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Go Home The Matter With Kansas

POLITICS JUNE 2, 2009

The Matter With Kansas

BY JOHN B. JUDIS

No one who has written about Kansas politics can be unfamiliar with Dr. George Tiller, who was assassinated Sunday as he was entering the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita. Tiller has been the target of the state’s right-wing Republicans for two decades. He was also the focus of the fanatical anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, founded by Randall Terry, which is now headquartered in Wichita. Both the state’s Republicans and the leaders of Operation Rescue have some explaining to do in the wake of Tiller’s murder.



In the 19th century, Kansas was a hotbed of political extremism--from abolitionist John Brown to temperance crusader Carrie Nation. The Populist Party won control of the state legislature in 1890 and elected the first Populist senator. But for most of the 20th century, its politics was dominated by moderate Republicans like Alf Landon and Bob Dole. That changed in the 1990s--and it had something to do with George Tiller and Operation Rescue.



Tiller has been performing abortions in Wichita since 1973. His clinic is only one of three nationally that offers legal late-term abortions. His clinic was bombed by anti-abortion protestors in 1985. And in 1991, Terry’s Operation Rescue staged a Summer of Mercy in Wichita, which attracted protestors who blockaded Tiller’s clinic for six weeks. At the summer’s end, Pat Robertson urged a crowd of 35,000 at the Wichita State College Stadium to transform the state’s politics.



As Thomas Frank describes in What’s the Matter With Kansas?, the Summer of Mercy gave rise to a far-right challenge to the state’s moderate Republicans. Before long, the more extreme GOPers were taking over party committees and seeing their candidates elected to state offices. But their ascendency also led to the reemergence, after decades in the wilderness, of a viable Democratic party in Kansas, led by Kathleen Sebelius, who is now the Secretary of the Health and Human Services. Moderate Republicans, tired of far right candidates espousing creationism and committed to banning abortion, began voting for Democrats like Sebelius or Representative Dennis Moore.



At the center of this rightward shift in the Republican Party was a Johnson County (Kansas City) lawyer and radio personality, Phill Kline. Kline was elected to the state legislature in 1992, in the wake of the Summer of Mercy. Kline toed the anti-abortion line, but he emphasized cutting taxes. When he ran successfully for attorney general in 2002, however, he ran and conducted himself in office as a full-blown social conservative. “Kansas leads the nation on social issues,” he boasted.



Kline focused almost entirely on bringing criminal cases against Tiller. Kline even tried to obtain the records of women who visited the clinic in order to show that Tiller lacked justification for performing abortions. (He appointed an abortion protestor, a veteran strategist from the Summer of Mercy who had been arrested twelve times and who had no apparent interest in any other issue, to head the state’s consumer protection division.) He brought 30 criminal charges against Tiller. By 2006, the state’s voters had had enough. He was defeated for re-election by a Democrat who dismissed the 30 charges.



Kline’s successor did bring a technical charge against Tiller, but he was acquitted. Tiller was never convicted of anything, but there is an ethics complaint from the state Board for the Discipline of Attorneys pending against Kline, who after failing to get elected as Johnson County district attorney, left Kansas to become a law professor at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.



Kline’s fall from political grace parallels that of the Republican right in Kansas. Moderates are back in control, and that is probably bad news for the Democrats. (Last fall, for instance, moderate Lynn Jenkins ousted far rightist Jim Ryun in the Republican congressional primary and went on to defeat Democrat Nancy Boyda, who took out Ryun two years ago.) But Operation Rescue, which inspired the Republican right, remains in business for the moment. The current president is Troy Newman, a San Diego preacher who moved to Wichita in 2002. His second-in-command Cheryl Sullenger, who was convicted in 1988 of conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic, arrived from San Diego a year later.



Since taking control of Operation Rescue, Newman has organized countless protests against Tiller, whom the organization describes as a “murderer” and a “killer.” Newman organized a “Year of Rebuke” to expose anyone with personal or profession ties to Tiller. He opposed Sebelius’s nomination at HHS because, he claimed, she was a friend of Tiller’s. “Mrs. Sebelius is in a lot of hot water for her associations with Mr. Tiller," Newman contended. Even today, in the wake of Tiller’s murder, one can read on the organization’s website a story, “Tiller Abortion Worker Honored at White House by Obama,” or order a copy of “The Tiller Report.”



Kline and Newman have condemned Tiller’s murder. The current suspect Scott Roeder contributed comments to Operation Rescue’s website, and Sullenger’s phone number was reportedly found in his possession--but he remains merely a suspect who was identified with other pro-life groups besides Operation Rescue. Still, there are questions that Kline, Newman, and Sullenger need to answer, and that Damon Linker has ably posed. Does the obsession with ending abortion--and the branding of those who perform abortion as killers--create a political framework in which a deranged person can justify killing someone like George Tiller?



There are, of course, many reasonable people who oppose abortion and would like to see it banned or severely restricted. These include church organizations and politicians from John McCain to Robert Casey. But there is also a fanatic fringe--as evidenced by an organization like Operation Rescue, or a politician like Kline--whose practitioners believe they are defending the purity of family and nation against the evils of modernity. The Taliban does not have a monopoly on this kind of political primitivism. It can also be found in Wichita, Kansas, and it provides the justification for horrible acts like the assassination of George Tiller.



John B. Judis is a senior editor of The New Republic and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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54 comments

The dimwitted piece of white trash who killed Dilller should be tried, convicted and executed. Diller was greedy and depraved, a nasty piece of work. But the rule of law is the basis of civilization.

- bulbman1066

June 2, 2009 at 1:29am

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It was reported this evening on the "Jim Lehrer News Hour" on PBS -- hardly a hotbed of hard-right extremism -- that it was common knowledge that doctors routinely referred women to Tiller for third-trimester abortions when the "medical necessity" exception which they claimed to the legal prohibition on such abortions was entirely (I repeat: ENTIRELY) based on the "mental distress" that bearing the child would supposedly cause them. Does it really mark one as a wild-eyed fundamentalist to say that the legal killing of a viable infant, solely because their life would "upset" someone, is vile beyond measure? As a gay man, I am acutely aware that the most rabid anti-abortion activists would, for the most part, be delighted to consent to "search and destroy" abortions, if the long-sought genetic markers that could "prove" that an in utero child was gay were ever to be found. (No doubt the doctors who performed such abortions would do so while reciting the relevant verses from Leviticus.)I am not for one moment condoning Tiller's murder; but the hatefulness of Randall Terry and his fellow S.S.-in-waiting does not make Tiller into some sort of Dietrich Bonhoeffer of feminism. The very least that the pro-legal abortion crowd owes civilization is to redefine the medical exception for late-term abortions, so that it refers ONLY to a physical threat to a woman's life. Who among us would dare to close his eyes at night in peace, if we knew that our lives were held hostage to someone else's claim that our continued existence "distressed" them? (Men and women who are in the process of going through divorces might be a revealing demographic to consult here).

- helios

June 2, 2009 at 1:30am

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For decades there was an organization in this country called the KKK which, through lynchings, murders, and bombings was able to create deadly fear and intimidate society into maintaining segregation. Today we have the likes of Operation Rescue which is trying to stop abortion rights the very same way. The majority of anti-choicers will wring their hands and decry the violence these American terrorists commit, however they secretly applaud what is done and continue to stir the violence mongers up to make more deadly attacks. The US Government MUST start to break up this organized terorism now, just as it did to the KKK. The anti-choicers are very bad people and should be treated as such. No more of this blather about "common ground' with them, never give them a single inch!

-

June 2, 2009 at 6:21am

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Tiller can kill babies and be a hero, but oppose abortion and your like the Taliban. Your rhetoric sounds similar to the extremists you condemn.

- Chris

June 2, 2009 at 9:23am

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A day after this murder was committed, a Muslim convert shot two military recruiters in Arkansas, killing one. Not only has there been no agonizing over the political culture that led to this latest crime, but the newspapers have buried the story in their midpages and kept their articles suitably brief. Why?

- nbarry

June 2, 2009 at 9:32am

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To quote Judis: "There are, of course, many reasonable people who oppose abortion and would like to see it banned or severely restricted." I understand the spirit of the comment, but I cannot agree that any reasonable person would like to see abortion banned or even severely restricted. I can understand a distaste for abortion, and a sense that some resorts to it fall short of one's own standards, but I cannot see as reasonable the tyrannical idea of intervening, by a fixed rule imposed by state force, in the complicated moral choices of someone else's life. Hardly anyone argues today to ban or severely restrict divorce, yet divorce is used quite irresponsibly, in ways damaging to living beings. Despite that, the idea of coercing couples to continue in a marriage, even when they are ending it for frivolous reasons, is a total nonstarter. No one would suggest reasonable people favor it. Let's have civility, but let's avoid nonsensical efforts to treat all political preferences as reasonable. The deep commitment of the country to liberty means that some authoritarian preferences are not reasonable. What is reasonable for those who think abortion is offensive is an effort to understand the moral complexity of the question when it arises in problem planned pregnancies and to convey to casual choosers the reasons why using abortion as birth control is undignified.

- ThinkingItThrough

June 2, 2009 at 10:09am

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Not that this changes in any the thrust of the article, but it would be foolish to confuse the likes of Lynne Jenkins with an actual moderate. Merely being less extreme than whackos does not a moderate make.

- cspencef

June 2, 2009 at 11:16am

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In answer the question, "what role..". None.

- JohnB

June 2, 2009 at 12:22pm

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How ironic that this writer has chosen to locate the primary source of the problem with Kansas conservative politics. The writer constructs a lopsided account of the cultural concerns that grew up around the issue of abortion about the time of the SCOTUS 1973 decision. This story's epistemic balance was lost at the outset, when the thesis was developed. Readers, go back and look for the thesis. It will reveal the writer's presuppositions. It is a classic case of the plot dictating the story. But a good writer can hide it fairly well. In the case of this story, however, we notice that conspicuous by absence is the responsibility encumbant upon the media and the abortion industry in the cultural shaping and molding in its relationship to what is occuring in this societal microcosm. How does the public opinion and thus culture in general in Kansas view what has been occuring? How has this shaped such sharp division? And, the fact that Kansas is the home to one of only three abortion mills in the entire United States that will perform such a "procedure" is certainly a prominent element in a legitimate discovery for truth (which the writer has not been intent on pursuing). In fact, just as this writer presents only half the story, so also has the media in general. What has been missing is accurate and realistic coverage of abortion procedures, the kinds of doctors who perform them and why they do - - their motivations. And, perhaps more importantly, a true discussion of the facts regarding late-term abortion and its related concerns. No balanced and revealing investigative journalism by mainstream, prime-time (or morning show?) media exits. It is one of the most biased and culture-shaping influences by lack of reporting that exists today. Ask yourself if you have ever see a full investigative story on the subject, or which highlights Tiller and the cultural division that surrounds this issue. No. It has not occurred. Without question, the media supports the issue and buries its collective head in the sand. Issues of money generated in the industry, actual accounts of what TYPICALLY occurs in the the clinics around the country and especially in late-term clinics has never been a television production or major newpaper journalistic endeavor. You should ask why? Critical thinking would most certainly inform a reasonable person that the facts about the industry and its inner-workings would appall the sensitivities of the average American. So the vested interest in a certain political and cultural agenda held by the media has led to an entire lack of open and honest discussion and an ability to engage culturally on the urgent question of what is truly involved in the abortion issue. Now, finally, readers, ask yourself with an open mind and with reasonable faculties, what the result of such a clear, honest, and open discussion and revelation of all the facts might possibly yield in terms of coming to grips with the problems surrounding the issue. And, please, please don't do so on the basis of the background information you have from the media today. Instead, do your own indepth research (you'll have to do it on your own) and then ask the question. I only wish the thesis for this story had been developed in this same way. But an objective factual basis then could never have occurred; after all, there is an agenda operating even in this story. And, an important question here today in terms of this story is this: what part has the media agenda played in the death of George Tiller? Second, when will the press become objective? Third: this article reveals that even in the death of a human being that so focuses on the problem, the press is ever more determined to conceal the facts and march on with an epistemologically agenda focused reporting paradigm - - the end justifies the means, and this reporter's thesis reveals just that. Now, who has some explaining to do?

- Joe Riley

June 2, 2009 at 1:39pm

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The split in Kansas between "establishment" or "moderate" Republicans and "conservative" Republicans far predates the abortion controversies that arose with Operation Rescue and its demonstrations against Tiller in the early 1990s. That split has time and again been responsible for Democrat governors in this very Republican state (the Dockings, John Carlin, Joan Finney, Kathy Sebelius). The anti-abortionists now loom larger on the "conservative" side of the split, but they are not the whole explanation of the split, not by a long shot, even today. Throughout that period, and today, the "establishment" Republicans have controlled the state Republican party. They still do, and they will as long as they make up a majority of the Kansas Republicans. When the moderates and conservatives make peace, as Lynn Jenkins and Jim Ryun and most of their backers did, Republicans almost always win, except in the 3rd Congressional district (it's gerrymandered narrowly Democrat, the other three districts are gerrymandered Republican, to varying degrees, with the Jenkins' 2nd district the closest). It's also very questionable whether Kline, Newman and Sullenger have anything to answer for when it comes to Roeder, any more than the New Republic or CAIR has anything to answer for when it comes to Abdulhakim Muhammad's recent shootings of soldiers in Arkansas. Wackos will be wackos, and will find ideological kinfolk many places, as both Muhammad and Roeder did.

- melodime

June 2, 2009 at 2:08pm

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I would like to think that Mr. Judis has a handle on Kansas politics and could speak intelligently about them, but when he can't even get correct the name of the stadium at the "college" in Wichita, I question the rest of his facts. Never mind that his piece reads like a poorly written hack job intending to portray Kansas Republicans as the source of Tiller's murder. So let's get a few facts straight. Tiller was murdered by an ideologue fanatic. Yes there are many of us out there who believe abortion should be illegal but we also believe in the rule of law and Tiller's murder serves no purpose to either side. Tiller was a murderer in his own right -- over 60,000 counts since 1973 -- but this does not justify his own vigilante-style murder. Kansas Republicans have the right to oppose and protest against the actions of Tiller just as California Liberals have the right to oppose and protest against Proposition 8. At what point in time do we as Americans decide that it is okay to disagree with each other without feeling the need kill each other for it? Our Constitution guarantees ALL Americans the right to be heard regardless of their viewpoints. So liberals need to pull their heads out and accept that conservatives have a legitimate right to stand in opposition. Fair-minded conservatives do not condone what has happened to Tiller -- in fact, they are quite appalled by it because it makes them look bad. Liberals have a responsibility to wake up and realize that the actions of the fool who murdered Tiller do not represent the sentiment of the whole conservative movement -- they represent the sentiment of one stupid fool. For the record, the stadium is called "Cessna Stadium" and the school to which it belongs is "Wichita State University".

- D. E. Carson

June 2, 2009 at 2:41pm

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I would like to think that Mr. Judis has a handle on Kansas politics and could speak intelligently about them, but when he can't even get correct the name of the stadium at the

- D. E. Carson

June 2, 2009 at 2:45pm

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It is emblematic of the modern liberal that he demands empathy for terrorists, but is silent on the systematic institutionalized murder of thousands of innocent babies. No rational argument can equate abortion to anything but murder. If Judis has a rationalization for the casual destruction of these innocent human lives, I'd like to see it.

- TW

June 2, 2009 at 4:24pm

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Look at Bill Ayers reflections terrorism of some of the Vietnam War protests. How the killing in Vietnam created a kind of excuse per Ayers for the terrorism from his colleagues in SDS. Very similar to what some appologizsts for Tiller's killer voice. If you're going to cast a net and condem enablers and inciters of violent politics, you better cast the net wider.

- Bill Baar

June 2, 2009 at 4:29pm

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So tell me Judis, any relation to the infamous Judas in the Holy Bible??? So Tiller used those hands to both pray in his Lutheran church and also used those hands to crush the skulls of innocent late-term babies. What a hyprocrite. We will all be judged by God Almighty for our deeds committed here on Earth, how many babies did he kill? Do you really believe he's earned a ticket to Paradise? Now Mr. Judis if you're not familiar with the three most popular Late Term Abortion procedures, let me clue you in. Late Term Abortion – The procedures There are three general procedures of late-term abortions and partial birth abortions. The first and most popular is called D&E (Dilation and evacuation). Once the cervix is dilated, the fetus is removed by inserting forceps into the uterus. The Fetus is then separated into pieces. These “pieces” of your baby will be removed one at a time. Vacuum aspiration is then used to ensure no tissue remains in the uterus. The second procedure is early induction of labor. This is very painful and intense for the woman and is rarely used as an abortion procedure. The third procedure is called Intact D&X surgery. This procedure includes a 2-3 day process to gradually dilate the cervix using sticks of seaweed which absorb fluid and swell. Once this process is finished, the doctor uses forceps and grasps the baby’s leg to turn it to breech position. The baby is then pulled out of the birth canal, leaving the head inside the canal. An incision is then made at the base of the baby’s skull and the brain tissue is removed, causing the skull to collapse. The entire baby is then removed.

- Mellissa

June 2, 2009 at 4:31pm

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Sweet! Let's see if we can tar the Repugs in general with this homicidal brush! They are all closet murderers anyway, and not susceptible to enlightenment. Compulsory abortions for Republican women should do the trick.

- Lucretia Bourgeoise

June 2, 2009 at 4:35pm

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Surely you would acknowledge that the lack of any recourse to the democratic system could breed a certain frustration, no? Millions of Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal. (A recent Gallup poll found Americans defining themselves as pro-life over pro-choice by a 49-42 margin.) And yet, they are denied access to put their views to a vote. It would be far better to settle this issue with ballots, than bullets (the shooter's actions are morally wrong). But pro-choicers, through Roe, took the ballot away. So if you believe Kline, etc. are partially responsible, than so are the liberals who denied advocates of the unborn child a chance to simply have a vote.

- Common Ground

June 2, 2009 at 4:40pm

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Surely you would acknowledge that the lack of any recourse to the democratic system could breed a certain frustration, no? Millions of Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal. (A recent Gallup poll found Americans defining themselves as pro-life over pro-choice by a 49-42 margin.) And yet, they are denied access to put their views to a vote. It would be far better to settle this issue with ballots, than bullets (the shooter's actions are morally wrong). But pro-choicers, through Roe, took the ballot away. So if you believe Kline, etc. are partially responsible, than so are the liberals who denied advocates of the unborn child a chance to simply have a vote.

- Common Ground

June 2, 2009 at 4:42pm

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You, Mr. Judis, are no better than the fanatics you attack in your article. The structure of your essay implies a connection between anti abortion activists and Tiller's murder; a connection you cannot make directly. Since we who oppose abortion view the practice as one of extreme violence in the taking of a human life, it is amusing to hear the reasonable crowed discuss reasoned balance approaches to the issue. Here, think Obama at Notre Dame and the left wing journalist crowd. To oppose the taking of human life does not make someone a Taliban like creature, nor does the balnced approach make the defender of abortion a statesman.

- Steven Marshall

June 2, 2009 at 4:48pm

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The Taliban does not have a monopoly on this kind of political primitivism. Really the Taliban wow I remember they took women out in soccer stadiums and blew there brains out for real serious stuff like not covering there face. Yup people against late term abortion just like the Taliban. I look forward to your article on the Muslim convert who gunned down two young men outside the recruiting station and how he compares to the fanatical Taliban. I won't hold my breath.

- Harley2002

June 2, 2009 at 4:50pm

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Tiller disagreed that abortion is immoral. He cannot disagree that abortion is the intentional destruction of human life. Ill pray that God grants more mercy on his soul than he ever showed the infants he took life from.

- pablo the cajun

June 2, 2009 at 5:06pm

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Attention commenters: There's a literary/grammatical/ style device known as a "paragraph". Makes your thoughts a lot easier to follow. Use it.

- Howard Hirsch

June 2, 2009 at 5:40pm

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I see no correlation between the killing of Dr. Tiller and the shooting at the Army recruiting office. This isn't Mr. Roeder = Conservative and Mohammad = Liberal. I'd wager Mr. Roeder is a card-carrying Republican with a strong voting record. On the other hand I'd doubt the shooter at the recruiting office has ever been a registered voter. There is no escaping the fact that the Republican party openly courts extremists who then comfortably exist within the party structure, while leftist extremists are neither embraced by the Democratic party nor are they even tacit supporters of the party. (Indeed it is flat out inappropriate to classify Muslim extremists as liberals - they bear much closer resemblance to Christian fundamentalists). The closest abortion extremists within the Democratic party's actual framework are extreme feminists, a group that has never produced a violent killer. In short, the threat of extremist violence is inextricably linked to Republican ideology. Limbaugh, Hannity and Savage are aware of this, and I believe they fall asleep at night plotting about the day they'll call their supporters to arms against the government.

- Chad Penn

June 2, 2009 at 5:45pm

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How about the killing of the Army man in Arkansas the next day? How did the anti-military ideals professed on TNR create a climate which this killer felt his action was necessary?

- bill_K

June 2, 2009 at 6:03pm

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Mr. Tiller caused 60,000 unborn citizens to die at his hand. Many were " LATE TERM KILLINGS " of viable boys and girls. Now, poor Mr. Tiller has been aborted or terminated; at the hand of another. Ironic? Well, Tiller made killing a profitable business for a long time; with government help. NOW, NARAL, Planned UnParents in the Hood will miss him; the lil unborn citizens won't.

- D. Grant Chee

June 2, 2009 at 6:20pm

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I in no way support murder. But having said that, if I witnessed the driver of car deliberately run down a group of pre-schoolers at a bus stop, then turn it towards another child nearby, I would feel justified shooting the driver dead to save the life of the innocent child.

- Brian Pannebecker

June 2, 2009 at 6:25pm

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I am a Kansas resident and an independent voter like most in Kansas. I disagree with your take on our extremist ways. As a state we have always maintained a stress level between our governor and our senate. If the governor is a democrat we vote in republicans to keep them honest if the governor is republican we pack the house with democrats and libertarians. We don't want to go off the idealogical cliff such as we have nationally in the past eight years. The dumbest vote is to give too much power to either of the main parties because they take off like drunk frat boys on a road trip. The nut case that killed Tiller should be put away for as long as possible. I thought Tiller was reprehensible but killing everyone you disagree with is not an answer for civilized folks. Don't try to paint our state as a radical state. We aren't grist for your mill.

- R Shuck

June 2, 2009 at 6:29pm

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bullshit -- they have never done such a thing...never. Please backup your bullshit comment with facts of the same kinds of activity by O.R. as an organization in an organized capacity. What a load of crap.

- joe riley

June 2, 2009 at 7:00pm

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Rot in Hell Tiller. May your eternity consist of listenting to the cries of the children you murdered.

- Eleanorsdaughter

June 2, 2009 at 7:44pm

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If conservatives are responsible for the murder of Tiller then you must agree that Liberals are responsible for the for the murder of the military recruiter the next day....

- Tony Redding

June 2, 2009 at 8:35pm

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We should all celebrate Tiller getting what he deserved, even if it is too late for his 60,000 victims. How he got to his corner of hell is none of my business. The only important thing is, innocent unborn babies are safer in Kansas. The idea that we are a "nation of laws" is laughable. We are a nation of black-robed tyrants, agents of the death cult. A "nation of laws" would protect innocent unborn babies, not butcher them.

- Rick

June 2, 2009 at 9:46pm

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Funny how Judis thinks that Pro-lifers need to answer for this murder. Why does Judis not express the same thing regarding Muslims when two soldiers are killed by a Muslim extremist in Arkansas. Both killings probably don't represent the vast majority of the people who believe in each cause, but one fits Judis's pre-conceived biases.

- Mack Johnson

June 2, 2009 at 9:55pm

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Common Ground is absolutely right. Roe killed Tiller. When you deny people their avenue of political expression, they'll find other means of reaching their goal. Anyone who's actually read Roe knows it's trash (the Founders laid out some specific examples of privacy rights so there must be a general privacy right? Really?), and the current pro-choice movement has recognized this and is now trying to shift the debate to an Equal Protection question. Maybe Sotomayor will pull a Souter and surprise everyone by giving a democratic question back to the people.

- billy

June 2, 2009 at 10:10pm

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As a Democrat and self-described liberal I can say that I personally am against late-term abortions. I am however using violence to solve this problem. What troubles me most is that in Davenport, WA on the east, conservative, Republican side of the state I saw many people who I work with and people I see at the store give high fives over the murder and "alright! and YESSS!!!!" They were excited he was dead and shot in cold blood for going against their beliefs even though he broke no laws. You ask why liberals judge people as fanatics on this issue? For me personally it is because I see things like this happen and just disgust me. One was even a pastor. During the election my child did a report on Obama and the teacher told her that she supported a terrorist and then procedes to say the same to me when she comes home crying...... The conservative culture where I live is for freedom but only if it goes with their beliefs. That is why I have a negativie view of conservatives.

- DJTHrawn

June 2, 2009 at 10:44pm

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I am a strong conservative who did my little jig on Sunday when I heard Tiller had been killed. Good riddance to bad rubbish! He was an evil man in the same league as Hitler, Stalin, and Mengele. I would pardon the so-called "killer" and give him a medal for service to the republic. This is the prelude to the coming Civil War between liberal and conservative, Red vs. Blue, Obama Muslim Acornists vs. True American patriots, atheist vs. churchgoer. Lucky for my side, we are armed to the hilt, we ARE the military, and we will paste the liberal pansies. What do the liberals have to defend themselves with except a bunch of Volvos and some empty Starbucks cups?

- Tiller is Dead

June 2, 2009 at 10:58pm

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Millions of Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal because ultimately they believe an egg is a person. Millions of Americans believe the opposite, because they believe an egg is an egg. This is the state of things: Beliefs differ. Unfortunately, the millions of Americans that believe that abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal wish to impose their view on the millions of Americans that believe the opposite, for no other reason than their beliefs. Why don't doesn't everyone leave everyone else alone, and realize that the decision to preform these sad third trimester abortions is something between a woman and her doctor. And for those who believe a 3 month fetus is a person, go eat your bread unbaked. it's bread, isn't it?

- trafamadore

June 2, 2009 at 11:19pm

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late term abortions are without a doubt murder. these babies born premie live! but the good dr. kills them. justice was served. moreover, lives were saved, as he won't commit murder any longer. nobody has the courage to say it, BRAVO!

- mike p.

June 2, 2009 at 11:36pm

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Tiller's killer should of course be tried for murder. However, the tone of your article treats Tiller as a quintessential innocent victim. It wouldn't have quite the same effect if you tallied up the number of human fetuses and viable infants he destroyed, would it? The whole thing is more tragic than unjust. He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.

- Ninasimonejr

June 2, 2009 at 11:52pm

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This great man who struck down the murdering baby killer Tiller should be made a Saint.He truly did the work of God. Already the lives of many unborn have already been spared.

- Ofc Elliott

June 3, 2009 at 1:24am

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So now Judis equates killing babies with modernity? With Tiller dead, that's one less thing on my 'To Do List'. I'm proud of the courageous guy who put a stop to Dr. Evil. I'm tired of living next to Tiller's Auschwitz for Babies. More than half of Kansas wanted Tiller stopped, but couldn't get it done. President Andrew Jackson said that "One man with courage makes a majority." Now I see it happen as one man with the courage to stand up to our culture of infanticide stops Tiller with finality. I'm proud that someone in Kansas still knows how to take out the trash!

- Key

June 3, 2009 at 3:05am

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What's the matter with New York?

- Mark

June 3, 2009 at 3:28am

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Ironic that, a few weeks ago, police all over the Midwest were searching for a Minneapolis mother who had taken her son elsewhere, to avoid chemotherapy treatment for his cancer. She did so because of her religious beliefs. The force of law was to be used, however, to push the treatment on her son, once they were located. For those of you that believe abortion is a "woman's choice", please explain why this women is unable to chose her 13 year old son's future? When you are done with that, you might then picture this example. A pregnate woman driver is hit by another car, while on her way to an abortion procedure. The fetus is killed in the accident. Now, in many states, the driver of the other car can be charged with manslaughter. However, the woman, had she arrived at her appointment, is guilty of....nothing. There is a very basic reason that so many of us find abortion to be repugnant, not the least of which is its obvious inconsistency with our basic moral values (as are illustrated in the above examples). We all recognize that extreme cases exist. However, Dr. Tiller's practice was an example of a law being directed at the extremes, not the norm. No normal view of right an wrong would allow the kinds of actions Dr. Tiller routinely engaged in, any more than it would sanction the actions of the man who killed him. Don't call us radicals for believing that an unborn baby is somehow less "human" than those who have cleared the gates. If you can't understand the inconsistency that is used to justify abortion, then it is you that are screwed up...not us.

- Mike

June 3, 2009 at 7:31am

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So is DailyKos and company guilty of the murders at the military recruiting station for their attacks on our "war criminal" soldiers? If some crazy nutcase took a shot at Rush, GWB, Cheney or Rummy would TNR blame the left-wing blogosphere, Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, etc.? I didn't think so.

-

June 3, 2009 at 9:22am

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Why is it so important to leftists to blame all white Christians who oppose abortion as terrorists enablers and totally ignore the media and left-wing culture that so hates the USA and the Armed Forces that it dismisses the black Muslim murderer of a young soldier as an "isolated event" where religion "may have played a role"???? Hypocrisy, thou art and always will be a leftist.

- fredt

June 3, 2009 at 9:44am

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Are you people kidding? The fetuses that Dr. Tiller aborted were going to be born without faces, or without a central nervous system. They were already dead and the mother was suffering for toxicity and shock. They were wanted pregnancies that would kill the mother or which would die almost immediately at birth. The implication that a woman would seek out an abortion, especially a late-term abortion, just because the prospect of having a child "upset" her is offensive in the extreme.

- nb

June 3, 2009 at 10:20am

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The left lost sight of the role of violence in politics, which is why no one has taken a shot at "Rush, GWB, Cheney or Rummy." Pro-life activists (a laughable name) have expanded their political repertoire to include violence. Given that the government is unable to prevent a predictable attack on a legally practicing doctor, retaliation against the Operation Rescue headquarters seems logical. By signaling to one's opponent that I will not retaliate in any forceful way no matter what is done, there is no rational reason to dissuade future attacks. The left bought in to nonviolence too easily without distinguishing between its tactical and strategic uses. While Tiller's murderer is likely to deal with the legal consequences, he can also do so in the full knowledge that he accomplished his objective. In so many other contexts, sacrificing oneself for one's cause is considered laudable; I guess that's only true if you agree with the cause.

- just_thinking

June 3, 2009 at 10:29am

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The left lost sight of the role of violence in politics, which is why no one has taken a shot at "Rush, GWB, Cheney or Rummy." Pro-life activists (a laughable name) have expanded their political repertoire to include violence. Given that the government is unable to prevent a predictable attack on a legally practicing doctor, retaliation against the Operation Rescue headquarters seems logical. By signaling to one's opponent that I will not retaliate in any forceful way no matter what is done, there is no rational reason to dissuade future attacks. The left bought in to nonviolence too easily without distinguishing between its tactical and strategic uses. While Tiller's murderer is likely to deal with the legal consequences, he can also do so in the full knowledge that he accomplished his objective. In so many other contexts, sacrificing oneself for one's cause is considered laudable; I guess that's only true if you agree with the cause.

- just_thinking

June 3, 2009 at 10:35am

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I should point out that to the best of my knowledge, President Obama has had nothing to say about the shooting of the military recruiters, no condolences to the victims' families, no condemnation of the shooter. Instead, he is in Saudi Arabia to make nice to the progenitors of the evil offshoot of Islam that has generated much of the terrorism of the last 20 years.

- nbarry

June 3, 2009 at 12:05pm

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Wow...so much spittle.

- ritebrother

June 3, 2009 at 1:50pm

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It's perfectly acceptable to oppose abortion, but the murder of Dr. Tiller was terrorism, plain and simple.

- roy

June 3, 2009 at 6:34pm

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Interesting that the research was selective enough to screen out that the shooter has a long history of mental illness. It certainly swipes the feet out from under the pro-lifers are repressed killers mindset, but the facts can be damning to the "story". I know, its your story, you tell it.

- john is nimble

June 3, 2009 at 9:55pm

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Just a simple observation. The quality of the piece is not such as will advance John Judis's journalistic reputation.

- lsernoff

June 3, 2009 at 10:57pm

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Not only spittle but ignorance, too. Dr. Tiller's longstanding practice to help women in need of late abortions was a principled choice by a physician who took his oath seriously and also believed in the law of our land. His bravery in the face of constant condemnation from those who consider themselves righteous was unfailing. As a woman who had a late abortion that most likely saved my life, and then went on to have three healthy children, I am indebted to those few doctors around the country who everyday put their lives on the line to continue to give women like myself the right to make the best medical decisions for ourselves and our families.

- justaperson

June 3, 2009 at 11:55pm

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the 'mental health' issue people bring up is NOT about women not wanting to carry a healthy baby, it's about them not wanting to carry a baby who will die at birth.... about not having to be asked for 3 months how happy they are, all the while knowing that their baby will die and is probably suffering inside them. there is NO proof that healthy babies were aborted because the stress was too much. that is a spin the right uses but it is not true. do some research please.

- kirst

June 4, 2009 at 8:37pm

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