When Abortion Fails - Obama's Disingenuous Response

OK. Now I'm angry. Yesterday, I told you about Gianna Jessen, the aborted baby who didn't die and is now a grown woman. And I gave you a YouTube clip of her ad.

Now, rather than admit that he might actually have been wrong on this issue, Obama has fired back with this own ad in which he indignantly makes several false claims in only 30 seconds:

1. The McCain attack ad is the sleaziest ad ever (interestingly, the voiceover says "the sleaziest," but the text on the screen says, "one of the sleaziest"). Actually, Gianna's ad wasn't paid for by the McCain campaign, but by her own organization.
2. Even the bill's sponsor said the claims about Obama are untrue. Actually, you can read below the entire letter the sponsor wrote (not just the single quoted sentence) and see that Obama has intentionally quoted him out of context.
3. "Obama has always supported medical care to protect infants." But he has not ever supported the medical protection of aborted babies born alive. The voting record on this is clear, and the facts clearly contradict his contention that he would have voted for wording that matched the Federal statute. It did, and he didn't.

Watch Obama's 30-second ad below, and then read the rejoinder from Real Clear Politics, which is a Time/CNN blog and not a partisan site:

Now, here's what Real Clear Politics had to say. I've bolded the sentence Obama uses in his ad, just so you can see how he misrepresented the writer:

The Obama ad cites a September 5 letter to the Chicago Tribune written by the Republican co-sponsor of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, Rick Winkel, in declaring, "even the bill's Republican co-sponsor said it wasn't true." To put this in context, here is Winkel's letter reprinted in full:

A storm of controversy has risen in the presidential race concerning Barack Obama and legislation I sponsored in 2003 ("Obama's '03 abortion vote on forefront," Eric Zorn, Metro, Aug. 21). I introduced Senate Bill 1082 because of a nurse's claims that abortions at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn resulted in living infants whom hospital personnel then allowed to die without medical or comfort care.

SB-1082 defined born-alive infants and required that courts recognize them fully as persons and accord them immediate protection under the law—including statutes outlawing infanticide. Opponents of the bill believed it was an attack on Roe vs. Wade, so I added neutrality language identical to the 2001 federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act that the United States Senate approved 98 to 0.

On March 12, 2003, I presented the neutrality amendment before the state Health and Human Services Committee chaired by then state Sen. Obama. All 10 committee members voted to add the amendment. Nevertheless, during the same hearing, the committee rejected the bill as amended on a vote of 4-6-0. Obama voted no.

I was stunned because the neutrality amendment addressed the concerns of opponents. It was the same neutrality language approved by U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry in the federal bill.

None of those who voted against SB-1082 favored infanticide. Rather their zeal for pro-choice dogma was clearly the overriding force behind their negative votes rather than concern that my bill would protect babies who are born alive.

In 2005, I joined 116 state representatives and 54 senators in voting for HB-984, which contained the same born-alive definition and neutrality language as Senate Bill 1082, plus some extra language to satisfy the most zealous pro-choice legislators, yet harmless to the bill's purpose. No one voted against it. We had finally accomplished what we had set out to do - protect a newborn baby's life.

- Rick Winkel, Former state senator, Urbana

I used to think Obama was a person of integrity, but I'm over that now. I would like to start calling him all manner of contemptuous names, but I'll save that for another time.

No Calvinists in the Presidential Race

It's become common in my Presbyterian circles to point out that we all have "gods" and "idols" in our lives, things we think we need in order to be happy and fulfilled. Usually, however, they are less literal than what our presidential aspirants are carrying in their pockets. Time Magazine tells us that Senator Obama, for example - a professed Christian - carries "a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler’s lucky chit, a tiny monkey god and a tiny Madonna and child." Does that make Obama a Hindu-Catholic-Pagan Christian, or just a confused man?









McCain and Clinton have their lucky charms, as well, though apparently not in the same quantity. See the Time web page for more details.

At this point, I'd really like to throw some stones, especially at Obama, who's shown on several occasions now that his claim of allegiance to Christ doesn't include much in the way of spiritual discernment or an understanding of the Scriptures. But I've got my own idols, too, just better hidden than his.

Nevertheless, I really don't believe there's such a thing as "luck" in life. Events may appear random, of course, and they may fail to meet our expectations or hopes, but they can never be divorced from the One who runs the universe.

No one from the east or the west

or from the desert can exalt a man.
But it is God who judges:

He brings one down, he exalts another.

- Psalm 75.6,7

Mother Teresa, Part 1

It's old news by now, but I'm running behind in my blog posts. Actually, it was old news already when it came out in August. But I didn't pick up on the story when it was first reported three years ago. It took a Time Magazine cover story to catch my attention.

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I've blogged in the past about how much I hate American news magazines, but after reading David Van Biema's article, I must acknowledge there can be good among the bad. Considering the kind of publication this article appears in, Van Biema's profile is surprisingly well-written, insightful, and even-handed.

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If you're a follower of Christ and have never felt that God is distant, then you won't identify much with Mother Teresa. But if you've had, or are having, your "dark night of the soul," then it's worth taking the time to read the article. Grab a cup of coffee, and ponder.

"I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God - tender, personal love. If you were there, you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'"