Absolution Zero

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion organization that demonized George Tiller for decades, is just one of the many who seek absolution for Tiller's death in the NY Times.

“His is the only abortion clinic we’ve never been able to close,” Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said in an interview.

Yet what thousands could not achieve in three decades of relentless effort, a gunman accomplished on May 31 when he shot Dr. Tiller in the head at point-blank range while the doctor was ushering at church.

Scott Roeder, an abortion foe with the e-mail name “ServantofMessiah,” awaits trial in the murder. In a jailhouse interview, Mr. Roeder did not admit guilt but told a reporter that if he is convicted, his motive was to protect the unborn, a goal seemingly advanced when the Tiller family closed the clinic.

But in the weeks since the killing, supporters and opponents of Dr. Tiller have been measuring the larger ramifications. Implacably divided for so long, they now agree on a fundamental point: Dr. Tiller’s death represents an enormous loss for each side.

Abortion opponents are bracing for a drop in support, especially from those in the murky middle ground of the debate. Worse yet, after years of persuading supporters to work within the law, they say they have already lost credibility among the most ardent abortion opponents who cannot help pointing out that one gunman achieved what all their protests and prayers could not.

“The credit is going to go to him,” Mark S. Gietzen, chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, said of Mr. Roeder. “There are people who are agreeing with him.”

The article goes on like this for eight pages or so, a hagiography of Tiller accompanied by mea culpas from the various players over the years that did their dead level best to portray Tiller as an inhuman killer.

What bothers me the most is the sense of false nobility these people have for Tiller, that the anti-abortion forces saw Tiller as some sort of noble foe, one worthy of their respect because even though they hated him, Tiller would not buckle under to them. It's a device they use to mask their own complicity in Tiller's death.

When Tiller was alive, they did everything they could to convince people that he was a mass murderer, some sort of Hippocratic Antichrist. When their protestations and promises that God would judge Tiller kept going unanswered, one man took it upon himself to judge Tiller for Him.

Now that he is dead of course, Tiller was a "respected enemy". Only after Tiller was murdered have his enemies magically rediscovered his humanity, the humanity Operation Rescue and others attempted to flense from Tiller, one strip of flesh at a time, for a good twenty years.

Poor Operation Rescue, at the mercy now of the beast it unleashed upon America. We are supposed to pity them, to feel sorry for them, and most importantly, to keep donating money to them. Let's not forget the issue here, with no Tiller to demonize and blood on their hands, who will donate money to keep them going?

The purpose here is to ask for forgiveness in the court of public opinion, forgiveness that will lead to dollars in the organization's coffers. They come not to bury a revered enemy, but to con you in to helping them survive to demonize the next doctor who still chooses to provide abortion services. When the next doctor or nurse is killed or the next clinic bombed, they will seek forgiveness again.

They always do. Users and manipulators always need those who can enable them. Tiller's loss really does hurt these organizations...in their bottom line. So, they have to apologize and pray it never happens again.

They've been saying that for decades now.

Enablers wanted, enquire within.