Re: Palin & Abortion

I have to disagree , Joseph. Sarah Palin didn’t talk about abortion , and I don’t think she needed to. And it’s not just because everybody already knows her pro-life position (thanks, if nothing else, to the media’s harrumphing on that count), nor was it because she didn’t want to turn off the soccer moms or the hockey moms or whoever else.

When she stood up on the stage before all of America, with her pregnant daughter by her side and her Downs syndrome baby on her shoulder, she reminded us exactly where she stands on abortion. Her daughter’s and her own decision to keep and love their babies may not have been the most politically expedient or personally easy choices, from the hockey-mom perspective, but they speak far louder than words.

And actions, not rhetoric, Palin promised last night, is what she’s all about: “Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And then there is the idealism of those leaders . . . who actually do great things. They’re the ones who are good for more than talk.” At least in pro-life matters, Sarah Palin stands with the latter .