From Today's Martini Republic

"You have to wonder how many times the rightwing Christians will let themselves be deceived before they realize that the GOP has played them like fiddles."

""Roberts: legal abortion "settled as a precedent of the Court.""

"For twenty-five years, the Republican Party has been saying to Christians and churches, "If only you give us The Presidency / the House / the Senate / the Supreme Court, we'll ban abortion." Now all the stars are aligned, all the necessaries are in place, and still Bush has not put forth a nominee who could close the Faustian deal the Party made with the religious right."

"Today's hearing confirms but one thing, but it's a huge thing: Republicans and rightwing Christians have lived a twenty-five-year-old lie. The Christians who, in their compact with the Republicans sold out nearly every other value of Jesus Christ for the sake of one he never uttered--a fetus' right to life--are left with nothing again. Those who were asked to value the so-called "right to life" and abandonned love of peace and the poor to try to achieve it are left with nothing truly Christian at all, just a senseless war, a contempt for the poor and afflicted, and a Supreme Court that will continue to honor Roe v. Wade."

Let's hope this is true. Let's also hope that the "moderate" (in quotes because no one really knows) Alberto Gonzalez is the next nominee confirmed. If he really is a moderate, and the above is true, then the right to abortion, and hence the ability of women to control their reproduction will be cemented in our public policy and public discourse. This of course will mean that women will finally be truly equal and won't have to fear their rights being rolled back (since the pre-pill inablity of women to control their fertility in practice was the last thing preventing women from being true equals instead of equals in name only).

It would also serve the prigs in the pro-life, anti-female sexuality corps right. These are people who don't believe in contraception or abortion because they don't believe that people should engage in sex for the joy of it.

Sources state that Sandra Day O'Connor has stated off-the record that overturning Roe v. Wade would destroy the modern Republican Party, and that's why she always voted to uphold it. Should Roberts and Gonzalez (or whomever else is the next nominee) uphold Roe, then it could also lead to a fracturing of the the Republican party, with the religious conservatieves either staying home or starting a new party. Either way, it doesn't matter. After 8 years of a Democratic President (and Lee Atwater repeatly spoke of the 8-year cycle), they will grudgingly come back to the GOP because economic interests and other social interests still lie there.