Dirty Tricks

Back when I worked at Planned Parenthood I developed a special sort of disdain for the tactics the National Right To Life Committee employed to push their agenda. When my friend informed me that NBC and The Huffington Post reported on their recent robo-call campaign on behalf of Senator Clinton, I was disgusted but not surprised. It blows my mind that an organization that is so deeply involved with promoting a far-right agenda through their advocacy and fundraising is attempting to mess with the minds of undeclared superdelegates in a party whose platform they oppose. This sort of manipulation is centered around conversations about electability.

NRTL stands as one of the most aggressive conservative machines in the country. I hope the people they are reaching out to can see through their shifty motives and realize that they are only campaigning for Senator Clinton because of dirty political motives and sexism. This organization has long served to undermine her efforts and work, and now they are working to manipulate the primary elections so that she wins over Obama. Their reasoning is that they think that their candidate McCain (who is on record as a staunch anti-choice neo-con wolf in sheeps clothing) will throttle Senator Clinton in the general.

Former "Pro-life" Congressman Tim Roemer (D) released the following statement this evening in response to the automated calls that Indiana residents received from National Right to Life:

"As a pro-life Catholic Democrat, one of the main reasons I endorsed Barack Obama is because he approaches issues from a non-ideological standpoint, and on issues like abortion, he deeply respects the views of folks on the other side of the argument. He believes that if we focus on what unites us, we can accomplish more than we ever will by retreating into our corners and shouting each other.

"National Right to Life is running these calls because they know that Senator Clinton will be the easier Democrat to run against in the general election--and this is their way of giving her a helping hand in this tough primary battle.

"Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have virtually identical records on the abortion issue. I want Hoosiers to be absolutely clear: These calls we're getting are nothing more than a ploy. Folks who are going to vote in the Democratic primary tomorrow know that we need real change in Washington."


The dirty tricks never seem to cease.