Trump: Privacy & Pro-Life?

On the abortion question, [James Stockdale] had a clear answer. "I believe a woman owns her body and what she does with it is her own business. Period."

Mr. Quayle and Mr. Gore debated that issue for more than five minutes.

At the end of the day, who was more serious in that 1992 debate? Been twenty years, don't remember much at all of it, but I recall that. The questioner expecting more of an answer, but it was enough. And, given that Perot -- like your average third party candidate -- was as much or more about the issues than the candidate winning, that meant a lot.

If anything, Donald Trump as a candidate is more ridiculous than making James Stockdale (but really, given some of the options of late, how much so?) a vice president candidate. As he wondered, "why [are they] here?" Still, we can learn something from them being there. Rachel Maddow noted that Trump hooking on to the birther issue underlines that it remains important to the Republican base. Some, like Eric Cantor, might not want to admit to this, but it is so.

A bit more substantively, Trump in an interview wondered why he was asked if he believed in a constitutional right to privacy. The question itself was novel -- you aren't supposed to ask something like that to an interviewer, particularly since it suggests you are uninformed. But, the average person might appreciate it. They might say, "yeah, I don't believe in abortion, but privacy is still a good thing. The difference is that human life is involved." Roe v. Wade:

The pregnant woman cannot be isolated in her privacy. She carries an embryo and, later, a fetus, if one accepts the medical definitions of the developing young in the human uterus.

Justice White in fact accepted the right to use contraceptives but argued that this was a fundamental dividing line, one that made the right to choose an abortion different. The argument than becomes if it really is so different that the right to privacy totally ends. Most do not think so, particularly in an absolute way. But, most also think there are some differences. The fact that some activists feel a need to deny a right to privacy at all (while in effect accepting it in certain contexts, such as raising their children) doesn't change this fact.

Thus, though some felt Trump was showing his ignorance here, I think this underlines why people are interested in his candidacy. Obviously, it is largely because he is a celebrity and a salesman. But, it also is that many want someone not merely fitting in some standard tired box. Someone who can realize that being pro-life doesn't mean they oppose privacy in many respects.