Protecting Your Privates

President George W. Bush has been skipping around the country accusing Sen. John Kerry of "flip-flops." Well ... I gotchyer flip-flop right here. It's a doozy. And it threatens not only the privacy but also, in a quite direct way, the privates of the citizens of these United States.

In 2000, Bush ran on a platform that loudly supported medical privacy. He has said, "I believe privacy is a fundamental right." In April 2001, he promised to protect, he said, "the right of every American to have confidence that his or her personal medical records would remain private." Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of health and human services, chimed in: "We are giving patients peace of mind in knowing that their medical records are confidential and their privacy is not vulnerable to intrusion."

That promise has been broken. On March 6, The New York Times ran a polite headline on page eight: "Administration Sets Forth a Limited View on Privacy." Decide for yourself the extent of the flip-flop ? and whether the story didn't call for starker headlines on page one.

I'm not a particular fan of abortion, but I think it lies in the moral grey area that says only the woman in question can make the choice as to what to do. I am not sufficiently arrogant to impose my opinion upon millions of people facing choices that are very tough, very traumatic, and have nothing to do with me personally. On this matter, Bush is an ass, and he's clearly trying to pander to the religious right. The way he's chosen to do it is about as bad as it gets; invading private medical records is unacceptable. Not that that has ever stopped him before.