Something has been bothering me for a few days now. It came to a head on Tuesday, when Kos started ranting about NARAL again.

Today, Roxanne asked the obvious question:

If 65% of Americans support Roe v Wade, who's doing more damage to the Democratic Party:

* Groups that support choice?

* Bloggers who continue to marginalize choice?

One commenter, cookie, said this:

It seems one thing that Kos is pointing out, albeit in a rather sexist way, is that NARAL should be bit choosier about who they endorse and look at the big long-term picture of how to protect our reproductive rights. And that point is well taken.

...to which I responded with this:

I think NARAL's approach is to take reproductive rights out of the Democratic Party context and put it into the American people context. NARAL does not exist to back a political party, it exists to advocate on a fundamental issue of liberty, privacy and equal protection under the law.

That is not a party issue, and the Democrats' insisting that NARAL not "put out" for others is patently ridiculous. NARAL is not the Democratic Party's bitch.

If only women's rights weren't constantly used as a political football, maybe we'd all be better off.

Every time someone with a large audience says that people who advocate for gender equality and reproductive rights are hurting the Democratic Party, I say it is he (or she, though it's usually a he) who is hurting the Party.

Political movements don't happen when leaders tell people to shut up and get behind someone else's agenda. Political movements happen when leaders lead -- by saying things and doing deeds that the people hear and see and say, "Fuck yeah! That's something I can get behind!"

That, of course, is what the Democratic Party seems determined not to do. They don't want to lead, they want to pander. With few exceptions, they've been selling out so often, nobody can say what the Democratic Party stands for. Even in opposition to Bush, they're rather lukewarm about it.

So what's it going to be, Democrats? More of the same? Or are you actually going to take a stand on anything, or continue to sit for everything?

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