On July 21, 2003, CNN News carried a Mark Shields column
titled: "The 'tolerant' Democrats." Go to:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/21/column.shields.opinion.tolerant/
________________________________________________________________________
Excerpts:
[...]
Consider the case of the Democratic Party and its current
party platform, brimming with self-congratulatory language
about the party's admirable broadmindedness:
"We also recognize that members of our party have deeply
held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal
conscience like abortion and capital punishment. We view
this diversity as a source of strength, not a sign of
weakness, and we welcome into our ranks all Americans who
may hold differing positions on these and other issues.
Recognizing that tolerance is a virtue, we are committed
to resolving our differences in a spirit of civility, hope
and mutual respect."
Baloney, B.S. and worse. Seventeen Democratic House
members wrote to party chairman Terry McAuliffe asking
him only "to add a link to the Democrats for Life of
America on the Democratic National Committee website."
The Democratic National Committee has, by actual count,
261 links on its Web site, ...
[...]
.McAuliffe wrote to one of the 17, Rep. Gene Taylor,
D-Mississippi, on June 24, stating, "I do not think it would
be appropriate to use official party resources such as the
DNC website on behalf of organizations whose purpose is
to reverse the current platform and/or to enact legislation
that contradicts that platform."
[...]
On June 24, the same day Terry McAuliffe wrote to deny
17 Democratic House members their request for a Web
site link, Faye Wattleton, who for14 years had headed the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and who has
long been one of the most eloquent advocates for the pro-
choice position, was interviewed on CNN by Judy
Woodruff. The subject was a national poll of women
conducted for the Center for the Advancement of
Women, which Wattleton now leads.
To her credit, Faye Wattleton did not try to gloss over
the unwelcome results from the survey conducted by Prince-
ton Survey Research Associates. "We asked what restric-
tions would you find acceptable (on abortion), and 51
percent said either no abortions at all or only in the
cases of saving the life of the mother or rape and incest."
[...]
________________________________________________________________________
Papa Jack laughed:
I'm so old I actually remember when Democrats actually were
tolerant of differing opinions on controversy. Of course,
that was a long, long time ago. 8^)
.
|
