Ah. I understand now: the anti-choice policy riders are not moral issues; they're tokens to be traded for a better deal on the budget cuts. I can't help being reminded of an old joke which ends, "We've already established what you are. All we're doing now is haggling over the price."Pressed on the issue, members said they could not answer questions about whether they would support a proposal that did away with policy riders on women's health until they saw a final deal.
"We're going to wait and see what comes back," [Rep. Marsha] Blackburn [R-TN] said.
UPDATE: Tea Party Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) makes it even clearer that the anti-choice policy riders are not a moral issue but a simple quid pro quo:
As Republicans, we promised in the pledge to America to cut $100 billion off of Obama's plan. If we're going to come back with less than that, we've got to come back with some policy riders to say look, I took less than $100 billion, but I've defunded Planned Parenthood or abortions in the District of Columbia. Or I've ended Obamacare...
So tell me, Blake: just how many billion is women's health care (remember, it's all for health care: abortion has already been excluded in all federal spending since the mid-1970s) worth to you in trade for budget cuts? And how can you possibly claim the moral high ground to the social conservatives in your district, if you're willing to trade the issue away for a few billion?
What a bunch of damned hypocrites the GOPers are!
... all of which makes NO DIFFERENCE regarding what I said... that GOPer Congresswomen today refused to address the issue of trying to ax Planned Parenthood, pretending that somehow it's not something they're obligated to talk about. They voted for it. They're responsible for it.
ReplyDelete"We're going to wait and see what comes back" is one helluva lousy attitude toward the slashing of the only health care available to literally millions of women... and no, despite the LIES flying around the 'net tonight, there's been ZERO federal funding for abortion since the mid-1970s. She said it. She's responsible for it.
Too bad for you, Mickey, but your beloved Congresswoman hangs out with liars and thieves. She does it. She's responsible for it.