Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Pro-lifers call for Jed Babbin's scalp

Several Christian conservative activists have signed a letter demanding that Human Events fire editor Jed Babbin, a letter circulated by radio talk-show host Gregg Jackson:
"For years conservatives trusted Human Events as a source of truth about what is happening in American politics," Jackson said. "Babbin's embarrassing and revealing statements in this very revealing interview are only the most recent indication of an ongoing purge of real conservatives and their replacement by social liberals posing as the heirs of the Reagan revolution," Jackson continued.
So "revealing," he said it twice! Part of what angers Jackson is Babbin's argument -- a venerable conservative position -- that the Declaration of Independence does not trump the Constitution. Jackson, who supported Mike Huckabee in the GOP primaries and supported Alan Keyes' independent presidential candidacy in the general election, also denounces Babbin for allegedly "suppressing the truth" about deviations from pro-life positions by Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. Babbin ended the interview by hanging up on Jackson.

I seriously doubt this protest will jeopardize Babbin's position at Human Events, but it is worth noting if only as indicating the depth of discontent among some members of the conservative coalition. I am pro-life, but there is no way on earth I'd ever vote for Mike Huckabee, period. I believe in the Good Book, but it's not the only book worth reading. Besides which, Huckabee worships in the church of St. Al Gore.

5 comments:

  1. Babbin is generally on solid ground, especially as regarding the DoI not being part of the Constitution. Where I would differ with Babbin is his assertion that the right to life is no more fundamental a right than the right to vote or freedom of speech. What worth are the latter values if you don't have the right to life?

    ReplyDelete
  2. And what are Babbin's other sins ... saying Fred Thompson and John McCain are "solidly prolife," a statement that, last I looked, isn't the same as "perfectly prolife," "as prolife as Alan Keyes" or "runs as a candidate on prolife first and last."

    I'm sorry, but this kind of "pure remnant" thinking is the behavior of a marginal religious sect, not a political party or even a political movement in a mass democracy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There seems to be a movement within conservatism that regards any deviation from the most scorched earth tactics to be heresy. I reject this. We have to have some pragmatism.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Uh duh. My finished book is obviously more important than my book proposal; my groceries are more important than my grocery list.

    I'm just a dumb Canadian -- I never knew such a position even existed!

    ReplyDelete
  5. "The Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny...the principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost."

    - Frederick Douglass

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men..."

    - The Declaration of Independence

    ReplyDelete