Abortion Clerical Errors

It's your very 'Pro-Life' Sunday show rundown

Republicans are in a weird state of flux and mostly can't agree on a cohesive message. Can we say "Republicans in disarray!" or "Conservatives in chaos"? Not quite yet, but they're all over the place. Let's dive in.

Schrödinger's Abortion Ban

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana was on NBC's "Meet The Press" this week, where host Chuck Todd asked him about the Texas federal judge unilaterally deciding that he can undo the FDA's ability to determine drug safety .

Cassidy, who is also the top Republican on the Senate Health and Education Committee, was asked about why if he agreed with the decision on mifepristone, he didn't join Republican senators on the supporting brief. Cassidy tried to appear normal but failed.

CASSIDY: I mean, I'm not quite sure what you're asking there. I mean, I can sign on briefs all day. I'm not sure that has any great importance.[...] That particular ruling seems to be going through —it was on a process-oriented thing. Among the reasons that they ruled that way, I'm told, is that the FDA did not follow correctly the Administrative Procedures Act. Now, that's a question of fact. It can be resolved by the courts. It's actively being resolved.[...]

Funny that for the 20-plus years mifepristone has been FDA approved, only NOW we discover they made a clerical error and only after the Dobbs decision.

 Whoopsie! 

But if you're worried about Republican-run states or right-wing hack judges upending reproductive rights for everyone, Cassidy seems to think you're just paranoid.

CASSIDY: I think that's totally alarmist. It’s totally alarmist. [...]So, I mean, I think that's alarmist. [...]

If we had a dollar for every person who was labeled as paranoid or alarmist when warning about the danger of losing abortion access prior to Dobbs, Wonkette would not need to ask for donations to stay independently snarky (wink, wink). 

But Cassidy gave the game away by dodging a question about Republicans' true goal regarding abortion rights. Todd asked if he would vote against creating a federal abortion standard, after he supported the 20-week abortion ban previously, and Cassidy stammered this nonsense.

CASSIDY: [...]You can give me theoreticals all day long. You truly can. I'm pro-life, by the way. I am pro-life. But the fact is, you're going to need 60 votes to get something through the Senate. What Tammy Baldwin was just talking about, there can be no restrictions in the states upon abortion, meaning that a child could be coming through the birth canal and could still be aborted, is that right? No, it's wrong. And most Americans think that is wrong. And the fact is, Tammy will not get that through the Senate. There's not 60 votes for allowing that. On a bipartisan basis, it's already been rejected. So I kind of reject giving me theoretical after theoretical just because I just – I mean, that's what you do if you want to fill air time and get people buzzing. But it's not how we actually govern.

Nice to know we're seen as "alarmist" by a guy who thinks children are aborted even as they are "coming through the birth canal," a lie so ridiculously stupid that it flies in the face of common sense.

Mia Love's Booing Of Encouragement

Mia Love, the former Republican representative from Utah, was on the panel discussion on CNN's "State Of The Union" and was asked about Mike Pence's very frosty reception at the NRA convention in his home state of Indiana.

“holy shit Pence is getting booed loudly at the NRA event”

— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1681496534 

Mia Love, however, saw it a different way. 

“When a “Boo” is not a “Boo” according to Mia Love.”

— M3Writer (@M3Writer) 1681740584 

LOVE: It's really interesting. The booing sometimes doesn't mean that they're upset with you at the time. Sometimes, it's getting you to know, we're on you. You better do the right thing. It's a warning. Sometimes, it's a warning shot that says, we're coming after you unless you are giving us everything we need.

No one in the crowd was booing you, Mike Pence. They're saying "Boo-urns! Boo-urns!" 

When Love was asked about Trump's attack on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis regarding his cutting of social safety net programs, she told a totally true, totally not made-up anecdote about Trump.

LOVE: I remember — do have to say this. I remember, when I was in the Oval Office, and Trump was there, and he was on the phone, and he was talking to... [...]No, but he just said: "No, those are my people. I'm not going to touch their — I'm not going to touch Social Security." [...] "They're my people. Those are my voters. I'm not going to touch Social Security" or — it's — so it's really interesting.

This quote would not sound like a "hipster coffee shop" story if there wasn't documented history of Trump saying one thing about protecting Social Security and then doing the opposite, despite the fun/disgusting Trump PAC ad portraying DeSantis' pudding fingers. 

No additional context required 

Have a week.