Townhall Media/Chris Queen
Surveys often demonstrate Democrats do not know how right-leaning voters think. The repeated “October surprises” launched against Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker are an excellent example of this phenomenon. In recent weeks, two women have come forward to allege that Walker insisted they receive abortions. Walker campaigned on a pro-life platform this cycle and denied both claims.
As a pro-life voter in Georgia, there are several reasons why I couldn’t care less about these claims. First, Walker committed to pro-life positions if Georgia elects him to the Senate. Should he fail to follow through, voters can hold him accountable next election. This situation is obviously preferable to Sen. Raphael Warnock’s platform. Warnock refuses to articulate support for any limits on abortion and appears to align with the new Democrat position of abortion on demand, without apology, throughout pregnancy.
Next, the timing is always an issue. If Christine Blasey Ford did not teach you that a fantastic claim meant to torpedo a right-leaning candidate in the eleventh hour deserves immense scrutiny, nothing will. Those of us who lived through the Anita Hill circus are doubly skeptical. Even more suspicious, the claim against Walker is tailor-made to resonate with what the radical left believes will upset conservatives, especially religious ones.
Unfortunately, left-wing strategists view all of their tactics through the lens they use to view the world. That worldview does not include forgiveness or redemption. When the left-wing mob cancels someone, even a heartfelt apology does not absolve the individual. Yet the number of targeted individuals who still attempt a performative apology is incredible, considering there isn’t a single example of one who has redeemed him or herself after the mob came for him or her.
For example, Megyn Kelly was canceled at NBC for asking a question about the social acceptability of blackface decades ago. She came from FoxNews and classified herself as an independent. The legacy media was unhappy when she joined NBC and ejected her at the first opportunity. No apology or explanation would have saved her from the relentless criticism and name-calling. She left her spot at NBC as a result.
To get around having to forgive someone, left-wing enforcers use a nifty trick. If an individual is sufficiently woke, the gatekeepers simply ignore their previous transgressions. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel and anchor of The View Joy Behar both dressed in full blackface at some point in the past. The mob will never cancel them as long as they remain reliable left-wing mouthpieces. The minute either expresses a heterodox point of view, the pictures of them in costume will get plastered all over the internet. And no apology will suffice.
Republicans, conservatives, and just about anyone who grounds him or herself in our Judeo-Christian founding have a very different perspective. We know we live in a fallen world and that people make mistakes. Most of the time, we are also not particularly bothered when people have different opinions. In particular, we welcome people who have changed their minds to align with our principles. Yet, we still do expect or want groupthink.
On the issue of abortion, some of our leading voices in the pro-life movement had abortions when they were younger. Abby Johnson worked for Planned Parenthood and told her personal story in the movie Unplanned. Alveda King tells her story of abortion when she attends pro-life rallies. Perhaps Walker may have come to a similar conclusion after a lifetime of experience.
Still others in the pro-life movement joined when Democrats went insane. Some of us could have lived with safe, legal, and rare as a matter of policy while we worked to change hearts and minds in our sphere of influence. When the Democrats’ benefactors at Planned Parenthood could not leave well enough alone, many became horrified. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order that the Empire State Building be lit up pink in celebration, the day New York removed all barriers to abortion through the ninth month, was a watershed moment. Recently, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams implied abortion could solve concerns about inflation. That is a trans-Atlantic crossing too far for most Americans.
To think a movement full of self-identified sinners would reject Walker because there might have been an abortion in his life decades in the past is precisely what Democrat strategists would think. So the second anonymous claim included a story about Walker forcing an abortion on an unwilling woman. Too convenient, when the first claim had no impact. When Blasey Ford’s sexual assault claims fell apart, they also thought we might care that Brett Kavanaugh drank beer in high school. In serious moments, they may also believe we would outlaw dancing if we could.
The truth is we understand the power of forgiveness and believe wholeheartedly in redemption. Both are required to live in an immense country with geographic, regional, and individual diversity. Some of us even enjoy beer as much as 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh did. Walker wrote a tell-all book about himself that never hid the ball. He had issues in the past. Now, he believes the grace of God has saved him. No one on this side is going to argue with that.
Another swing and a miss because the Democrats’ strategists have never been able to see past the end of their own worldview, where no forgiveness is offered and redemption is out of reach.
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