the fugitive ideal of affection

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 04, 2007

I confess the name Patricia Heaton was new to me (an actress, it turns out). The New York Times cocks an eyebrow over her pro-life politics. I got a kick out of the delicate phrasing of the last sentence:

It's also the woman who in 1998 became honorary co-chairwoman of Feminists for Life, a group whose goals include economic and social support for women who "refuse to choose" abortion. Ms. Heaton’s campus speeches and Washington lobbying resulted in the occasional snub from strangers (and the argumentative attention of friends like Mr. Boyle), but she managed to avoid the organized wrath of the left. More recently, however, she has found that the protective varnish of sitcom stardom degrades very quickly and that the ideal of affection, or even civility, among people who disagree is not widely upheld.

You don't say.