Tuesday, July 11, 2006

NARAL endorses... Joe Lieberman?

Wow. I personally am not big on the whole abortion debate, being one of those people who doesn't really feel that my position on the subject really jives with either side, but if I were a pro-choice voter I'd be pissed about their official endorsement of Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

Planned Parenthood recently did the same thing.

Joementum (or as some bloggers snarkily put it, Joenertia) has, at best, a "spotty" record when it comes to abortion, being one of the crucial votes for cloture on the Senate filibuster against Justice Alito's confirmation. When it comes to striking down Roe v. Wade, Alito's about as much of a sure thing as you could possibly have.

Later, when asked whether hospitals should be compelled to provide Plan B (a contraceptive, not an abortifacient) to women admitted for rape, Joe famously said, "In Connecticut, it shouldn’t take more than a short ride to get to another hospital."

To put this in perspective, Lieberman is not, at the moment, running against a Republican; he's locked in a bitter primary against Ned Lamont, a dyed-in-the-wool progressive whose pro-choice cred is not in doubt. And it's not like Lamont is that much of a longshot:
Due to the anger many Democrats have about Lieberman’s continuing support for the war in Iraq, it is not clear whether Lieberman the three-term Senator will win re-nomination from his own party. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll on the Primary Race shows Lieberman nursing a six-point lead over Lamont. Lieberman had a 20-point lead over the challenger in our previous survey. [emphasis mine]

That's one hell of a surge, and this poll is from June 19th. The primary isn't until August 8th.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake is on a tear over this.

No comments: