ANN ALTHOUSE: Let’s take a careful look at what Martha Coakley said about abortion and religious freedom. “She’s a lawyer, and she ought to know that Roe v. Wade — along with other abortion cases — does not require services. There is a world of difference between having a right to do something and having the power to make other people do things for you as you try to exercise that right. If you don’t know the difference between those two things, you don’t understand how rights work. Other people have rights too. Refusing to perform an abortion is not a violation of the constitutional right to privacy.”

Plus this: “Tomorrow, the (purportedly) honey-tongued Barack Obama comes to Massachusetts to promote Coakley. I hope he submits to questioning and is asked what Pittman asked Coakley. Presumably, his position is the same, and presumably, he can say it in a less ‘wow’-eliciting way. But the truth is out, and his words — however elegant — can be distilled into the straight, stinging You can have religious freedom. You probably shouldn’t work in an emergency room.”

I wonder if anybody will ask him about this?