Then again, does Bush really want to overturn Roe v. Wade?

The progressive reaction to the selection of John Roberts runs toward "Well, it could've been worse."

His record (to the extent that he has a record) on the abortion question is intriguingly mixed. He has argued that doctors receiving taxpayer $$$ shouldn't mention the A-word to patients -- a very retrogressive position, which he may have taken simply to please his client. On another occasion, he conceded that he had no personal objection to the fact that the Roe v. Wade decision fixed the law of the land.

All of which leads me to wonder: Does Bush really want an anti-abortion crusader on the nation's highest court? Or does he simply want someone whose resume gives the appearance of being -- potentially -- anti-abortion?

In the past, I have argued that the loss of abortion rights might provide the shock to the system that could reverse this nation's long, slow slide toward theocratic fascism. What if the G.O.P.'s big-thinkers came to the same conclusion long ago?

Suppose abortion suddenly became illegal in the several states. Within a year, membership in the Republican party would decrease by...what? Five percent? Ten percent? If sufficiently inconvenienced, a fair number of this nation's many superstitious hillbillies might start singing that old song: "I'm reviewing...the situation...I think I better think it out again!"

Are the top Republican leaders truly concerned about abortion, or are they merely mollifying the fundamentalists?

Ronald Reagan probably wasn't the prude many of his worshippers took him to be. Nancy was pregnant when he married her. (I hope you know what Nancy Davis was famous for during her Hollywood days. You didn't think she got roles based on her acting talent, did you?) More to the point, Reagan signed legislation liberalizing California's abortion laws in 1967. He switched his stance only when he understood his base better.

Poppy Bush? I doubt he ever truly cared about the issue. In his culture, if Muffy from Kappa Alpha Theta told her paramour that a game of hide-the-salaam had taken an unexpected turn, he would just toss her a handful of bills and tell her to "take care of it." Poppy was no Jesusmaniac; he merely played one on TV.

Bush the younger? Larry Flynt once said that he had affidavits proving (or at least claiming) that in 1970, Dubya impregnated some pretty young thang and paid for her to, uh, "take care of it." Whether you believe that story depends, I suppose, on your opinion of Larry Flynt.

Dick Cheney? Cah-MON. Do you really think Dick Cheney personally gives one fiftieth of a fleck of crap about the abortion issue?

I suspect that none of the G.O.P.'s uppermost leaders have any personal stake in the issue.

The trick, then, has always been to find a candidate who seems poised to please the fundamentalists -- but who will go on to maintain Roe v. Wade.

Of course, Bush's choice will also uphold the rights of large corporations to force the American worker into a state unnervingly similar to peonage. But that goes without saying.