On January 22nd, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Roe v. Wade, Bush telephoned anti-abortion protestors to tell them that they were doing the right thing, and doing it successfully. What he meant was that he is successfully tearing apart the First Amendment, which protects citizens’ right to decide on the grey areas of morality for themselves, including the question of when a fetus becomes human. He described his and others’ efforts to take away personal freedom as “rooted in America’s deepest principle,” when in fact America’s deepest principle is the protection of individual rights.

Bush further pointed out his own hypocrisy with the following sentences: “You believe, as I do, that every human life has value, that the strong have a duty to protect the weak, and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted or convenient. These principles call us to defend the sick and the dying, persons with disabilities and birth defects, all who are weak and vulnerable, especially unborn children.”

First off, if he actually believed that every life has value, he would not have made Texas the most execution-happy state in America while he was its governor; if he truly felt that life had value, he also would not have started a war that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis. If he felt that persons with disabilities should be defended and that the Declaration of Independence applied to the unwanted and inconvenient, he would not have executed mentally retarded inmates, or any inmates at all. If he felt that the strong should protect the weak, he would not be giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans–including himself–while doing nothing for the poor. Finally, if he believed that the rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness applied to all, rather than just those not yet living, he would support a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body–especially when abortion can save her from poverty, physical danger, or the societal obligation to stay in an abusive relationship because of the presence of a child.

In short, Bush is a disingenuous, misogynistic liar. Oppose Alito, and support a woman’s right to choose.