Oh, Politics, Politics -- How you make me want to become an Orthodox Nun!

I don't know a lot about Rudy Giuliani. Not enough to say that I want him as the next president of the United States. But, at the moment, I like him more than I like the others. I'm not at all fond of many of the Democrats, but the current Republican tendency to court James Dobson and Pat Robertson normally leaves me feeling nauseous.

But there was, for a little while, Giuliani. He's not perfect by a long shot. But I feel Giuliani as person would leave me calmer and more content than would the other possibilities. He's moderate on social issues, recognizing that they is a difference between public policy and personal beliefs and apparently possessing some amount of respect for the individual. His fiscal principles looked to be halfway sane. There was hope in my heart that perhaps, with Giuliani, the entire campaign season would not send me into a spiralling depression of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

So I was waiting, watching, hoping that Giuliani wouldn't become Mr. McCain -- who I briefly harbored hope for -- and start cosying up with the (wrongly) Religious Right or Mr. Romney and renounce former moderation to win over Tennesseans (who I still haven't decided if I'm going to claim again or not!) and the rest of the "Bible Belt." It would be so nice to feel that it's actually somewhat important that I cast a ballot, and to not be voting for a third party out of protest. Wouldn't it be nice?

But no, while hope is not yet gone, Giuliani seems to be moving in the direction of making friends with Robertson. And, of course, the right-wing members of the Republican party are happy to help dash my hopes of a decent candidate to th ground by attacking Giuliani for his pro-abortion stance. Or rather his position of respecting the decision of a woman in an area that is hardly clear-cut in either science or religion. He's personally opposed to abortion:

"My idea of a choice is that it should be a real choice and that ultimately, then, you have to respect a woman's consciousness. I think life is enormously important, but so is personal liberty."

I understand the importance of the issue to many people who are adamantly opposed to abortion. Making the argument that permitting abortion is a slippery slope does have legitimacy. What constitutes a human is so incredibly difficult to define -- forgive the off-color metaphor here -- it's like porn, I know it when I see it. I definitely don't want to blanket demonize opponents of abortion -- valuing human life is hardly a bad character trait.

At the same time, I've yet to see proof of the exact point at which human life begins or doesn't begin, and I'm not willing, philosophically, to restrict individual behavior based upon an assumption. There's lots of intuition and assumption on both sides. I can't, for the life of me, understand how a fertilized egg equals a human life, and I do see how comparing a fetus to a tumor is insulting and fails to take the issue seriously. Murr, mostly I'm cranky, cause I really hate that Giuliani -- who seems to be the only halfway decent candidate out -- there is getting thrown out on one single issue.