The Democratic Party is planning a convention designed to soften the edges on the party’s support for abortion rights, with a revamped platform and a speaking lineup that reinforces efforts to broaden Democrats’ appeal on the hot-button issue.
Oh sure, if by softening you mean being even more pro-abortion than ever. [Obama supports a policy] (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2NmMGNkMTdkZWJkZWRkMjRkNjY5NjllNzZlYjkyNmY=)that can arguably be called infanticide and the [Democrats remove language from the platform] (http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/08/draft-democratic-platform-plan.html) that called for abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare” and insisted on a right to an abortion regardless of the ability to pay. So abortion on demand paid for by the government. This is softening? Just because a nominally pro-life politician gets a speaking slot and some pro-life folks were in on the discussions?
This is the media buying the spin. The Democrats having been trying to soften their image for some time but the hard core abortion zealots get angry even when they move rhetorically to the center – hence the platform changes. But the key is that all of this is mere appearances. They have never supported anything in actual policy. No parental notification, no to partial birth bans, no to required counseling, etc.
They want you to believe that government spending on pre and post natal care or other welfare programs somehow makes them compassionate and working to reduce the need for abortion. But this is the part of the con as well. The sanctity of life can not be massaged away by government spending or programs. The issue is the murder of millions of innocent children not how best to encourage healthy children.
And Obama even voted against giving children born in a botched abortion this fundamental right to life – a policy that NARAL refused to oppose! Does the fact that he supports more government spending on natal health care suddenly change the fact that he supports the deliberate killing of innocent babies living and breathing outside the womb?!?!
Obama may talk nice about pro-lifers and use his famous charm but he is an abortion extremist. The media simply refuses to accurately report the truth.
And pro-life voters shouldn’t be conned by this ruse.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Where are the 527s?
Joe Cor (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 11:07AM EST (link)Where are the people who could “swift boat” (i.e., tell the truth the media is covering up and Republicans are afraid to mention) Obama on this issue? Aren’t there any plans to get the truth out there?
It will be difficult to show this in a 30-sec. ad. -nt-
NightTwister (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 12:10PM EST (link)-nt-
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
Not much political upside on this
Dave_in_Fla (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 12:21PM EST (link)Only 37% of the voters consider this issue very important to them, dead last on the list.
Democrats hold a 43% to 36% edge on trust on the issue as well.
It completely sucks, but this is not going to be an election issue that matters.
“If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country.” – Joe McCarthy
The issue matters to Catholics
HerbC (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 12:52PM EST (link)The 527s don’t need to direct the truth towards
the MSM outlets. Catholic and faith-based media
is where the truth needs to be presented. Due to
the size of the Christian voting bloc, this is
a significant issue.
So Dems are copying Reps just for the votes?
Rod_Patrick (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 1:00PM EST (link)And America and MSM are stupid enough to buy it? Com’n!
That's completely wrong
paint_it_red (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 4:48PM EST (link)Your characterization of this issue as unimportant is dead wrong. What matters is not the percentage of people who say its important, its the breakdown of the percentage of people who base their vote on the issue.
There, of the 9% who base their vote on the abortion issue, they break 7%-2% for the Pro-Life candidate. This is the largest margin we consistently have on any issue in our party. The margin of voters who consider abortion important but are not single issue voters also favor the Pro-Life position by a large margin.
This margin is particularly pronounced in swing states such as Pennsylvania, which may help explain why pro-choice Tom Ridge has been polled by Rasmussen to not bring more voters to the McCain ticket than he would drive away. The examples I could cite are legion.
This is always an election issue that matters. By the numbers, that means millions of people are basing their vote on abortion.
Obama’s strategy is not a bad one. Those voters who care about the abortion issue but might be willing to change their mind are going to be placated and he can gain more voters by moving slightly to the right on the issue. Its not enough to win over the vast majority of Pro-Lifers, but it increases his general level of support and provides cover to Pro-Life Democrats who can say, “hey, he’s moving the Democrats to the left on this, which is more than any Democrat has done in a long time.”
McCain’s strategy of copying to the center on this one is a very bad strategy. He stands to lose far more voters by saying things such as he would consider a pro-choice veep. There are undoubtedly millions of voters who will no longer in good conscience vote for McCain if he does something like that. And I guarantee you that slight feint to the center is not going to bring in nearly as many people from the left, if any.
“It is not good to cultivate a respect so much for the law as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right.” Henry David Thoreau
“The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“If you want peace, work for Justice.” Pope John Paul II
That's completely wrong
paint_it_red (Diary) Thursday, August 14th at 4:48PM EST (link)Your characterization of this issue as unimportant is dead wrong. What matters is not the percentage of people who say its important, its the breakdown of the percentage of people who base their vote on the issue.
There, of the 9% who base their vote on the abortion issue, they break 7%-2% for the Pro-Life candidate. This is the largest margin we consistently have on any issue in our party. The margin of voters who consider abortion important but are not single issue voters also favor the Pro-Life position by a large margin.
This margin is particularly pronounced in swing states such as Pennsylvania, which may help explain why pro-choice Tom Ridge has been polled by Rasmussen to not bring more voters to the McCain ticket than he would drive away. The examples I could cite are legion.
This is always an election issue that matters. By the numbers, that means millions of people are basing their vote on abortion.
Obama’s strategy is not a bad one. Those voters who care about the abortion issue but might be willing to change their mind are going to be placated and he can gain more voters by moving slightly to the right on the issue. Its not enough to win over the vast majority of Pro-Lifers, but it increases his general level of support and provides cover to Pro-Life Democrats who can say, “hey, he’s moving the Democrats to the left on this, which is more than any Democrat has done in a long time.”
McCain’s strategy of copying to the center on this one is a very bad strategy. He stands to lose far more voters by saying things such as he would consider a pro-choice veep. There are undoubtedly millions of voters who will no longer in good conscience vote for McCain if he does something like that. And I guarantee you that slight feint to the center is not going to bring in nearly as many people from the left, if any.
“It is not good to cultivate a respect so much for the law as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right.” Henry David Thoreau
“The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“If you want peace, work for Justice.” Pope John Paul II