When 'Pro-Choice' Means No Choice"
After eight years of chafing under the rule of Republican Gov. Bill Owens, Colorado Democrats have a candidate for governor with a real shot at winning--and he opposes abortion," the Washington Times reports from Denver:
Bill Ritter, the former Denver district attorney who's running unchallenged for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, doesn't describe himself as pro-life--but he is also not pro-choice--thus violating what has become a virtual litmus test for Democratic officeholders.
Hmm, he isn't "pro-life" and he isn't "pro-choice." So what is he? You have to read to the end of the piece to get to the explanation:
Mr. Ritter doesn't shy away from his opposition to abortion, although he's quick to assure Democrats that he has no intention of advancing a pro-life political plank.
"I'm opposed to abortion as a matter of conscience for me, but our agenda doesn't involve changing the law," Mr. Ritter said at a meeting of Drinking Liberally, a club for young, urbane Democrats.
His agenda places the emphasis on reducing unintended pregnancies and promoting adoption as an alternative to abortion. He said he also would restore state funding for family planning cut by Republicans, and that he would have
signed the emergency-contraception bill recently vetoed by Mr. Owens.
Opposing abortion "as a matter of conscience" while wanting to keep it legal used to be a completely acceptable Democratic position; it was espoused by Mario Cuomo, the very liberal former governor of New York, for instance. But according to the Times, Colorado Democrats view Ritter with great skepticism:
At a Democratic gathering last week at a trendy Lower Downtown bar, Andy Bosselman said some of his liberal friends decided to stay home rather than meet Mr. Ritter, who dropped in to rally the troops and answer questions.
"The abortion thing made them think he's socially conservative," Mr. Bosselman said. "I think for Colorado he's probably as good as we can get. I wouldn't consider him a strong ally, but he's probably better than [Republican
candidate Rep. Bob] Beauprez."
That lack of enthusiasm was echoed by Kathryn Wittneben, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado.
"We obviously would have liked to have had a strong pro-choice candidate running for governor," she said, adding that her group was "still in discussions" with the Ritter campaign.
If you manage to keep your food down, listening to the "leaders" of The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion can be quite funny.
Meanwhile in California, Jerry Brown, the former governor and current mayor of Oakland, is running for state attorney general, and opponent Rocky Delgadillo is painting Brown as insufficiently fervent for feticide, the San Jose Mercury News reports:
Delgadillo, in his first TV ad unleashed last week, seized on a 1988 letter Brown wrote on behalf of a woman who served 2 1/2 years in prison for breaking into a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic.
Joan Andrews had been convicted 67 times before and arrested more than 150 times for anti-abortion actions, but Brown wrote a letter seeking clemency for her. Then again, Brown was acting on a request by none other than Mother Teresa.
Brown consultant Ace Smith "said Brown is 'absolutely' pro-choice." Maybe not absolutely enough, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment