Why your uncle who watches Fox is crazy

Owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch. (photo: Josh Reynolds/AP)

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

17 July 14

readersupportednews.org

here are some Democrats who, in the wake of both the Hobby Lobby and McMullen decisions, have decided that their commitments to a woman's right to choose, and a woman's right to use her ladyparts as she sees fit, should be put into improved legislative form, and that said legislative form also should confront the shenanigans out in the states that have been shredding the protection of these rights in the lives of many women. That the Democrats would do this should come as a shock to absolutely nobody, except the Democrats in the Casey family of Pennsylvania. And, apparently, one Chris Stirewalt of FoxNews.com, who believes that the Democrats are taking themselves over the cliff with this issue, and probably that it is excellent news for John McCain, and who has marshalled a stunning array of bull cookies to feed to the sheep out there.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is leading a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on his bill that would override the laws banning late-term abortions and imposing regulations on abortion clinics in an increasing number of states. The bill, which already has the support of nearly two-thirds of Senate Democrats, would eradicate the restrictions in at least a dozen states where abortions have been banned after the start of the sixth month of pregnancy and rules in many more states that regulate the conditions at abortion clinics. The New York Times editorial board is enthused as are others on the left who have seen access to elective abortions restricted in the aftermath of the discovery of a house of horrors at the Philadelphia abortion clinic operated by Dr. Kermit Gosnell. But Blumenthal's anti-anti-Gosnell bill takes Democrats into some very dangerous political territory.

You see here vividly how the bubble works. "Gosnell" is one of those rightwing conjuring words that do not have to be explained to the intimates of the cult. It is a mystical thing. It contains multitudes. They don't need to have what in hell an "anti-anti-Gosnell bill" is any more than I needed to know what was being said in Latin at Mass when I was nine. They don't need to know that the attempt to roll back a woman's right to choose predates the magical incantation, and that it would have happened as it did out in the states after the conservative sweep of 2010 even if Kermit Gosnell never had been born himself.

The Democrats' gynecological approach worked twice before to save the Senate, thanks in part to some self-destructive Republican candidates - most notably former Rep. Todd Akin (who still is out there trying and failing to explain his unorthodox understanding of biology). Having so recently been on these crusades, Democrats still have the battle plan handy and are quick to race into the fray. The fundraising emails were out on the Hobby Lobby case even before reporters had finished reading the opinion and the legislation from vulnerable Senate Democrats was out soon thereafter. But fighting state abortion regulations is something very different than just punking Akin or thinking up some new birth-control hashtags.

No, it's infinitely more important, because there is an assault on constitutional liberties here. Do continue.

Americans got comfortable talking about "the pill" a long time ago, but still find it kind of fun and sexy.

The man needs to get out more.

Abortion, though, is still a raw subject and demands delicate discussion.

Which is why the Supreme Court worked so hard to protect someone's First Amendment right to yell "Slut babykiller!" to a woman on the way into a medical clinic.

It's a topic around which error-prone politicians ought not tread. The majority of Americans favor restrictions on abortion, leaving the Democratic default position on the issue—unrestricted access to elective abortion—increasingly out of step.

Utter bullshit. The link to a Gallup poll shows that "majority" to be meaningless. Even Roe contained "restrictions." I don't know a single Democratic politician of note whose default position on the issue is "unrestricted access to elective abortion."This is how your uncle gets stupid.

It's great to say you think ladies ought to be able to get the pill, a largely uncontroversial position for 40 years. But how about sharing your view on when life begins? Or whether unborn children feel pain? Where's your hashtag for those?

#mybodymychoice. or #keepyourmythologytoyourself, or #youreacharlatan.

Those are the first ones that come to mind.