Feminists.

I've never actually met one. Oh, I've seen them on television and read their work, but they seem more like a mythical beast than a serious movement. I mean if its really a movement, shouldn't I--full of years that I am--have run up against two or three of them? I regularly meet supporters of gay rights, 2nd amendment firebrands, ecofreaks, open-land nuts, unionists, free-enterprisers, war supporters, anti-war activists--but no honest to goodness, man-hating, baby-killing feminists.

Its a paradox; one I was reminded of again after reading a Salon article about the righteous anger of feminists over the health care bill. Of course they aren't upset the way you or I might be about the consequences to the economy, the quality of healthcare and the assault on our personal freedom to make our own medical choices in concert with our health providers, without some pencil-necked bureaucrat second-guessing the whole game plan.

Nah. They're upset about the Stupak-Pitts amendment. What's that? Well, apparently the legislation the House passed has language in it that forbids federal funds to be used for abortion. Baby-killing feminists will be able to buy their own supplemental insurance policies to cover that eventuality.

Mythical feminists are outraged and are contemplating liberal fratricide.

Really, when those are the options, there's only one logical conclusion: This is not our party. We've known that for too long, and yet the Democrats have known too well that they could bank on our money and our votes as long as the GOP remained even more not our party. But something's changed. Sixty-four Democrats voted to block women's access to legal medical services. That may not be quite as repulsive as some Republican shenanigans, but the difference is only one of degree. If the point of women voting for "moderate" Democrats is to avoid a majority that's actively hostile to women, then those who voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment just proved that there's no point at all. And progressive women have finally had enough. We are ready to go there. Are Democrats ready to try getting elected without us?

There is an almost comical quality to the complaint and the threat. This mythical feminists actually seems to believe that her "movement" has the power to make or break Democrat politicians--yet the very act of accepting Stupak-Pitts is a clear-eyed assessment by Democrat officials that the feminists are a politically irrelevant force.

In a very real sense, abortion has always been a losing issue. Since the days before Roe v. Wade, feminists have had to use carefully constructed language to "sell" abortion. The nation learned to refer to unborn children in clinical, dehumanizing terms--as foeti (foetus, plural). Supporters spoke of "reproductive rights" as if birth control as a technology did not exist. A turd in a fancy wrapper is still a turd, and Democrat politicians eventually came to the conclusion that it was better to discuss ways and means to reduce "unwanted pregancies" than to keep juggling the abortion grenade.

Its no real surprise that Democrats were willing to throw abortion under the bus in order to pass healthcare, after all, "universal health care" sounds so great, doesn't it? Unlike abortion, you don't have to dress it up with stealthy language. Its health care, you need it, and its free. Its a beautiful political product and you be hard pressed to find even the most die-hard conservative who would seriously disagree. If more Republicans had been convinced that there was some legitimate role for government in the health care field, we might not be looking at a massive power grab and looming national bankruptcy.

...but I digress.

The lesson here, for mythical feminists and mythical theocrats alike, is that political power comes from commanding majorities, not forming single-issue political action committees and calling them "influential".

In the final analysis, abortion is a political loser, and if forty odd years of trying (and failing) to sell this Edsel isn't enough to convince you of that, then you're a moron.