Mickey Kaus, playing a familiar High Contrarian card, makes fun of Republican anti-choicers for endorsing John McCain in spite of views that Kaus asserts with no evidence whatsoever are pro-choice. But abortion, of course, provides another example of an issue where McCain's record is even worse than his rhetoric. Creating obvious problems for Kaus's unshakable belief that McCain must secretly be pro-choice are such inconvenient details as his 0% NARAL rating, expressed support for South Dakota's total ban on abortions, the vote for Robert Bork that would have unquestionably led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the vote for Sam Alito that could lead to a similar outcome and will make virtually every abortion regulation short of a ban constitutional in the meantime, etc, etc. etc. If Kaus means that McCain's consistent support of forced pregnancy isn't reflective of sincere views, as with many Republican elites this may be true but is also completely irrelevant to anything. If McCain is a down-the-line anti-choicer in a safe Senate seat in a state with a pro-choice governor, he's certainly not going to behave differently as a President beholden to cultural reactionaries. --Scott Lemieux
