Say What They Mean?

Today's front-page story in The New York Times about the efforts of Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to obtain medical files of women and girls who had late term abortions is only one of many examples of right-wingers mislabeling their political efforts in an effort to make them more palatable to the mainstream.
Mr. Kline, a staunch, outspoken opponent of abortion rights, is presenting his demand for the medical records as an effort to combat statutory rape. The article makes clear that people on all sides of the political spectrum understand it as a fishing expedition designed to ferret out evidence that abortions have been performed in violation of Kansas' limit on abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy.
Right-wing Republicans love to portray themselves as defenders of truth, honesty and moral values. So, why is it that time and again they make these ham-handed attempts to disguise their motives in taking politically motivated actions?
If they are indeed proud of their values and believe theirs are the values of most Americans, why can't they be honest about what they are doing?
Thanks to the leftist blogs, many of us have become well aware of the attempt to distract from the Bush administration's efforts to dismantle Social Security by sliming the AARP with charges that they don't support our troops and favor gay marriage.
And, in the other biggest blog headline of the past few weeks, it's simply amazing that Ann Coulter and other right-wingnuts have couched their efforts to subvert the practice of honest journalism by accusing those who exposed Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert of being gay-bashers. (By the way, I don't doubt that Ms. Coulter has many gay friends. I simply doubt that an honest word ever has passed from her lips or her pen.)
Come on, right wingers. If you believe in your principles, just be honest about them. It would be such a refreshing change of pace.