Update 2/2/15 - Joel Gehrke - The Quarrel that Blew Up the GOP Abortion Bill
Original post:
Here's the story. Mollie Hemingway is outraged and disgusted, as well she should be, and writes, "Why Everyone Should Be Terrified By the GOP's Abortion Bill Debacle." Anyone with an inkling of hope that the Republican Party would stand up for concerns of the people who voted for them needs to realize they are dealing with a group of miniature tadpoles. She points out, (my emphases)
Sixty percent of voters said they would support it, while 33 percent said they were opposed. Even Democrats were evenly divided (46 percent to 47 percent) on the question. We’re one of just a small handful of countries, including notorious human rights violators North Korea and China, that allow late-term abortion.
And yet somehow the Republicans managed to make a disaster of passing the bill. Instead of passing the legislation and sending it to the Republican-controlled Senate, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act was pulled at the last minute and replaced with a bill that bans taxpayer funding of abortion.
What in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks just happened? It takes a special combination of incompetence and cowardice to miss an easy lay-up like this, but apparently the new Republican Congress has it in spades. . .
If Republicans can’t pass wildly popular legislation protecting innocent unborn children, what’s going to happen when they face difficult legislative battles? It’s best to view this as a very simple test for House Republicans. A test they failed miserably.