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

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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.

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

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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.

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How I’m Seeing the Campaign Right Now & Over the Next Few Weeks

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Like many DEMs at the moment, I’ve been trying to carefully digest and assess the election news since the 1st debate, not over-reacting or under-worrying about the urgent question: will President Obama still win? In the post below, I promised to share the first major poll with post-debate info from Ohio, and here it is. TPM has a report on CNN’s 1st post-debate poll, with the president leading Romney, 51-47. That’s a bit narrower than the last time the same poll reported, but still it has PBO above 50%.

The recent events have triggered an observation that’s popped up in my mind over the years. So much of public life seems to come down to the performance of people in the spotlight. Think about it in sports terms. Just as playoff series often have a narrative arc, so may political campaigns. As cliche-ridden sportscasters are wont to say, accurately, in the late innings the game is often decided by who executes best. Now, in the series of the debates, Romney’s done the equivalent of winning an opening game, sort of on the road. But there’s 3 more contests coming.

For the Biden-Ryan tilt this Thursday I expect the VP to indict the Romney ticket for its draconian prescriptions on social safety net issues–Medicare, Social Security, Pell grants, women’s healthcare and social issues, will get a lot of coverage by Joe Biden. I expect him to do very well in reminding and informing the country about the full implications of the Repub tickets’ plans.

After that we’ll see again how the race stands. And then, with PBO having 2 more head-to-head re-matches against Mitt, we’ll see how Barack deals with his athletically and ambidextrously dishonest opponent. Despite the challenges involved, I still believe we can win.

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Taking a 2nd Look at that Pew Poll, and Others

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Released late Monday afternoon, the new Pew Poll does show a swing to Mitt, who among ‘likely voters’ had a 4 pt. edge, 49-45. That was opposite Gallup this morning which had PBO in front 50-45. The late day Pew headlines mostly failed to inform that among registered voters the two tickets are even, at 46 apiece. This last nugget of info makes clear how important turnout will be to the results in November.

Clearly, there are more undecided voters than before, too. Meanwhile, all journos and bloggers and politicos are waiting for new state polls from Ohio. Will post here if I can.

All of the above does show the president’s lost some ground, but maybe not as much as first glance could suggest. The Biden-Ryan debate Thursday is going to be v. important.

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Romney Advisor, on CNN to Articulate Mitt’s Foreign Policy, Can’t Do It

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Romney advisor Tara Wall gets roasted by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien in a preview of Mitt’s ballyhooed foreign policy speech to be given later today. In the 5-minute video O’Brien plays back key parts of the 47% tape, in which Mitt describes what he believes is the futility of dealing with the Palestinians; she then contrasts those surreptitiously recorded  statements with the transcript of today’s speech, where he claims to be in favor of a two-state solution. She asks Wall if she can resolve the obvious contradictions, when things get a little surreal. Transcript after the jump.

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A Saturday Neighborhood Political Rally

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Tweeted this out a few minutes ago.


“Was just at the off’cl opening of the Manhattan Upper West Side #Obama2012 Victory HQ. Local pols Stringer&Inez D. + nabes came to cheer.”

After the exhortatory appeals to work and volunteer to phone bank, to go on bus and field trips to Staten Island, Beacon, NY, up the Hudson a bit, and to Elkins Park, PA, I walked around inside the bright, new office, and met a few people. It’s on the west side of B’way, bet. 102nd St and 103rd, not even a full crosstown block from my home. I made calls to swing states in 2008, and with a month to go before Election Day, I’m about to start again. Now, with the office so close to home, I can go there too!

I didn’t happen to have my camera with me, or I would have illustrated that tweet, and this post on it. As ever, thanks for reading my blog.

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#FridayReads, Oct. 5–“I’m Your Man,” New Leonard Cohen bio & “The Night Strangers”

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#FridayReads, Oct. 5–I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons, a well-written, richly textured bio of the 78-year old world class troubadour, just published this week. Still reading and savoring Chris Bohjalian’s quietly beautiful haunted house novel, The Night Strangers, set in New Hampshire’s North Country, near where I went to school at Franconia College.

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Reading Great Books with Will Schwalbe

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Great to see that friend and author Will Schwalbe‘s new book The End of Your Life Book Club is having a great roll-out. Last May, Will published a Mother’s Day Op-Ed in the NY Times, after which I wrote a post called Savoring Great Books with a Dying Parent. In part it reads,

“It opens with Will and his ailing mother in a medical office awaiting a chemotherapy appointment. He asks her what she’s reading–it’s Wallace Stegner’s aptly titled Crossing To Safety. “It was a book that I’d always pretended to have read, but never actually had. That day, I promised her I’d read it.” Soon, over the months of treatment and convalescence until her passing, they find mutual comfort in discussing the books they are reading in a kind personal book club all their own.

It’s touching story, and as I read the column I found myself in Will’s place, glad for the solace provided by these books and the opportunity for closeness shared reading offered them.

Having operated a family-owned bookstore–Undercover Books in Cleveland, Ohio–and later losing both my parents, Earl and Sylvia, and my brother Joel, I look back on all the books we shared and enjoyed over the years. I just have to look at my home library and dozens of memories and conversations come cascading forth, from the novels alone: Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale; Peter Rushforth’s, Kindergarten; Jack Finney’s Time and Again; Mary Tirone-Smith’s The Book of Phoebe; James Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss; Howard Frank Mosher’s Disappearances; Philip Kerr’s March Violets; Ernest Hebert’s Dogs of March. This list could go on indefinitely.
Will’s new book will be out in the fall. I’m eager to read it.”

At the BN Review today, Will’s offering his top three reads of the moment, including J.R. Moehringer’s new novel Sutton, which I am really eager to read. I am also really eager to read The End of Your Life Book Club. Congratulations to Will!

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