The One-Note Democrats

The Washington Democrats are scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with scare tactics against the Republican challengers, reports the Seattle Times -- "Democrats put heat on GOP with two hot-button issues"

Attacking Republicans on abortion has become a frequent and unifying theme of Democratic campaigns in Washington state.
Republicans had hoped to avoid, or at least lessen, those attacks this year by fielding their most moderate-appearing slate of candidates in years.

But that seems only to have fueled Democratic campaigns appealing to swing voters by painting Republicans as out of step with Washington's long tradition of supporting legal and accessible abortion.

I happen to be pro-choice too, and the reality of the matter is that this year's Republicans, whatever their personal beliefs about abortion might be, are simply not making abortion an issue in their campaigns. In fact, when pressed they've stated clearly that they have no intention of rolling back abortion rights. The Times could have done a better job of debunking the Democrats sleazy attacks. It's not until the end of the nearly 2,000 word article that we get this:

Nethercutt says Democrats are using abortion to scare voters.

"I don't think the president has in mind any changes in the law," Nethercutt said. "I don't have any intentions, nor do the Republicans have any secret intentions, other than to look at the whole issue of federal funding."

Nethercutt said that as an attorney in private practice, he helped make thousands of adoptions happen. That, he says, has convinced him there are better options than abortion to unwanted pregnancies.

He says rather than try to change abortion law, he wants to "change hearts and minds" about abortion.

The Times editorial page called Nethercutt "sleazy" for using Patty Murray's own "Osama daycare facilities" comments to accurately depict her naivete about terrorism. Will the same editorial page also rebuke Murray for this ad which its own reporters say mischaracterizes Nethercutt's position on abortion? Please, no wagering.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 11, 2004 11:17 AM | Email This