Folks are up in arms over the McCain/Palin campaign's decision to emphasize the fact that "Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby." Given that a prime plank of McCain/Palin platform is the elimination of a woman's freedom to make that decision, that looks a bit hypocritical. Only, in an operational sense, it's not. Because what pro-lifers are really talking about doing isn't outlawing abortion for the daughters of governors but for the daughters of store clerks. No matter how restrictive the legal environment, Bristol Palin will always be able to access an abortion. The daughter of a cashier won't. Whenever you hear talk of legislating values, whether it's prohibition or pregnancy, you can almost always append "for the poor" to the backside of the sentence. That's how a lot of these Republican politicians and elites who prosper in the current environment make their peace with the social conservative coalition: They know they'll never really lose what they have. Bristol Palin will always have a choice, and so will Meghan McCain.
