The republican talking points try to paint Senator John Kerry as "out of the mainstream." I appreciate William Saffire disabusing Times readers of this error (The Great Straddler). On same-sex marriage, Saffire notes that a majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, and a majority oppose a Constitutional ammendment banning the same. There is necessarily an overlap between these two groups. Count on John Kerry to represent this mainstream view.
On a woman's right to choose, Kerry again reflects the mainstream view that no one likes abortion, but most Americans don't want to leave a personal choice of such gravity to law-makers. Some claim that anyone who believes that life begins at conception must also be anti-choice. These unfortunate people cannot distinguish between personal beliefs and duty to society. During his service in Vietnam, Lt. Kerry came to believe that the war was wrong. If Lt. Kerry could not distinguish between beliefs and duty, he would have laid down his arms then and there. But John Kerry honors his duty, he served with distinction, and helped to end the war after his tour of duty was complete. John Kerry represents the very mainstream, the very American ideal that the personal or religious beliefs of some cannot be imposed upon all to the cost of others.
And finally, on the death penalty, on the ultimate exercise of the power of the state upon the individual, John Kerry shows a consistency absent in the pro-life but pro-death-penalty contradictions of President Bush. A small minority of people object to any use of lethal force by the state. For the rest of us, the state's use of lethal force must be carefully and justly constrained. The Bush administration has fought to defend the right of the state to execute children. Who is out of the mainstream?
The contrast between John Kerry's common-sense positions, and President Bush's unquestioning extremism could not be more stark. Thank you, Mr. Saffire, for making this so clear.