Happy Anniversary: Roe v. Wade

I picked this up from "Miss Laura" on DailyKos; I'd think it was important enough to reprint it here, even if it didn't reinforce my argument that progressives are making a huge mistake if they don't advance the Edwards candidacy as far as possible and even though it undermines my position that Clinton and Obama are Tweedledum and Tweedledee:

As we reach the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade here are some important things to remember:

• John Paul Stevens is 87 years old.
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 74 years old.
• Stephen Breyer is 69 years old.
• David Souter is 68 years old.

By contrast,

• John Roberts is 52 years old.
• Samuel Alito is 57 years old.

One of these candidates will almost certainly determine the Court's tipping point on choice for a generation to come:

• Hillary Clinton:

  "I have an obligation to my constituents to make sure that I cast my vote for Chief Justice of the United States for someone I am convinced will be steadfast in protecting fundamental women's rights, civil rights, privacy rights, and who will respect the appropriate separation of powers among the three branches."
  — Statement on the Nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice, September 22, 2005

• John Edwards:

  "I must oppose [Judge John Roberts'] nomination to be our country's Chief Justice...I do so because we do know the views and positions he took prior to the recent hearings. Judge Roberts opposed efforts to remedy discrimination on the basis of sex and race. He opposed measures to protect voting rights. He denigrated the right to privacy and a woman's right to choose."
  — E-mail to Supporters, September 21, 2005

• Barack Obama:

  "I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions, in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy, and I think that's where most Americans are."
  — Democratic debate, April 26, 2007

• Mike Huckabee:

  Sometimes we talk about why we are importing so many people in our work force. It might be because for the last 35 years we have aborted more than 1 million people who would have been in our workforce had we not had the holocaust of liberalized abortion under a flawed of Supreme Court ruling in 1973."
  (Excerpts from speech to Family Research Council Values Voters Summit, 10.20.2007)

• John McCain:

  "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
  (Jim Davenport, Associated Press, 2.18.2007)

• Mitt Romney:

  "You cannot have a litmus test. But you can appoint justices that follow the Constitution and if they do that they'll overturn Roe v. Wade."
  (Hannity & Colmes, Fox News, 9.5.2007)

Elections are not the only meaningful part of protecting women's right and ability to choose abortion - far from it. But they matter.

Miss Laura is correct, of course. But we must also consider poverty, universal health care, NAFTA, the WTO, the war machine, Iraq, and the environment, to name but a few.

Who you gonna call?