Thursday, July 9, 2015

On abortion, Walker completes run to the far right

Walker will sign shortly a bill banning abortion in Wisconsin after the 20th week following fertilization, and this measure perfectly highlight's Walker's situational use of the issue.

It's an extremist measure, without a rape or incest exemption, and will probably be blocked quickly in federal court, but no matter to Walker, as the measure is tailored for his political needs, nothing else.

When he was taking heat from some women and the left in the 2014 gubernatorial election on the issue, he aired an ad cloaked in pro-choice language, including this line:

That’s why I support legislation to increase safety and to provide more information for a woman considering her options. The bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor. Now, reasonable people can disagree on this issue. Our priority is to protect the health and safety of all Wisconsin.
The right didn't like the waffling it saw, but observers knew he'd fix it before the Iowa caucuses, and sure enough, he'll sign the very restrictive bill before his presidential announcement July 13 to prove to fundamentalist and far right Iowa voters that his 'pro-life' contempt for women is second to none in the clown car.

You can decide which is the more weaselly move - - pretending for political advantage to be pro-choice in 2014, or backing and signing this week an extremist 'pro-life' bill for political advantage which is unconstitutional on its face will not survive a court challenge.

And he'll dovetail the ban with his earlier heavily-politicized defunding of Planned Parenthood health services in Wisconsin and his support for mandated ultrasound examinations, regardless of medical necessity.

And for the record, Walker's flexible position on abortion rights is similar to his record on immigration - - whichever the wind is blowing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walker's message to gullible Wisconsin voters who believed the moderation he presented in the campaign ad HE WROTE AND DESIGNED HIMSELF*, in which he "appropriated the language of the other side" to support his own position**: SUCKERS!!!!

*http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/us/politics/a-political-lifer-scott-walker-has-long-been-his-own-strategist.html

**http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-walker-tells-anti-choice-leaders-he-didnt-mean-what-he-said-about-abortion-being-betwe#sthash.t4YIH0jG.dpuf

In the words of the Fred Astaire song, "How could you believe me when I say 'I love you,' when you know I've been a liar all my life"... (Look it up)

my5cents said...

Won't signing this bill into law bring on yet another lawsuit since the 20-week abortion ban has been struck down in other states already? More taxpayer dollars wasted on this stuff? A fetus is not viable before 22 weeks at a minimum and most doctors say it is 25 weeks, so what's the point of a 20-week ban in Wisconsin? More and more Scott Walker proves that you just can't help stupid.

La Mer said...

Thanks for linking to that great article by Jonathan Martin in the Times -- every paragraph contributes to a truthy portrait of Walker; e.g., Walker deflecting questions about his tenure in Wisconsin; micro-managing his campaigns "as evidenced by the emails he released as part of a lawsuit" (oops, gotta hide that little illegality going forward, hahaha); creating his own totally misleading ads and then, when elected to office, taking away a woman's right to make her own choices after "looking directly into the camera" (and lying through his teeth) in that home-made campaign ad. He is a poster boy for someone who practices legalized corruption and has an out-of-control obsession with devising ways around Wisconsin's open records law, and for selling out Wisconsin's reputation and resources, including all us Wisconsinites -- the human resources of our once great state.

MadCityVoter said...

That article did a great job of catching Walker's perpetual campaign mode style. It's not that he's always out in public or holding large public events (not that he did much of either during his last campaign) but that every policy decision is made with an eye toward his political gain or damage to his political enemies. With Walker there is no "now let's be reasonable" or "let's sit down together and figure out what's best for everybody." There's only Scott Walker's personal God telling Scott Walker what he needs to do to push Scott Walker to the top and to hell with everyone else.

I can't say if it's pathological but most normal people find this kind of self-involvement very difficult to fathom. I guess you can't really blame them for thinking that he couldn't really be serious about some of his extreme ideas, at least at first. By now, though, they ought to know better. He's out to destroy the State of Wisconsin, and will keep at it heedless of the cost until the voters stop him.