As THE SCRAPBOOK noted last week, Al Gore recently distinguished himself on Meet the Press by giggling when Tim Russert asked whether he supported a 1994 prohibition on the execution of federal prisoners who are pregnant. Gore then stalled, saying he wasn't familiar with the law in question and wanted "to think about it."
All by itself, this was remarkable. THE SCRAPBOOK bets a squillion dollars that there isn't a single sane person in America who believes a pregnant woman should be strapped to the electric chair. Why would anyone need to "think about it"?
It got worse. At a July 17 press conference in Nashville, the vice president allowed that he would support sparing a pregnant prisoner temporarily should she wish her child to live. But in general, he went on, "the principle of a woman's right to choose governs in that case." Did that mean, one incredulous reporter followed up, that Gore would also support a pregnant prisoner's decision not to delay her execution and thereby "bury the child"? Gore said -- honest to God, we're not making this up -- "Yes, yes."
This is a unique contribution to American discourse. Al Gore is the only politician in recorded history who opposes the life of the mother if it's necessary to preserve the abortion. Here's proof: On July 25, in response to the vice president's astounding announcement, the House of Representatives voted 417-0 to extend to all 50 states the federal ban on executions of pregnant women. No "woman's right to choose" exception was included in the legislation.