Bush Continues to Wreak Damage

Think Progress:

The Bush administration is pushing a last-minute proposal to “grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds.” Three officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “said the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion.”

“Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies — including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions — into senior civil service posts.” The move will “deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.”

Key Ballot Measures

A ballot measure imposing strict limits on abortions failed for a second time in South Dakota.

Assisted suicide is now legal in Washington. It is the second state after Oregon to approve such a law.

Arkansas voted to ban adoption by unmarried couples, a law that was mostly intended to ban adoption by gay couples. Previous laws limiting gay adoption were struck down so the new proposition widened the net to include unmarried couples.

For results on a number of ballot measures including ones in California that are too close to call, use this link.

Not Terrorism Victims

Here's a list of people who (according to Palin) were not victims of terrorism. (And in case you thought McCain's better on the issue, read this.)

Donald L. Catron
Claudia Gilmore
Shot 12/28/91 at
Central Health Center for Women in Springfield, Missouri
Victims: Wounded

Dr. David Gunn
Shot 3/10/93 at clinic in Pensacola, Florida
Victim: Murdered

Dr. George Tiller
Shot 8/19/93 at clinic in Wichita, Kansas
Victim: Wounded

Dr. Wayne Patterson
Shot in Mobile, Alabama
Victim: Murdered

Dr. John Britton
James Barrett
June Barrett
Shot 7/29/94 outside clinic in Pensacola, Florida
Victims: Murdered (John and James) and wounded (June)

Dr. Garson Romalis
Shot 11/8/94 at home in Vancouver, British Columbia
Victim: Wounded
Terrorist: At large.

Shannon Lowney
Leanne Nichols
Shot 12/30/94 at clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts
Victims: Murdered
Terrorist: John Salvi.

Anjana Agrawal
Antonio Hernandez
Brian Murray
Jane Sauer
Richard J. Seron
Shot 12/94 at clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts
Victims: Wounded

Dr. Hugh Short
Shot 11/10/95 at home in Ancaster, Ontario
Victim: Wounded

Dr. Calvin Jackson
Stabbed 12/96 outside the Orleans Women's Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana
Victim: Wounded

Unidentified Victims
4-7 victims of 2 bombs 1/16/97 outside the Northside Family Planning Services clinic near Atlanta, Georgia
Victims: Wounded

Unidentified Doctor
Shot 10/28/97 at home in Perinton, New York
Victim: Wounded

Dr. Jack Fainman
Shot 11/11/97 at home in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Victim: Wounded

Officer Robert Sanderson
Bombed 1/29/98 outside New Woman, All Women Health Care Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama
Victim: Murdered

Emily Lyons
Bombed 1/29/98 outside New Woman, All Women Health Care Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama
Victim: Wounded

Dr. Barnett Slepian
Shot 10/23/98 at home in Amherst, New York
Victim: Murdered

Shades of Terror

If you bomb the Capitol or the Penatagon, you're a terrorist but if you bomb an abortion clinic, not so much.

John McCain and the Terrorists

Does John McCain want to protect domestic terrorists? Hey, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Pro-Life

The video speaks for itself.

Sarah Barracuda

Palin’s speech was good. It was very good.

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The ability to attack ruthlessly while coming off as being likeable – that is a rare talent. (Biden, actually, is known for this as well.)

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You have to wonder why Palin keeps repeating that she said no to the Bridge to Nowhere. One has to wonder why she explicitly mentions that she is against earmarks. Both of these can be contradicted factually.

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Obama and Biden need to act quickly before the narrative sets in that Palin is a pork-hating reformer. Once the impression sets in, it is much harder to modify. (See Maverick.)

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Palin brings together the disparate coalitions that make up the GOP base and excites them in ways McCain couldn’t.

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Religion and abortion were largely left out of the speech but then again, Palin didn’t need to mention these. The religious conservatives already know she’s one of them.

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Throwing red meat to a partisan crowd is great. The Republicans should also count on an equal (?) and opposite reaction amongst the Democratic base.

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There are more self-identified Democrats than Republicans currently. There is no arguing that the Republicans need their base energized and united, but they also need a larger share of the independents and Democrats if they are to win.

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Obama and Biden should waste no time in highlighting some of the extreme position Palin holds. No abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.

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There are other extreme positions that Palin has espoused, including teaching creationism in schools. But banning abortions sans exceptions for rape and incest -- this is much more effective on moderates, even those that might be ambivalent about abortions.

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Obama needs to send out women and men from smaller states and rural areas as surrogates. Charges of sexism and elitism do not need to distract from the Democrats’ actual arguments.

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Going back to the second point – facts. It’s a sad reflection of the state of our political discourse where facts are dispensable and the politics of personality so much more prevalent.