E. J. Dionne has found a rare pol, indeed: one who's genuinely committed to making abortion safe, legal, and rare.

Nothing is more hopeless or courageous in politics than seeking an authentic middle ground on the abortion issue. That makes Thomas R. Suozzi a hopeless case or, as I would insist, one brave politician -- and especially so as the United States Senate tears itself apart over judicial nomination battles in which discord about abortion has played such a central role.

The 42-year-old Nassau County executive is a churchgoing Catholic who believes that abortion should remain legal. He is also a Democrat who thinks that government should take concrete steps to make it easier for women to choose against abortion. He's proposing that his suburban jurisdiction on Long Island spend some serious money to make that happen. . . .

"As a Democrat, I do not often find it easy to talk with other Democrats about our need to affirm our commitment to the respect for life and how we need to emphasize our party's firm belief in the worth of every human being," he said. "As a Catholic, I do not often find it easy to talk with other Catholics about my feeling that abortion should and will remain safe and legal, and that we should instead focus our efforts on creating a better world where there are fewer unplanned pregnancies and where women who face unplanned pregnancies receive greater support and where men take more responsibility for their actions."

Dionne calls that kind of talk "brave," which is both accurate and deeply weird. In a properly functioning republic, forthrightly articulating the majority position on an issue like abortion shouldn't put you in the running for a Profile in Courage Award. But that's precisely where we find ourselves these days. And until we can figure out a fair but effective way to make our political system a little less hyper-responsive to the folks with the mailing lists and the megaphones, it's going to continue to be frustratingly unresponsive to the needs and values of the rest of us.