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twitterJON RALSTON:
How abortion could creep into next year’s governor’s race
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.
I suppose my belief that the abortion question was settled in Nevada was naive.
That issue will never be put to rest because too many groups want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, employ it as a litmus test for political support or insist on unlimited access to abortion. And, perhaps most of all, because too many candidates find it useful to brandish it as a weapon to taint opponents.
Richard Ziser, who succeeded in having gay marriage outlawed in Nevada through the initiative process, thus protecting all the marriages under siege from such horrors, has a new ballot proposition to grant “personhood” to fetuses. A 1990 referendum embedded the state’s abortion rights statute into law, and Ziser wants to do an end-around that by employing the due process clause of the federal Constitution to grant the unborn rights. (The initiative also would try to prevent end-of-life decisions from being left in the hands of individuals — or those horrific, mythic death panels — but that part is not relevant here.)
Just by presenting the initiative to the secretary of state’s office, Ziser has thrust the issue back into the political colloquy on the eve of Campaign 2010, raising questions that have made one gubernatorial candidate uncomfortable and, if it qualifies, could alter the dynamic for November of next year.
Abortion actually popped up as an issue in the last governor’s race — almost four years to the day it reappeared this cycle — when an anti-abortion Mormon Democrat, James Gibson, twisted himself into a pretzel on the question of what he would do should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
This year, upon the release of Ziser’s petition, the Reno Gazette-Journal approached the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate hopefuls to elicit their reactions. Most dodged reporter Anjeanette Damon, but the two front-runners in each party answered — sort of.
Ex-judge and GOP front-runner Brian Sandoval and County Commissioner and Democratic front-runner Rory Reid both said they oppose the initiative. But Sandoval favors abortion rights, so that is not surprising. More interesting was when Damon pressed for Reid’s position on abortion.
“We’re not going to get into labels,” a spokesman for Reid told Damon. “He supports the Nevada law, which is what voters chose. That is enough for most people to make their decision (on whom to support for governor).”
On Friday I twice unsuccessfully tried to elicit an answer from the Reid campaign as to whether Reid, who is Mormon, favors or opposes abortion rights. I was referred back to the quote Damon received.
I understand labels of any kind crush nuance, whether it is pro-life or pro-choice or liberal or conservative. But with abortion, people generally oppose it because of religious beliefs or support it because of women’s rights beliefs. The shades of gray — federal funding, late-term abortions, parental notification — often are side issues that distract from the simple fact that people either consider it murder or they don’t.
(That is why I have never understood the exception for rape, incest or life of the mother. If it’s the taking of a life, why have any exceptions, except for political reasons?)
Reid’s dodge is silly and gives Sandoval an opening if they face each other after the June primary. Reid should fear that a moderate Hispanic Republican could garner crossover votes. But if Sandoval can highlight Reid’s position or his refusal to say what it is, that makes the case stronger for him with Democrats and independents.
The best — and most forthright — answer I have seen from an anti-abortion candidate since the 1990 statute was embedded came from Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt when she ran for governor four years ago. “I am a Catholic,” she told Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison. “On a personal level, I’m against abortion. But I do not feel that elected officials should be pushing their personal beliefs on the public. As an elected official, I’d be a pro-choice Republican.”
You might ask why this is relevant because another initiative would be required to overturn the 1990 result. Two reasons, at least. First, a governor with the bully pulpit could sway the public on a referendum. Second, governors sometimes like to use their office as a steppingstone to the U.S. Senate, where his or her abortion position would be even more germane.
Ziser may only hope to increase conservative turnout in 2010 — as if the right will need any more incentive than the obviously socialistic — or is it fascistic? or Nixonian? or Hitlerian? — policies of the current administration. But he also may have injected a dormant issue into a fascinating governor’s race.
Abortion as a political issue, like death and taxes, never disappears.
Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program “Face to Face With Jon Ralston” on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the daily e-mail newsletter “RalstonFlash.com.” His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.
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The abortion nut-jobs have had their day. Guns, god, gays, and abortion are moot issues, and I would to see the GOP fuel them again, so they can be whacked at the polls. Pro-lifers (racist Nazis) are famous for showing grusome abortion photos. They won't show any photos of the "COLORED" babies America's WASP have vaporized, BBQ'ed, and exterminated in Iraq-NAM. Since I was employed to kill COLORED babies in Vietnam, I don't personally need to see those Iraq-NAM photos. I want to take photos of Boy George, Blair, Hastert, Lott, Cheney, Frist, Olmert, Sharon, Tenet, Delay, and Boehner, all being "HUNG" for their Iraq-NAM war-crimes and crimes against humanity.
If Ziser is so angry about vice, maybe he should propose an anti-DIVORCE amendment to protect the marriages that Nevadans already have, and then one to ban PROSTITUTION, surely that is a vice. And lastly close down by constitutional amendment those dens of iniquity: the gambling dens. Oh yes, we would have nothing left, and we would then really have to raise taxes. BTW, is a fetus is a person, then we will have to really pay for prenatal care [which we should anyway.] I bet the insurance company lobbies would be ecstatic about that. And, no pregnant women could enter a casino because their entry would bring in underage people. That single-handedly could increase the number of abortions. Fun, fun, fun. No! Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I've posted here and there what I think is the core issue on the abortion debate -- unless you have a womb, or it's your seed gestating in one, your opinion is completely irrelevant.
Roe v. Wade was not about abortion, it was about one's right to make personal decisions in private, with the advice of a licensed professional, and to have that privacy protected from any majority faction's moral mandates made law.
Ziser is certainly entitled to his opinion. But when his opinion dictates the choices people are at liberty to make, then government, based on it inherent Constitutional limitations, must act accordingly. A good example of this is 2002's anti-gay marriage amendment to the state Constitution. It's evident very few bother to actually read how much it contradicts the rest of Article I and the preamble -- the source code of all law.
Abortion has always been with us, since whenever the first unwanted pregnancy. Few decisions can be as personal as what one decides about one's own body. The fact people's religious beliefs or personal moral code disagrees is completely irrelevant when it comes to the state compelling choices in violation of the very personal liberties it was constituted to secure.
"Beware of the fish people, they are the true enemy." -- Frank Zappa, speech to a pro-choice rally in Los Angeles around 1989-90
Sounds like Rory and his staff, didn't have time to call the Grand PooBah for a response. Maybe Geppetto ( aka. Harry Reid) has not installed the red phone yet.
"But with abortion, people generally oppose it because of religious beliefs or support it because of women's rights beliefs. The shades of gray -- federal funding, late-term abortions, parental notification -- often are side issues that distract from the simple fact that people either consider it murder or they don't."
Jon Ralston thinks federal funding, late-term abortions, parental notification are distractions.
Consider this if the Reid/Pelosi health insurance reform passes and there is no restiction on the Fed SUBSIDIZE for policies that cover abortions then what does that do for the potential opt in or out of the public option at the state level.
Democrats are three moves ahead on this.
Reid's answer that it is what is it will be tested is Nevada has to make a choice.
With the pro-abortion issue Barak Obama excelled at his ersatz collaborative tactical strategy of Moral Equivalents governing style.
- Obama demands others to civility in expression of their concerns. Even as he noted that advances in civil-rights only came after confrontation.
- Obama publicly expresses that he understands concerns
- Then Obama does only what he wants to do because he won and he can.
At Notre Dame on 5-11-2009, Obama said."I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it -- ... the views of the two camps are irreconcilable,"
Having declared the abortion issue irreconcilable, meaning Obama believes what he believe is right - and you believe what you believe.
And since I won - we do what I believe.
Here are actions that Obama did just in his first 100 days
Obama claims his principle is "the government should not intrude on our most private family matters."
On 1-23-2009 late on a Friday afternoon past the news cycle and without any press coverage, Obama signed an EO to allow funding abortions overseas. So those who are pro-life now must pay through Federal taxes for abortions.
In the '08 campaign Obama famously said he would not want his daughter "punished with a baby" if they made a mistake and got pregnant.
Obama repealed the "Mexico City Policy" or "global gag rule" so that the federal government can fund abortions performed by overseas family planning groups. Obama is also backing the "Prevention First Act". This will fund and promote the abortions as a primary mean to prevent births. In Africa it will promote population control as also done in China.
Stopping pregnancies with absentance programs has been eliminated. Next up will be the elimination of the Hyde Amendment. That law is already broken everyday by the co-mingling of funds at Planned Parenthood centers. Left for the future is the "alive" abortion debate.
Obama is rolling back the protections that Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have to not support or perform abortions.
That mandingo dude has some real issues. I think he needs a hug.
See Sandopeval, in addition to not posting his birth certificate on the internet, now favors killing babies. He also gets rave reviews from Maldef. Guess people should vote for nut job Angler, or Baby Tark in the primary. Maybe they can get Glen Beck to campaign for them! Hooraay for talk radio and the Nut bar Republicans!
Pro-life racist nazis. Wow, that's pretty ignorant. Ignorant of the eugenic racism behind the abortion industry. Don't generally find the baby butchers in the White neighborhoods, nor do they have valet out front. Usually on a bus-line in the Hispanic and African American neighborhoods. Those "racist" prolifers stand out front trying to save babies regardless of color.
Not only should the government pay for any women seeking an abortion, the government should penalize any family attempting to bring more than 2 kids into the world. Do you suppose these mormons with their large familes and dependent deductions pay their fair share of taxes? I don't.
vilate -- what do "mormons" have to do with this, besides Senator Reid, who represents all of us? Catholics by their dogma have larger families due to more restricted use of birth control.
Your post has a weak premise. Care to rethink and repost?
Hey Burritto, that mandingo dude got more than issues. Too much Agent Orange perhaps. He doesn't need a hug, 2 words for him: Anger Management!!
Ziser is just a carpet bagger looking to get a foot-hold in Nevada. He has been run out of every other state where he attempted to bring his personal brand of biggotry to the ballot box.
As for abortion: unless you are a female of child-bearing age, this subject is off limits to you! Would not the men who are posting on here be upset if women had harsh and negative opinions on Viagra and erectile dysfuntion?
If you are against abortion - don't get one!
The anti-abortion movement is motivated primarily by the belief that human life begins at conception and that abortion is essentially the murder of an innocent. And the bottomline is that in America, as in many countries, the innocent may be sacrificed on the alter of political, social, or personal expediency.
By the way, "pro-choice" Catholic is a conradiction in terms. You can't be both -- just ask the Pope -- and it would hypocritical to the extreme to pretend otherwise. Hopefully Hunt's political career ended -- we've enough posers in office as it is.
NLV_Indep13 -- doesn't matter what their motivations are when it comes to forcing their particular brand of morality on another's choices. Of course they're free to express and attempt persuasion -- that's free. When it crosses into crime that's quite another thing.
As the threads "Soccer coach, 40, accused" show there's no end to those in the herd quite ready to threaten, coerce, and otherwise force their opinions on others.
Fascists can only get elected by radicalizing certain voters based on hot button issues--abortion, illegal immigrants, religion, Gays, patriotism, and of Course the "Big Lie". The Fascists controlled all 3 branches of government from 01-20-2001 to 01-20-2005. If they wanted to do away with Roe vs Wade they probably could have, but they never will because if they do they will lose votes by not being able to radicalize voters. They could care less about abortion and the other hot button issues because without those issues they could never win an election. They can take their McCarthyism, their spinning of the Nazi "Big Lie", and their adolescent immaturity and go back into their knuckle dragging Cave forever.
Ghost, fascists believe in wealth redistribution, government control of major industries (socialism), they hate capitalism, love government pensions, prefer to give away tax dollars to big corporations with strings attached, hate big box retailers, love autarky and hate free trade. Now there certainly are some Republicans like that, but there are even more Democrats who subscribe to these ideas.
Please stop misusing the term you sound uneducated.
The labeling on this topic is unproductive and obscures the legitimate public discourse of this matter.
How the above can be distilled down to "pro-Choice" or "pro-Life" labels is beyond me. Frankly, it's a simplistic, charged labeling of a complicated topic, and most Americans are smart enough to distinguish the nuances.
It would do a great service to the topic if smart reporters would start to exercise their capacity to choose words that are clear and appropriate rather than sounbite and labels that are not.
David Brooks, a nice guy and good writer, decries the loss of confidence in America's future (Las Vegas Sun, Nov 18, p5.) At the same time that he recognizes the "moral materialism" and "workaholism" of European settlers that drove America's "eschatological faith" in the future, he tries to drain "God's plan for humanity" out of his formula for success for America. I get it--for secular America,it's the economy stupid. Or is it?
You might agree with Chapman that the opponents of same sex marriage are in "ever worsening straits". He points out that the heaviest opposition comes from people over 65. In his snide allusion to the "weighty symbolism of calling this arrangement by a name that carries religious connotation" he whistled past the ghosts of 48-50 million murdered children in America.
The sexual revolution sucked its life from the Civil Rights Movement led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (we old geezers were there by the way). The pampered generation unzipped all sexual restraint, killed off its products of conception, and thereby had to attempt to restrain religious expression. Could it be that is what wrecked the hopes of American families to continue to lift themselves out of poverty by--uhmm maybe Brooks was afraid to say--the Protestant Work Ethic.
David Brooks thought America's economy grew because each generation was "more skilled than the last." I think America prospered because each generation, until the baby boomers, worked and sacrificed pleasures so that their offspring would enjoy a better life. I am not innocent of generational sin. That's why I'm going to fight for the unborn until I die. I love underdog campaigns like Personhood. It's in my battle-born (1942) blood. The next generation is never a losing cause in America. The wonderful stories of the heroes in the RJ series, "Saluting American Valor" lead me to believe that they will come home with the kind of love of country, family and God that made my parents work and sacrifice for their children after World War II.