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ORIGINAL: subtee

Hmmmmm. I believe it is an article about those who are supposed to be leaders and stand up and declare what they believe and why, but instead engage in dishonorable shenanigans in order to dupe others into an outcome they don't have the guts to proclaim in the first place.

Shameful.

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How could a law that adds nothing substantive to the federal code accomplish so much? Regardless of whether it ultimately has the pedagogical effect Arkes thought it would, there can be no denying that his bill has now made a noteworthy contribution--damaging the campaign of a pro-choice candidate for president. We don't yet know how significant that damage will prove to be. But if Obama loses the election by a narrow margin, Arkes and his theoconservative allies will have reason to congratulate themselves on their contribution to the outcome.

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ORIGINAL: Thadius

Interesting article. The most telling passage of the entire thing was...

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How could a law that adds nothing substantive to the federal code accomplish so much? Regardless of whether it ultimately has the pedagogical effect Arkes thought it would, there can be no denying that his bill has now made a noteworthy contribution--damaging the campaign of a pro-choice candidate for president. We don't yet know how significant that damage will prove to be. But if Obama loses the election by a narrow margin, Arkes and his theoconservative allies will have reason to congratulate themselves on their contribution to the outcome.

My emphasis with the underlining.

This is the first article that I have seen that has started to lay an excuse for Obama losing, if he does. Claiming that this trap has been in the works for decades, seems a bit beyond the logical, as how could anybody have known then who would be running for office now, much less where a particular candidate would stand on the particular issue discussed.

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ORIGINAL: Thadius
Even Hillary attacke Obama on this issue during the primaries, I am surprised it wasn't taken care of back then. Perhaps, he felt it wouldn't come up again, or folks would just ignore it. I have to agree with you, that of all the things Obama voted present on, this should have been added to the list.

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Confronted about this on CBN, he said the pro-life group was lying. But his campaign has now admitted that he had the legislative history wrong. Obama either didn't know his own record, or was so accustomed to shrouding it in dishonesty that it had become second nature.

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ORIGINAL: Thadius
For a new type of politician, he is surely acting like the typical politician these days... the same can be seen in his newest ads.  Instead of focusing on issues, they are worried about how many houses McCain and his wife own..

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ORIGINAL: Thadius
I read an article the other night comparing last weekends remarks by him "I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying." to the Dole outburst of "Tell him to stop lying about my record."

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...Obama refused to vote for a bill that protects.....

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How could a law that adds nothing substantive to the federal code accomplish so much? Regardless of whether it ultimately has the pedagogical effect Arkes thought it would,

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The Born Alive Infant Protection Act is the brain-child of theocon Hadley Arkes, the Edward N. Ney Professor of American Institutions at Amherst College and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. The roots of the bill go back 20 years, to President George H. W. Bush's general election contest with Michael Dukakis. In a debating kit he was asked to prepare for the Republican candidate, Arkes made an extraordinary series of assertions. Abortion, he argued, could be considered a constitutional right only by denying the personhood of the baby prior to birth. But once this premise was implanted in the law, there was no principled way to outlaw any abortion at any time during pregnancy, right up to--and perhaps even beyond--birth. After all, biological science and sonogram technology both showed that the fetus in utero is substantially similar to a baby outside the womb. The "right to choose" therefore implied a right to infanticide--or as Arkes shockingly put it, a "right to a dead baby." As a rationalist, Arkes was convinced that such an implication at the level of principle would inevitably become a reality, as the culture slid down the slippery slope on which it had been precariously placed by the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. 

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ORIGINAL: Alumbrado

ETA:
Seriously.... abortion, gun control, 'the war', death penalty,  race relations, education...those aren't issues, they are 'The Ishoooozz!'.  Meant to distract and polarize, and scare people into voting against the evil 'Them' much more often than not.

Yes, the classic "red herring" tactic in politics.

Want to know what a politican's real views are, follow the money... see how they voted on the things that the lobbyists bought and paid for... which goes back to the 3AM buried items. 

Follow the money, lies, secrets and bodies.