Thursday, August 21, 2008
Althouse on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and Obama
Tom Smith
This is a pretty darn good post by Professor Althouse.
Unless there is something very inaccurate about the reporting included in the post, you would have to regard Obama as being at the extreme end of the pro-abortion side of the issue. If he is in fact lying about what he did in the Illinois Senate, that's bad too.
At the risk of missing any complexities I'm missing, I gather the story is essentially this. Pro-lifers in Illinois advanced a bill that would make it illegal to kill an infant that was accidentally born alive in the course of an abortion. You're working away on an abortion, and oops the baby pops out: Too bad for you, you can't just kill it because it was an abortion you were trying to perform. NARAL opposed this bill unless it contained language to the effect that it should not be taken to imply that the creature involved was a person before it popped out. So, the charge against Obama goes, this language was inserted, but Obama blocked or voted against the bill anyway. Thus Obama was against a bill even NARAL could not, figuratively speaking, find it in its heart to oppose. Because, as one poster explains, it would not want to be thought to oppose the protection of live infants. Being thought to oppose the protection of infants is, after all, a very bad thing.
https://rightcoast.typepad.com/rightcoast/2008/08/altman-on-the-b.html
Comments
Not only was the language inserted, but Obama had a big hand in getting that language there. Then he voted against the bill anyway.
And he claimed that if he had been a US Senator when an identical bill came up in Congress he would have voted for that one. I can't really see why, other than the fact that no Senator actually voted against the bill (although two didn't vote at all).
In one of the few cases where Obama voted something other than "present" (and didn't change the vote later) he proved incoherent.
Posted by: Max Lybbert | Aug 21, 2008 5:25:44 PM
It's not the 80's anymore, abortion is no longer a hot button issue for either party.
In fact the Republicans are featuring an outspoken supporter of partial birth abortion at their convention (Lieberman)
Posted by: Paulie | Aug 21, 2008 6:47:35 PM
It still tells us where Obama is really at as far as substance goes. He is the farthest left end of the political spectrum (even for Democrats).
Posted by: krome | Aug 22, 2008 7:02:07 AM
It is true that abortion's slowly fading from the scene. On the other hand, it's also true that Obama's been hoping to pick up the Evangelical voters who elected and re-elected President Bush. For those voters, abortion's only become more important.
Additionally, abortion's become less of an issue because Americans in general have settled on something of a middle ground. Most Americans are OK with very early abortions (think morning after pill), but not OK with very late term abortions (say, partial birth abortions). Taking the extreme view on either end then becomes a canary in the coal mine. The fact that Obama can't point to any abortion that makes him uncomfortable tells a lot of voters that he's not a moderate by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that his "moderating" language about abortion being added to the Democratic platform is actually an attempt to remove any restrictions on abortion simply confirms the impression.
Posted by: Max Lybbert | Aug 22, 2008 9:55:29 AM
I think right to life is an issue of significant importance to Catholic voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and that's enough to make it important in this election.
Posted by: Tom Smith | Aug 22, 2008 12:28:35 PM
Abortion is only a significant issue for the fringe elements of both parties
NAFTA and free trade are the make or break issues in Ohio and Pennsylvania and whichever candidate capitalizes on this will probably emerge victorious in those states and the national election
Posted by: Donnie | Aug 22, 2008 7:00:22 PM
Althouse.
Posted by: Thomas | Aug 21, 2008 3:10:40 PM