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Straight Talk Expression

By Sean Higgins on 5.3.06 @ 12:08AM

The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life
by Ramesh Ponnuru
(Regnery, 320 pages, $27.95)

"What are you reading?" asked the 30ish lady seated next to me on the bus.

This? Just, ah, a book...

"Really? What's it about?"

Ummm, politics.

"Can I see?"

I hand over my copy of Ramesh Ponnuru's The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life. She glances at the front of the book jacket and frowns. She turns it over and glances at the blurbs on the back: Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett, Peggy Noonan, etc.

"Interesting," she says as she hands it back.

You appear to be having an unexpressed thought, I say.

"Interesting," she repeats, icily.

End of conversation.

MORE THAN 30 YEARS AFTER Roe v. Wade supposedly settled the matter, abortion remains an emotionally charged issue. Nothing is more guaranteed to turn a pleasant social occasion or a friendly office chat into an awkward silence. Hard-core Washington political junkies tend to avoid the topic. Even abortion rights supporters almost never use the "a-word."

National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru boldly casts aside this social taboo with The Party of Death, an examination of abortion and related "culture of life" issues such as euthanasia, stem cell research and cloning from the pro-life perspective.

It is a brilliant polemic: sharply written and passionately argued. It is also -- despite the rather melodramatic title -- about as calm and sober-minded an examination of the legal issues, moral questions and practical politics surrounding these issues as you're likely to find. (A related "life" issue, the death penalty, is discussed only in passing, though Ponnuru does say he opposes that too.)

A Catholic, Ponnuru nevertheless avoids religious language or appeals and instead frames his argument in almost purely secular terms. He earnestly wants to reach beyond the conservative echo chamber.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Health Care, Abortion, Law