Abortion & Political Ambition.

Rich Lowry on the life-issue convictions of the presidential candidates:

And these peregrinations are from the candidate who prides himself on fearless straight-talk. None of this is by way of dumping particularly on Giuliani, but to illustrate the governing principle of abortion politics in America: Almost no major politician really cares about it.

What are the odds that every Democratic politician with presidential hopes who once expressed pro-life sentiments — Jesse Jackson, Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, even the fringe candidate Dennis Kucinich — would have epiphanies on abortion that would send them all in the pro-choice direction? Or that both George Bushes would become more pro-life as it happened to suit their ambitions?

It is a little like the athletes who earnestly insist they’ve always wanted to play for a given team in a given city — but that team almost always happens to be the one that offered the most money.

. . .

Politicians aren’t like you and me. Most of them consider (to the extent they must — they’d prefer not to think about it) one of the most profound moral issues of the day and see primarily a potential obstacle or boon to their ambitions. That’s just a fact of life. Sincerity would be nice, but on abortion, it often has to be optional.

Here's the whole thing.