Politics

 

Clinton misleads the audience on abortion, yet again

By Dave Andrusko
Pro-abortion outlets–Think Progress, Cosmopolitan, etc. –are expressing great delight that last night Hillary Clinton got up on her high horse and lectured CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Pivoting from a question about the Supreme Court, Clinton sternly chastised Blitzer, “We’ve not had one question [in the previous eight debates] about a woman’s right to make her own decisions about reproductive health care — not one question.” (Amped by a cheering audience, Clinton moved to high dudgeon, but it was just the usual-usual and need not bother us here.)

However, as is always the case with the abortion issue and the slippery former Secretary of State, there was less–far less–there than met the eye. Even the Washington Post saw through the phoniness.
In a genuinely thorough column [“So Hillary Clinton wants debate moderators to ask about abortion, all of a sudden?”], Callum Borchers noted that Clinton had been asked–and thoroughly–by Fox News’ Brett Baier in a prior setting.

So how could Clinton say what she did? Because it was not a “debate,” but at a Town Hall.
“What Clinton actually seems to want are more opportunities to launch into familiar — and vague — talking points about funding Planned Parenthood and preserving Roe v. Wade,” Borchers wrote. “And she wants chances to slam Donald Trump for his recent statement that women who undergo illegal abortions [in the hypothetical case where abortion had been outlawed] should face ‘some form of punishment,’ a position he quickly reversed.”

Read Borchers’ column in its entirety; it is that good.

But the takeaway is not that truth and Clinton yet again ran on parallel paths. That’s a given. And it’s not just that Clinton wanted to rouse the rabble with sure-fire applause lines.
It’s that Clinton had been as evasive as ever when Baier pressed for exactly what her “answers” meant–and that last night she was even less specific.

Clinton wanted to eat her cake and have it too. Pretend that she wants to talk about abortion 24/7 but isn’t asked, and then, when she does talk about abortion, dive into a pool of content-free generalities.
Here’s Borchers’ spot-on conclusion:

But don’t be fooled into thinking that Clinton is eager to discuss those details. Her response to Baier and her remarks on Thursday in Brooklyn indicate otherwise.

Source: NRLC News