Vetoed, But Still Curious

Florida Republican Governor turned Florida Independent Governor Charlie Crist has vetoed an anti-abortion rights bill, one of many "pro-life" initiatives in state capitals throughout the country, four days after receiving it from the legislature.

The Miami Herald reported a group named Bound 4 Life "held a daily silent prayer in the Capitol rotunda in support of the bill. On Tuesday, 14 members of the group stood silently with red tape covering their mouths and the word ``life'' written on the tape." Most of the 63,000 people writing or calling the Governor about the bill urged its approval, while one poll showed most residents opposed.

The bill had several provisions, including one which would have prohibited private health insurers from covering the cost of abortions, thereby requiring a pregnant woman to pay for an abortion herself or to purchase additional coverage. Still, the provision requiring a woman desiring an abortion (unless she could prove she is a victim of rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking) to undergo, and view, an ultrasound undoubtedly motivated most of the fervent response of Floridians to the measure.

Even most fervent supporters of the effort to scare women out of making a rational choice of whether to terminate their pregnancy could support those four exclusions. Additionally, however, "women could opt out of viewing the ultrasound by signing a form."

No, no, really, that's true. The effect of that exception, presumably, would have been to give an "out" to the most informed women, those who would know of their right of refusal and would be bold enough to assert it.

But.... what is the point of a requirement ordering a woman considering an abortion to view an ultrasound- unless she doesn't want to? Was this provision merely a ploy of GOP legislators to endear themselves to their base while they strongly suspected that the Governor, expected to court Democratic/liberal voters in his re-election bid, would veto it?

There is no telling for sure, of course. However, it is clear that Florida's state legislature recognized that requiring a woman to view an ultrasound of a fetus would discourage abortion. The lives of innocent babies must be saved whenever possible, they no doubt reasoned. As long as the woman was congenial to the idea (did not sign a waiver)- and would pay for it herself, as required under the terms of the bill.

Yes, saving the most vulnerable of human lives (though that phrase is applied to almost any group we're interested in) is critical- as long as we don't have to pay for it ourselves. Because we all know life begins at conception- except that we won't pay one red cent to prove it. Fiscal conservatism, I suppose, trumps life.

Share|

Michigan Exists!

On Meet The Press for Sunday, May 1, 2008, Tim Russert asked Harold Ickes, Senior Advisor to the Clinton campaign, about the campaign's claim that "seventeen million Americans have voted for Hillary Clinton, more than for any primary candidate in history." This exchange ensued:

MR. ICKES: Well, we're going by the AP projections, and we're counting both Michigan and Florida. And, and in our...

MR. RUSSERT: You're counting Michigan when...

MR. ICKES: Yes, we're counting Michigan.

MR. RUSSERT: ...Senator Obama's name wasn't on the ballot?

MR. ICKES: We're counting Michigan. He voluntarily took his name off the ballot, Tim. There was no party rule, no exhortation from the Democratic National Committee. He, he--it was a voluntary, strategic choice that he made. He could have kept it on there.

MR. RUSSERT: But Senator Clinton said it didn't count for anything...

MR. ICKES: Well...

MR. RUSSERT: ...but now it counts for everything.

Tim is very skeptical of the idea of counting the results of Michigan's primary in calculating the total popular votes nationwide of the two candidates.

That was a legitimate, and perhaps sound, position as of May 30, the day before the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee met in a Washington hotel and decided that the delegates and superdelegates from both Florida and Michigan would be seated, with each individual granted a half-vote. Of Florida, Clinton was granted 105 (52.5) and Obama 67 (33.5) delegates. Of Michigan, based on exit poll and other data (which favored Obama), Clinton was granted 69 (34.5) and Obama 59 (29.5) delegates. Delegates won by Clinton in the two primaries were allocated to her while Obama was allocated delegates won in the Florida primary and in Michigan, the vast majority of the "uncommitted" delegates. The two primaries were held, the party has decided that the delegations will be seated and delegates will vote. And now....

The Michigan primary never happened?

Sorry, folks, but the Michigan primary occurred. The party now has acknowledged that it did and has acted accordingly. Hillary Clinton won those popular votes in Michigan. Barack Obama and John Edwards, in part to curry favor with Iowa voters, took their names off the ballot. And the ploy worked. Not only did Obama win the Iowa caucus (admittedly primarily for other reasons) but HRC came in behind Edwards. It was effective strategy in the critical first-in-the-country vote, with the only downside that Obama has no popular votes (but a lot of delegates in a state he probably wouldn't have won, anyway) to count toward his national total. All in all, a good tradeoff.

Obama, The "Democrat" Candidate?

Appearing recently in Sunrise, Florida, Barack Obama asserted to an enthusiastic crowd of his determination to win the state in November, notwithstanding a recent Quinnipiac poll which had him behind John McCain 48% to 41% (while Clinton in the same poll came out ahead of McCain 45% to 41%). Nobody flinched when the Illinois senator declared "when we are unified, Sunshine, no one can stop us. There is no challenge we cannot meet, no destiny we cannot fulfill..."

No, he was not talking to a young woman with the cheerful, if a little odd, name of "Sunshine," nor basking in the bright sun in a typical day in Florida. He was talking in the city of Sunrise, despite his opening statement "I am so glad to be in Florida. I am so glad to be in Sunshine."

Enough with nitpicking, even if Obama did make the same mistake again and again- silly mistakes happen all the time. But when a Harvard law school graduate, a smarter individual than most of us could even imagine being, confuses an adjective with a noun, that's more serious. Move over, Rush Limbaugh, (Republican National Committee Chairman) Mike Duncan, Mitt Romney, and others. That was Barack Obama saying "We will work together to make sure that Florida goes Democrat in November and so does the rest of the country." Democrat, Senator, is a noun; surely, contrary to GOP talking point #1, you meant the adjective Democratic. We know you admire the aggressively anti-union, anti-middle class Ronald Reagan and are considering conservative Republican Chuck Hagel for your running mate, but would you please at least pretend to be a Democrat?

A Proposal Selfishly Rejected

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports today, May 9, 2008, that the executive committee of the Michigan State Democratic Party has proposed a plan to give Hillary Clinton 69delegates and Barack Obama 59.

As I would have expected, the Clinton camp, which has proposed that the New York senator receive 73 delegates and the Illinois senator 55, rejected the proposal. Clearly, Clinton needs a nearly cataclysmic event, a major Obama scandal, or the reemergence of Jeremiah Wright to have a realistic chance to overtake the frontrunner. Apportioning Michigan's delegates on a reasonable and/or fair basis, as suggested by the state party, would barely help Clinton. Neither would apportioning California's 211 pledged (non-super) delegates as they were won, 105 for Clinton, 67 for Obama, and 13 for Edwards, help her much.

The response of Clinton spokesman Isaac Baker to the Michigan offer is revealing: "This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast in Michigan's January primary. Those votes must be counted." An official accounting of the votes in Florida (where the candidates signed, and honored, a party pledge not to campaign) and in Michigan (ditto Florida, and Obama and Edwards had honorably taken their names off the ballot) would be necessary (though probably not sufficient) for an effective bid for HRC.

As the Michigan proposal would do little to help Clinton, it actually would bring Barack Obama one major step closer to nomination. Further, the Obama campaign will need to blunt the GOP's expected charge this fall that the Democratic Party didn't care enough to consider the sentiments of voters in these two pivotal states. And the Obamites had to have known that the Clintonites would reject the proposal, which would have left their own guy as the one candidate apparently willing to compromise in the cause of party unity.

Why, then, did the Obama campaign reject this possible solution? Perhaps it figured it was unnecessary, given the defeatist remark ("I don't see it going to the convention") of Clinton campaign manager Terry McAuliffe on the Today show on 3/8/08. Still, one could have expected Barack Obama to be a little magnanimous, even as he triumpantly, and dismissively, proceeds with his victory lap.