A Pro-life Public Option? Who’d have thunk it?

The Daily Beast outlines how pro-life Democrats and a fairly moderate President Obama have been promising a Health Care Reform that would avoid using public money to fund abortions all along. So why are pro-choice Democrats so shocked? Maybe they were listening to the distortions of Glenn Beck and the Tea Party crowd.

In a July interview with Katie Couric and on the floor of Congress in September, President Obama promised there would be no public financing of abortion in health reform, meaning the procedure would not be available to women who opt in to any potential new public insurance plan. That pushed the goalposts closer to the pro-life position.

Others are pointing at the pro-choice groups themselves. Jane Hamsher, who runs the Netroots blog Firedoglake, says the organizations have gotten too cozy with the Democratic Party establishment, which often seeks to avoid public discussion of abortion. In the health-reform fight, NARAL and Planned Parenthood were less effective in advocating for their agenda than were proponents of the public insurance option, Hamsher said. “We went out and got commitments from members of the House to vote against any bill that doesn’t have a public option,” Hamsher told The Daily Beast. “They weren’t doing the same thing.”

Richards, of Planned Parenthood, said she wasn’t aware of any efforts, before Saturday’s vote, to extract promises from legislators to vote against a health bill that restricts abortion access. “Frankly, this issue came out Friday night,” she said. Yet Stupak has been on the warpath since July, when he released a letter signed by 19 Democrats demanding a ban on abortion coverage in the exchanges.

Winning hearts and minds

The neo cons have a charmingly parochial view of the world. They believe that if we simply occupy more countries and build more bridges (right after we blow them up), we can defuse radical Islamic jihad and spread democracy. No more 9-11s. No more terrorism. All it takes is enough troops. The trouble is that the U.S. army apparently can’t even take an American-born Muslim, pay for his education and train him to use a gun and win his particular heart and mind to the American Way. Is there something about our view of the world and the Muslim view of the world that is fundamentally irreconcilable? Nahhh, that makes far too much sense.

McChrystal Meth

Obama’s handpicked general, Stan McChrystal,  has been lionized by the right wing media as a military genius who can win the Afghanistan war. As troop fatalities rose over the past weekend conservative radio was all henny penny that we need more troops and we need them now (even when at least two of the deaths result from “friendly backfire”––one American helicopter collided into another U.S. helicopter, suggesting there are, perhaps, too many American soldiers in Afghanistan, at least at that particular moment.) So while Obama “dithers,” to quote our former Vice President, let’s consider what General McChrystal is smoking. Scott Ritter sums it up:

McChrystal operates under the illusion that American military power can provide a shield from behind which Afghanistan can remake itself into a viable modern society. He has deluded himself and others into believing that the people of Afghanistan want to be part of such a grand social experiment, and furthermore that they will tolerate the United States being in charge. The reality of Afghan history, culture and society argue otherwise. The Taliban, once a defeated entity in the months following the initial American military incursion into Afghanistan, are resurgent and growing stronger every day. The principle source of the Taliban’s popularity is the resentment of the Afghan people toward the American occupation and the corrupt proxy government of Hamid Karzai. There is nothing an additional 40,000 American troops will be able to do to change that basic equation. The Soviets tried and failed. They deployed 110,000 troops, operating on less restrictive lines of communication and logistical supply than the United States. They built an Afghan army of some 45,000 troops. They operated without the constraints of American rules of engagement. They slaughtered around a million Afghans. And they lost, for the simple reason that the people of Afghanistan did not want them, or their Afghan proxies.

Perhaps we need to listen to our historians, as much as we listen to our generals.

“The village idiot”

Wow! And I thought I was hard on the Christian Right. Frank Schaeffer, son of evangelical apologist Francis Schaeffer, lashes out at the evangelical political block. Or as he likes to call them, “the fifth column of insanity.”

Calling all born-agains

When the Republican Party needs the conservative evangelical vote, they know just how to wind us up. All we like sheep…

Empathy is a conservative value

Turns out Samuel Alito also has a nasty empathetic streak.

…Sotomayor’s critics are up in arms over the fact that she has admitted that her ethnic background has an affect on her decision making process. Who does she think she is? Well, as it turns out, she probably thinks she’s being very similar to Justice Sam Alito:

ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point. … And that’s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position. [...]
And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Git ‘mo money

The Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate have let their President down. They have defeated a White House request for money to shut down Guantanamo. Now Obama is making a speech, Cheney is making a speech and the barking heads of cable news are loving it. What went wrong? Fear for one. Close down Gitmo and the “worst of the worst’ will be moving into my community. Scary stuff. Lacking a plan is the second reason.  Obama was asking for a u-boatful of money without a clear plan. Sounds Bushlike, uh? But thirdly––most importantly––this administration has conflated too many issues into the symbolic act of shutting down Guatanamo. The issue of closing Guantanamo has become a statement against torture. Well, can’t we stop torturing detainees and still run a facility in Cuba? Yes we can. The issue of closing Gitmo has become a symbol of returning to the rule of law. Well, can’t we charge and try detainees without shutting down this facility? Sure. So why not try these baddies and keep Guantanamo open? Let’s forget the ugly symbolism of Gitmo and deal with the real issues. Then take that shut-down money and put somewhere it can do some good. You know, buy another car company or a bank?

Time to shut up

While Republicans are busy falling all over themselves trying to shrink their party down to the remaining six truly true-believing true believers. And while the former Vice President leaves his undisclosed location long enough to appear on every right wing news show on radio and TV, relentlessly hellbent on re-branding the party of Lincoln and tax cuts as the party of exceptional water boarding–Chris Buckley offers some sage advice:

One of the oldest rules in politics is: If your opponent is committing suicide, don’t interfere. So were I in charge of the Republican Party, I would send out a coded text message saying: REMAIN CALM. SHUT UP. THIS IS GOING TO BLOW UP IN THEIR FACES.

Much as I admire President Obama, I believe with something approaching certainty that his spending will bring this country to its knees. “Sustainability” is all the rage as a buzzword, but a $3.6 trillion budget is not “sustainable.” Doubling the national debt is not “sustainable.” Inaction in the face of $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, entitlements) is not “sustainable.” This is math, not ideology.

He is risen

I can think of no better day than Resurrection Sunday to let Jesus out of the tomb. For too many years, Evangelicals have mindlessly reduced the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior to a political and social agenda designed to make people behave better. And in God’s divine providence it has come a cropper. So rather than wringing our hands over Roe v. Wade, the ban on school prayer and other action items, maybe its time to remind ourselves that Jesus didn’t die for Republicans, Southern Baptists or supply-siders. He died for sinners. And even if we could pray our rosaries, cross our fingers,  hold our breathe and make the world a more moral place––that has never been Christ’s mission:

Leading evangelicals have admitted that their association with George W. Bush has not only hurt the cause of social conservatives but contributed to the failure of the key objectives of their 30-year struggle.

James Dobson, 72, who resigned recently as head of Focus on the Family – one of the largest Christian groups in the country – and once denounced the Harry Potter books as witchcraft, acknowledged the dramatic reverse for the religious Right in a farewell speech to staff.

“We tried to defend the unborn child, the dignity of the family, but it was a holding action,” he said.

“We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles.”

Despite changing the political agenda for a generation, and helping push the Republicans to the Right, evangelicals have won only minor victories in limiting the availability of abortion. Meanwhile the number of states permitting civil partnerships between homosexuals is rising, and the campaign to restore prayer to schools after 40 years – a decision that helped create the Moral Majority – has got nowhere.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us – Romans 5:8

Pro what?!!!

Republican chairman Michael Steele has let the cat out of the bag. He is pro-choice. Seriously? The official head of the party of smaller, non-invasive government––the party that says government should butt out of our lives and choices––actually thinks that the US government should not interfere with an individual woman’s private choice. How oddly consistent. Who vetted this guy, anyway? Now, if we can just get the party of the little guy to fight for the littlest of guys. Good luck with that one.

Cookie diplomacy

Whether Barack Obama becomes a great president is an open question. What is already clear is that Obama is a cordial president. He has opened his new residence to Republicans and Democrats alike. He has hosted happy hours, Super Bowl parties and plied his guests with hard liquor and homemade oatmeal cookies. So far it hasn’t changed one Republican vote. But it may have made a few friends for the long term. Or two long terms, depending how it goes.

The man who has the GOP in a tizzy

Thanks to this guy, Minnesota Republicans have their knickers in a twist. Apparently, they feel he is about to steal an election. Is it indignation they feel, or simple admiration? Remember when it was the GOP who really knew how to steal an election? Good times, good times.

Eating its young

Interesting development. The liberal blogosphere which sullied Sarah Palin, her credentials, her motherhood and her intelligence, is now defending her honor. It’s amazing how winning an election can produce such magnamity. And losing? I’ll let Ellen Goodman describe it:

Have you ever seen a transformation this fast? In barely two months, the Barracuda became the Scapegoat. Think of it as evolution on steroids.

In September, Sarah Palin, the little-known governor of Alaska, was hailed as the great female hope of the Republican Party. Double the maverick, double the fun. John McCain called her “the most marvelous running mate in the history of this nation.” Pro-life conservatives were “ecstatic,” and she was a “hottie” to boot.

But after a handful of disastrous interviews, after polls showing she was a drag on the ticket, and after, of course, losing the election, McCain staffers began dropping little poison pellets all over the media. Sarah was a “diva.” She was a Wasilla hillbilly “looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast.” She was a “wacko” who couldn’t tell the French president from a Canadian radio prankster.

Did they actually think that Gov. Palin would go quietly into that good Arctic night?

The new “elite gotcha media”

Well, it looks like FOX News has moved on from making the Democrats look bad. Now they are making the Republicans look bad. Clearly, these guys are just mean.