In the Bleader Tuesday, I had my say about that day’s column by Dennis Byrne in the Tribune. Byrne had argued that Republican views on abortion are more diverse and moderate than Democrats and commentators—pointing to Todd Akin—made them out to be. If so, I said, the GOP has been taken over “by an extremist minority,” for vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is an absolutist and so are the authors of the abortion plank in the 2012 Republican platform.
I invited readers “to marvel at Byrne’s ability to miss the forest for the trees.”
Anyone who read my post with any interest should read Byrne’s response, which he posted in his own Chicago Now blog.
Miner, he writes—in his headline—”misses the point of my column.” The point, Byrne goes on to explain, “was a response to the drumbeat of Democratic and liberal assertions that Rep. Todd Akin’s views on abortion (ban all abortions, including those sought by rape and incest victims or to save the life of the mother) represent the views of mainstream Republicans.”
It was not Byrne’s point but his myopia that interested me. Even so, I don’t know how he can think I missed his point, since it presented me with the premise of my critique.
But any exchange of views is healthy.