GOP+election pledge for jobs = New abortion assaults

Ah, yes. How familiar is the bait-and-switch in politics.

Some people who voted for President Obama two years ago felt duped. They thought they were getting Superman, if not Super Negro, able to vanquish all partisanship from D.C. and unite this country with the wave of a lanky arm, because voters ushered him into office on a wave of "change."

Didn't happen.

Frustrated, people went back to the ballot box in 2010 for a fix. They felt a need to send a message, push for "faster" change. The economy was stalled. Everyone and his brother was getting a bailout, on their dime, no less. It was time to switch bums, bring in a new set of folks with new ideas.

U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Speaker Boehner push
to restrict women's reproductive rights. Courtesy: Getty Images/Alex Wong

For some reason, otherwise rational people equated that with the chest-thumping Republican Party of today -- thinking it somehow different from the party of 2008, or 2004, or 2000, or 1996. This GOP would offer that "change." After all, they said jobs would be their number one priority.

We're seeing daily evidence of how that's working. Last October, U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), now Speaker of the House, thundered that, "Americans have been crystal clear about what they want: more jobs, less spending and a more open Congress that respects and abides by the Constitution,"

So on the GOP menu for creating jobs, decreasing spending, etc.? Limiting access to abortion. By the way, it's federally recognized and protected by the Constitution.

Make sense? Does it matter? Anti-abortion is a Republican default stance, and the party is going full throttle.

First, it was hackneyed grandstanding to "eliminate federal funding for abortions." Never mind that the Hyde Amendment has made that law since 1976.

Today, the House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funding. In case you need a refresher it's an agency that provides birth control, counseling and health services for men, teens and poor women, including abortion. That service, however, uses other funding streams. But that's not as sexy of a talking point and expect it to be glossed over.

Shocked? Don't be. It was laid out in the lovely manifesto of 2010, the GOP's Pledge to America. If you grew dazed by the rich pictures and rhetorical flourishes, just turn to page 6 for the blueprint of this latest legislative crusade, "We will permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and codify the Hyde Amendment."

GOP leaders claimed that retaking the House was a mandate to do the people's business. To take a pulse of the "people's business," check a recent Gallup tally asking whether abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances. A rough 1 in 5 said it should be illegal under any circumstance; meanwhile, nearly 4 in 5 said it should be legal, even if only under certain circumstances. 
In fact, when asked the top problems facing the nation, abortion doesn't even make the list. 
Pretty clear evidence that it's not the most pressing issue for the American people. It's still the economy, stupid. Maybe with a Republican lens, jobs are created by banning abortions.

Southeast Pennsylvania has 14 Planned Parenthood health centers, plus four more that provide abortion services. Statewide, there are some 45 health centers, sometimes lifelines for women struggling without health coverage; 12 percent of Pennsylvania women are uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Maybe leaving women in the hands of shady clinics/chop shops and alleged doctors like Kermit Gosnell is the ultimate goal. Something like Scared Straight! Abortion Edition! Still misses the point about jobs, though.
Then again, maybe restricting funds to a proven agency that provides everything from lessons on preventing sexually transmitted diseases to prostate cancer screenings will halve the area's 9.4 percent jobless rate.

Doubt it.

A Pledge of tired retread: GOP 2010

Never one to solely rely on interpretation of things and events by my colleagues in the nation's newsrooms, I took some time to read A Pledge to America (cue soaring strings and other orchestral music here). In case you had been yawning, this is the much hyped plan from Republican House members to “restore America.”



Photo: Ricky Carioti, The Washington Post

 It was meant to capture the urgency of the ‘90s-era Contract with America, with an attempt at a 2.0 twist. It wound up just twisted, a wretched and ultimately hollow blob of sloganeering overreach. It was so bad, once fawned over Tea Party members issued a counter Pledge.

What’s been interesting is that some of the sharpest critics to date on the GOP manifesto haven’t been the usual suspects. Instead, it’s been GOP allies, those who are now doubly mourning the passing of conservative stalwarts such as William F. Buckley and other Republican public intellectuals. Yes, there was a time when those terms once were compatible. This Pledge adds proof that today, not so much.

After the first three pages of big print and graphics (note the gigantic shot of the Statute of Liberty), come the words, a mash of patriotic paraphrasing of the Declaration of Independence to give it some heft. It has gems like this one:

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.

Yes. Self-appointed elites, not duly elected officials. And certainly not the authors of this work, as it were.

Evidently, a bunch of folks snookered an innocent public and snuck into Congress. The many in this case would be . . . well, still trying to figure that out. At last check, America operated under this crazy system called representative government, with people sent to halls of power to represent, you know, we, the people.

But for the purposes of making it past the fourth page, stick with the narrative of the masked Svengali-bandits that invaded an unsuspecting Hall of Power. Because of them, those people, it is proclaimed, “urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated.”

Again, insert masked Svengali-bandits here for this to make sense. Of course, the bulk of them just arrived in D.C. on January 2009. Or so the narrative would go. The brave legislators proposing a reconnection of “highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding” actually were kidnapped by said Svengali-bandits and had no idea of what was to come, all these things meant to upend American values.

That’s the only reason why poor GOP House members, despite valiant effort, couldn’t ensure a quick, painful death of the auto industry that made this nation a world leader. Thwarted in shenanigans to retain a status quo to keep every little Jimmy not born in perfect condition off insurance rolls. Defeated in a crusade to help banks continue to pick the pockets of credit holders without trust fund-level resources. It’s been a horrifying nightmare, all this consumer protection business being advanced. Daggone it!

Truthfully, I had held out hope to read something new, innovative. An approach that inspired more than ridicule. Re-reading the bill-inspiring Contract and then contrasting that with today's Pledge, sadly, it must be reported that was not to be. This bit of fluff is overwrought rhetoric that snarls with quiet fear without delivering anything close to intellectual rigor. These Crusaders of Congress decry what they're up against, detailing the state of affairs as if they never spent any significant time there.

Uh, yeah.

And a note to the PR team: visual aids are meant to enhance, not detract, from a product. In apple-pie-happy pap like this, examples of American ingenuity shouldn’t be limited to well-worn techniques like increasing margins and fonts or inserting photos. It sets off the BS monitor, and this 45-page document is cause for full sirens.

The Mount Rushmore and cowboy shots? Classic. The whole Dick-and-Jane construct that is so deeply missed? Compelling. So much so it compelled a round of that fun GOP pastime, “Spot the person of color in the crowd.” Even with prescription glasses, it's a tough call.
If unintentional, it’s well past Freudian. It’s time to fire the PR team. This is 2010, not 1950.

Then again, maybe it was all intentional. Maybe the GOP honestly thinks the bulk of this nation is stupid – or at least willing to overlook the fact that the authors of this treatise are and have been part of the institutions they are so roundly attacking with virulence. But if this is intended to move a national agenda and dialogue, not just stoke nostalgia and fear, maybe someone needs to package decoder rings along with this mess upon distribution.