{"id":4530,"date":"2011-04-09T04:06:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-09T11:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=4530"},"modified":"2011-04-09T04:06:11","modified_gmt":"2011-04-09T11:06:11","slug":"gopp-grand-old-pussy-posse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/09\/gopp-grand-old-pussy-posse\/","title":{"rendered":"GOPP: Grand Old Pussy Posse!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GOPP\"<\/font><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to talk about how badly Democrats screwed themselves by agreeing to a $39 billion amount.  I\u2019m sure plenty of others will howl and with good reason.  I want to talk about how the government almost shut down over Republican insistence on defunding women\u2019s health services, and how the media has been getting it wrong by claiming that had to do with abortion.  It did not.  It was, and will continue to be, a Republican attempt at social engineering to return women to the chattel status they suffered, before they won women\u2019s rights.<\/font><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how media is getting it wrong.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

The emergence of abortion as the last and most contentious of the issues that held up the budget deal reached Friday night highlighted the enduring influence of social conservatives within the Republican Party even at a time when the Tea Party movement\u2019s focus on fiscal austerity is getting most of the attention. <\/p>\n

The main abortion-related provisions<\/strong> sought by Republicans were stripped out, apparently in return for deeper cuts in federal spending. But the intense push by abortion opponents, including Representatives Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania and Mike Pence of Indiana, sent a signal that Republicans intend to keep social issues on the front burner as Congress moves on to a further series of battles. <\/p>\n

The abortion opponents<\/strong> lost on their effort to restrict money going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers as part of the budget deal. But they succeeded in winning agreement for a separate vote on that issue next week \u2014 Senate Democrats are sure to defeat it \u2014 and in keeping in the budget deal a provision that would restrict abortion financing in Washington\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <NY Times<\/a>><\/p>\n

Republicans may say that it\u2019s about stopping federal funding for abortion, but they are lying  That\u2019s what Republicans do.  There is no need, because the Hyde Amendment strictly forbids federal funding of abortion already.  Confronted with that, the next Republican lie is that providing abortions is Planned Parenthood\u2019s predominant activity.<\/font><\/p>\n