Wilson on Sarah Palin and Pro-life

Sarah Palin is creating quite a buzz and it is very fun to watch. Douglas Wilson, a presbyterian pastor and writer had some interesting things to say about the issue of pro-life and the choice of Sarah Palin as McCain's VP.

That said, my touchstone issue on whether or not this reversal is likely or possible has always been the abortion issue. That is the issue that we have to begin with, and it is therefore a non-negotiable. If we repent there, we can get to other issues as they arise. If we don't repent there (with repentance measured by nothing less than overthrowing Roe), then it doesn't really matter what we do elsewhere because it will be nothing but God's judgment, whatever it is.

Now I have known that if the Dalai Bama is elected, we will have absolutely no chance of getting pro-life judges on the Supreme Court. And if the Republicans have the White House, we might or might not get pro-life judges. But wait . . . there's more. McCain's persona of deliberately irritating conservatives with that maverick schtick of his has been such that it convinced me that there was no way that he was going to be the one to topple Roe -- right up to the recent reports that were circulating that he was actually considering Lieberman for his VP pick. But the bottom line has always been that if I knew that McCain was going to appoint pro-life judges to the Court, I would be more than happy to vote for him. But I -- like many other conservatives -- believed his various erratic and eccentric signals. "Don't ever trust me on this one" was his message, and "okay" was my response. This choice of Palin appears to a clear signal in the right direction, a signal that goes well beyond a pie crust promise --easily made, easily broken. So, is this VP choice making me rethink this election? Yes, it is. I haven't reached any settled conclusions yet, but I am willing to consider it. I'll keep you posted, if you don't mind me thinking out loud.

It is important to note that this is not about an "on paper" pro-life record. McCain really does have that. But if he had chosen another candidate that was ostensibly pro-life in the same kind of way that he is (e.g. Romney), I would have rethought nothing. But Palin is real-time, real-life pro-life. If this is the signal that McCain is making (for pragmatic political reasons, sure) that he is willing to bind himself to a pro-life course of action prior to the election, then it does alter the landscape...