Jeb!'s interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press today was a study in double standards.
On the one hand, Jeb stated clearly that he could still sign a death warrant to administer the death penalty even though it was somewhat difficult. On the other hand, he doesn't believe in any abortion exceptions even when the health -- not life, but health -- of the mother is at stake.
JEB BUSH: Yeah, but I'm just saying, look, this is life, Chuck. It's not all either/or. Sometimes you can see both sides. And I believe life is truly a gift from God, and innocent life particularly should be protected at all cost, for sure. But people that commit these crimes, justice can't be denied. And it shouldn't be delayed. And maybe there's a better way to do this where victims feel as though they're being served, because that should be front and center, the first obligation of the state.
See, this is the justification. In the case of abortion, it's "innocent life." In the case of the death penalty, it's "justice."
But then we get to the harder question, which is when does the health and life of the mother justify an abortion?
JEB BUSH: My views haven't changed. I believe in the exceptions of rape and incest and the life of the mother, of course.
CHUCK TODD: And is there a line on health? What is that line on life and health of the mother?
JEB BUSH: Well, the life of the mother, not health of the mother.
Note that this is now the "moderate" view in the Republican Party. It's widely condemned by the nuts in the House of Representatives and most lunatics who still call themselves Republicans.
But still. Think about that. Let's think about that in terms of Terri Schiavo. What if she had been pregnant at the time she suffered her cardiac arrest and it was determined that she might recover some brain activity if she underwent an abortion? What would Jeb have done in that case? Who would he have intervened for?
In that hypothetical, I am assuming that there was the possibility she could recover from her vegetative state and have some kind of life, if and only if her weakened body did not have to incubate a fetus.
Would Jeb have fought for the fetus or the mother?
