The only issue Democrats have on the national level is abortion. Everything else is in shambles — from Biden’s clear dementia to the economy to the border. Democrats have nothing to work with save for abortion. When Kamala Harris isn’t tweeting “against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia” (apparently the latter is a thing), she’s tweeting that if elected, Donald Trump will wave a magic wand and ban abortion. He’ll make every woman wear a “Handmaid’s” dress.
None of that is true, but Biden and Harris have nothing else to run on. They are still (wrongly) counting on a base of purple-haired furries and the coalition of disaffected suburban wine moms who want abortion on demand. Abortion up to nine months.
There is a third-party candidate in the race. Robert Kennedy Jr. is running as an Independent. He has some nutty ideas, but he’s drawing a percentage of voters that shouldn’t be ignored.
Kennedy’s position on abortion isn’t nuanced. He claims to be libertarian on that issue, meaning that he believes a woman has an unfettered right to abort even if it conflicts with his “Catholic faith.” If that sounds like Joe Biden’s position on abortion, you would be right. Biden is a political chameleon. Biden changes his political and policy positions to suit whomever he wishes to please. Right now, Kennedy and Biden share positions on abortion for different reasons. Kennedy thinks his position is justified because he’s consistently libertarian. Biden just floats to the side that he thinks will get him votes. If the country was drifting, Muslim Biden would be wearing a beard and headwear. Both Kenned and Biden claim to be personally opposed to abortion but hold that a woman has a right to choose. That choice can be a viable baby. No matter — if it gains one vote.
Biden’s position has morphed toward that political “middle” without changing anything substantive. Kennedy has remained on the “It’s a personal choice” position, which might sound “libertarian” but certainly isn’t Catholic, regardless of what apostates at Catholics for Choice might claim:
Kennedy picked his running mate in March. Nicole Shanahan is a “lawyer and philanthropist.” Her philanthropy comes courtesy of her marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. They divorced after five years. Her policy positions are in line with Kennedy’s and might be even nuttier. She’s said that there are “toxic substances in our environment” and “electromagnetic pollution” caused by cell phones (and maybe toasters) that are making us sick. She’s blamed vaccines for her daughter’s autism.
According to AP:
Before the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign manager and daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, praised Shanahan’s work on behalf of “honest governance, racial equity, regenerative agriculture and children’s and maternal health.” She said the work “reflects many of our country’s most urgent needs.”
Shanahan was interviewed by Outkick’s Tomi Lahren on Lahren’s podcast. Shanahan, already a “polished” politician, reiterates her (and Kennedy’s) position on abortion without sounding like an abortion-up-to-birth ghoul.
She said:
[Kennedy] is a medical freedom guy. He doesn’t think there should be mandates. He takes a very libertarian view towards health in general, so when he says it should always be the woman’s choice, he means it, right? That’s the thing in the sense of we don’t want the federal government telling us what to do with our bodies. So that’s where that stance comes from. He also believes in the sacredness of life and he says every abortion is a tragedy.”
“So my take on abortion is really through the lens of let’s talk about maternal health.”
“We’re helping people understand that this is not just about a woman’s right to choose right now. This is about the unequal application of funds that are hurting communities, right, and once they see that these abortion clinics are really pushing women to choose abortion because of poverty, that’s wrong. That is against the progressive ethos in every single way.”
My colleague Jennifer Oliver O’Connell had a more in-depth take on Shanahan’s policy positions.
Shanahan isn’t wrong about abortion clinics selling abortion as the one and only choice, but the bottom line cannot be nuanced. She can be right on one issue and dead wrong on another. She and Kennedy support on-demand abortion.
Robert Kennedy Jr. was forced to pick a running mate now because a number of states require a running mate to get on the ballot. Substantively, Kennedy’s position on abortion is the same as Biden’s. One would hope that any votes for Kennedy would be bled off from disaffected Democrats.
