According to the head honchos at Fox News, their official "news" programs are fair & balanced and not dedicated to pushing propaganda. So if that's the case (LOL), why did Bret Baier use the non-scientific term "partial birth abortion," a term coined in the late 90's by a consortium of anti-choice groups and the Catholic bishops, to describe a late term abortion procedure other than to underscore their pro-life creds and make the Obama bashing even more fun. Words mean something and in this case the wording was clearly an articulation of anti-choice propaganda which was part of the opposition to Obama in 2008 and, like those movie zombies, keeps coming back. "Fair & Balanced?" Not so much!
Last week alleged newsman Bret Baier attempted to rebut the Democrat's contention that the GOP platform, which seeks a Constitutional ban on all abortions with no exceptions, is extreme on women's reproductive rights. (Ya think?) He quoted the pro-choice language in the Democratic platform and sharply veered to the right by framing the issue as being about - ready for it - "partial birth abortion" vis-à-vis Obama's "support" for it when he was a state senator. Unlike the hated mainstream media, Baier did not correctly qualify the term with "so-called" or use the scientific term (Intact Dilation & Extraction).
He tossed to the uterus free Charles Krauthammer who said "Talk about extremism. We're talking about in the Akin case, he's a congressman that nobody ever heard of who is a candidate for Senate of one state out of 50 on one hand. On the other hand you have Obama who is the president who took a position on partial birth abortion which is scandalous. Pat Moynihan, the great Democratic senator fromNew York said it's the equivalent of infanticide. And we have Obama who's been a long supporter of it that is extremism."
Baier did not attempt to explain Obama's actual *position, but rather left the audience with the lesson that Obama supports infanticide - a "pro-life" lie that's been circulating since 2003 but reached new depths of absurdity in the run up to the 2008 election. And now that Obama is running for re-election, the issue is once again being used to discredit Obama.
Baier noted that most of the Republican Party has called for Akin to resign. What he didn't say was that Akin's position on no exceptions for rape is that of Veep candidate Paul Ryan who cosponsored a bill, with Akin, which would have required women to prove "forcible" rape if they wanted to get Medicaid coverage for their abortion.
Note to Charles Krauthammer - Things like attempting to limit women's reproductive rights by mandating intrusive ultrasounds, requiring physicians to read unscientific scripts to discourage women from having abortions, criminalizing all abortions after 20 weeks, de-funding Planned Parenthood, allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions are extreme. And that's just a sample of what the pro-life GOP is doing to erode women's reproductive rights. And that, sir, is extreme.
And regarding so called "partial birth abortion" - It's sometimes necessary like when a nine year old will die if she gives birth. And as a doctor, you should know that the AMA states that "Nevertheless, as experience has revealed, the need for late abortion will not disappear. Hence, our continuing responsibility as physicians and as a society is to ensure that these procedures are as safe, comfortable, and compassionate as possible. Women deserve no less from their physicians."
*And as far as Obama's "scandalous" support of late term abortion" - as News Hounds Ellen points out, in rebutting Mike Huckabee's advancing the zombie lies, Obama stated that he supports bans on late term abortion that include a provision for the health of the mother." Wow, protecting women's health. So extreme. Ya think!
Nice to know that Fox News is giving care and feeding to zombies!
