After a judge in Alabama ruled that frozen embryos are people (like soylent green), politicians on both sides recognized the exploitability of the topic in this election year. Democrats are using it with claims of defending IVF on a national basis, while Republicans are scrambling to issue several different versions of statements that essentially said they love IVF and have never even heard of Alabama.
The latter were clearly lies, yet the media jumped all over them as if to pretend that family planning and women’s health issues don’t remain under attack by the extremists and evangelicals of the GOP. There were even headlines about how much Trump loves IVF, although I’d bet he thinks it’s some kind of wrestling promotion. On the other hand, I didn’t see any such news coverage of Biden coming out against the Alabama ruling — which he and other Dems did, of course — but that didn’t warrant any attention, apparently.
Why? Because news outlets love to play their games of both-siding, straining to present right-wingers as mainstream believers in all the things they actually stand against. Conservatives have for too long gotten away with saying one thing and doing another without being held accountable for their hypocrisies. Their bogus horror at the Alabama court’s ruling smacks of the scene in “Casablanca” where Claude Rains proclaims his shock at gambling going on at Rick’s Cafe moments before he’s handed his winnings by a croupier.
In reality, right-wing extremists behind the scenes have been trying to undo laws legalizing abortion, birth control, and other reproductive rights for decades. They have stuffed the judiciary, legislatures, and Congress with people who will do their bidding, despite their public protestations to the contrary.
To do so, they push “fetal personhood” bills like the one that was moving through the Florida legislature until today — but it has only been “postponed,” not cancelled. That means the GOP will likely resurrect it after election day when their jobs are safe again.
As Judd Legum points out in his Popular Information newsletter:
In this Congress, 124 House Republicans — including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — are co-sponsoring the Life at Conception Act. The bill states that “the terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization.” Further, “Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being.” If this bill were to become law, the issues facing IVF clinics in Alabama would spread nationwide.
Don’t pay attention to what they say. Pay attention to what they do.
Another example of Republican hypocrisy is the ageism being targeted at Joe Biden. Yes, we get it, he’s 81 years old, so he can’t possibly do the job. Funny, I don’t hear any Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders screaming that 93-year-old CEO Warren Buffett must step down. Nor have I heard a single Republican aver that 81-year-old Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — who had those two (that we know of) scary frozen-in-time mental moments — should no longer be Senate Majority Leader. Nor did they raise their voices when Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa ran for re-election in his eighties (he’s now 89 and still serving, having retained his seat for over four decades).
They’re not the only ones putting the old in the Grand Old Party. Representative Harold Rogers (KY) is 85. Representative John carter (TX) is 81. Representative Kay Granger (TX) is 80. Senator Jim Risch (ID) is 80. Representative Virginia Foxx (NC) is 80.
Where are the outraged calls from the ageists on the right for those members of congress to not run for re-election? Yes, there are a bunch of Democrats in Congress who are over eighty, as well, but that’s not the party whining ad nauseam about senior citizens serving.
Nor do any Republicans publicly espouse the view that Trump is too old to be president again at 77, despite the incredibly high volume of outrageous statements he spews which serve as yet more evidence his mental acuity has decreased drastically (not that it was ever at high levels). Not to mention the fact that Biden’s in much better physical shape than his orange opponent.
Meanwhile, fifty-two-year-old Nikki Haley, the only candidate still running against Trump for the GOP nomination, has been made to look somewhat sane in comparison, with many media outlets depicting her as a moderate. But last week on “The Daily Show,” Desi Lydic brilliantly explained how untrue that portrayal is…