Romney-Ryan Ticket Spends the Day** Before the VP Debate Discussing their Abortion Stance

From the Obama Campaign comes a round-up of all the unflattering coverage of Mitt’s jitterbug over abortion policy, first raised in a conversation yesterday with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register (covered earlier by me in Mitt’s Serial Dishonesty, this Time on Abortion & Women’s Health). While the Repub campaign spent the day assuring religious conservatives that he remains firmly anti-choice, DEMs pointed out for the benefit of all voters just how destructive a Romney presidency would be for women’s health and women’s freedom. I bet this is going to come up in the Biden-Ryan debate tomorrow night, because of the really extreme legislation that Paul Ryan has co-sponsored in the House, including bills with the odious Todd Akin, Mr. “Legitimate Rape,” who made himself notorious by expressing his belief that women supposedly lie about being raped, to give them access to abortion. Here’s that extensive round-up from the Obama team, with many examples of Mitt being called out for his false moderation, with links and headlines.


The Reviews Are In: Mitt Romney’s Abortion Dishonesty Gambit Backfired

 Just four weeks before the election, Mitt Romney thought he could pull the wool over women’s eyes by not telling the truth about his extreme anti-choice agenda. But his gambit backfired and, in the process, Romney reminded women across America about his extreme positions:

 Associated Press“A day after Mitt Romney downplayed his plans to fight abortion, social conservatives on Wednesday offered the Republican presidential nominee a not-so-subtle reminder of his pledge to do ‘everything in my power to cultivate, promote, and support a culture of life in America.’”

 New York Times“Perhaps Mr. Romney just meant he did not know of any specific bills that would restrict abortion. But he might want to check in with his running mate, Paul Ryan, who co-sponsored the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,’ and helped introduced the term ‘forcible rape’ into the national conversation.”

 Politico“For the third time in a week, Mitt Romney has taken a prominent U-turn on something that’s supposed to be a matter of fundamental principles.”

 Talking Points Memo“Perkins said the Romney campaign called him soon after Romney’s remarks were published by the Des Moines Register and assured him it didn’t represent a shift by Romney from his support for pro-life issues.”

Huffington Post“‘I have looked him in the eye and talked about this issue, [and] I absolutely believe in my heart and know that he is personally committed to a pro-life agenda as president,’ [Governor Chris] Christie said. ‘If you trust me on this issue … I know what his agenda is. I know what he believes. I know that he stands for a strong pro-life agenda.’”

The Fix ‏@TheFix  So Romney and Ryan have spent the entire day before the VP debate talking about the ticket’s abortion position? http://ow.ly/enzfc **

 Robin Abcarian ‏@robinabcarian At stop in FLA, Ryan says no daylight between his position on abortion and Mitt Romney’s. Ryan supports personhood and rape redefinition.

Josh Marshall ‏@joshtpm  Just last year Mitt pledged to ‘advocate & support’ law banning many abortions. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269984/my-pro-life-pledge-mitt-romney …

Joy Reid ‏@TheReidReport Unreal. Un… Real …. Romney Reiterates: ‘I’m A Pro-Life Candidate’ http://huff.to/T65wuv  via @HuffPostPol

Click through to see more of today’s headlines on this latest example of Mitt Romney’s false moderation.

Mitt’s Serial Dishonesty, this Time on Abortion & Women’s Health

I just got off an Obama campaign conference call for journos and bloggers with Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, and Stephanie Cutter of Obama for America. The two women pointed out that Mitt’s unabashed dishonesty was on full display yesterday when he told the editorial board of the Des Moines Register that “no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.” Soon after, his spox Andrea Saul reversed course, telling National Review that Romney would “of course” support “pro-life” legislation as president. Then, she sent the AP a statement saying Romney would be a “pro-life president,” though she gave no details about what that would actually mean in terms of the law. Whew, what a dizzying whirl of spin!

In fact, as Richards and Cutter explained, Mitt has promised to sign laws overturning legal abortion and to appoint judges who would rule Roe V. Wade unconstitutional. It’s just one more sign of how dishonest Romney is that he’s trying to hide what he really believes, but as they said, “there’s no hiding when you’re president.” The two emphasized that they don’t believe he’s changed his mind on these issues, instead he’s just trying to soften and blur the hard edges of them. What’s more, if he were to be elected, the radical right-wing of the Repubs would have their way in the House of Representatives, a caucus that has sponsored and voted on a great many anti-choice bills.

They added that despite Ms. Saul’s attempt to downplay the significance of Mitt’s lie to the newspaper, it’s not going to work, because these are issues of fundamental concern to hundreds of thousands of women, and men. Richards concluded her remarks with a reminder that every dollar spent on family planning saves $4 down the road, in avoiding unintended pregnancies. Last, in an email associated with this call, the Obama campaign shared the hardline pledge that Mitt took last June in an exchange of correspondence with anti-abortion groups. You may click through to read Romney’s pledge.

Bill Clinton Scoffs at Mitt’s Moderation & An Obama 2012 Conference Call

Via TPM, here’s a funny (but serious) video of Bill Clinton, lampooning the false moderation on display by Mitt Romney in last week’s debate.
 

Programming note: Speaking of false moderation, I’ll be joining an Obama campaign conference call later this morning with Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, who will be criticizing Romney’s absurd claim that he does not have an anti-choice agenda. But even before the call, it must be pointed out that Mitt’s running mate Paul Ryan has sponsored several dozen anti-choice bills in the House. I will blog about the call later today.