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Obama's Abortion Sellout?
Nancy Pelosi sacrificed abortion protections to get health care passed. Peter Beinart argues the tradeoff saves the bill and the party, Amy Siskind says Obama let women down again, and Dana Goldstein asks whether this new wedge issue will tear Dems apart.
The Dems' Smart Abortion Move
By Peter Beinart
House Democrats were right to sacrifice abortion protections to get health care passed. Peter Beinart on why that strategic tradeoff can save the bill—and the party's future.
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How Obama Sold Women Out
By Amy Siskind
The heath-care abortion mess is just the latest example of how Barack Obama took women’s votes—then let the country’s majority constituency down.
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The Wedge Dividing Obama's Health Coalition
By Dana Goldstein
Many Democrats cheered when the health bill passed the House, but pro-choice groups denounced a last-minute amendment to ban coverage of abortions. Now the issue is tearing apart health-reform supporters in the Senate.
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I believe in choice but don't think we have a right to federal funds to pay for it. I am not sure why this new either. Federal funds have never paid for abortions - not in Medicaid CHIP or any other fedreally funded health care program.
Last time I checked, we all pay taxes for things we don't agree with. Like the bloated military budget (How many troops are still stationed in Germany? How many planes we don't need are being built by contractors that "pay" for congressional seats?). Also, say, the bombs used to drop on families that were sitting down to dinner in Baghdad in 2003. We're probably still paying for the MX Missile, for god's sake. Not on my top list of things for the U.S. to be spending tax dollars on, but pay my taxes I do. Also, abortion is legal, whether some like it or not. I don't expect everyone to agree with the law, just be good citizens --- like those of us who are paying for loads of things we don't like. Things, actually, that we consider monumentally immoral. (Not to mention the immorality of the "volunteer" army, which preys, at least to a significant degree, on economic injustice. And we want to make the lives of poor young women more difficult? Wow.
I believe the Healthcare bill has done it's job. Going into this year Obama promised to work with the Republicans to do the people's will. He went farther, he also worked with the Insurance and Health industries. What did he get for his goodwill? At least the Republican's never once showed interest in improving our Healthcare system - they were, from the getgo, political hacks, making no contribution at all. The insurance industry on the other hand turns out to be a Double-Crosser - completely untrustworthy. Neither is willing to compromise to better the circumstances for Americans.
Come on ladies. You had a chance to put a woman in the white house. You blew it. Yeh, you were in charge for awhile and you wimped out. So don't give us any of this "we've been sold out garbage". You got what you bargained for. I'll bet Hillary is getting a kick outta this.
The anti-abortionists are outnumbered in the Government, because they are outnumbered in the country. The whole reason for the electoral process is to elect officials who represent the views of the country as a whole. If you piss off the anti-abortion representatives, they can cry all they want, but they were outnumbered for a reason: Because more people agree with the opposition. Plain and simple. Let's not pity the irrelevant senators who are desperately clinging to the rhetoric their preachers are force-feeding them (while not exactly upholding the standards they build their platforms on). Let's listen to the country as a whole. I am a supporter of Obama, and my only disappointment with him so far is the pressure that has been put on him to consider the GOP crying in the corner for fairness, thus going back on the platforms on which he won this election. We as a country elected him to do what he proposed. I hate to see him lose sight of his campaign just to please a few. I think he spends too much time trying to consider every last person. There is not a single issue that every single person will agree on. That is something which the great men who founded this country were clear on, prompting them to decide upon a "majority rules" format for law-making.
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