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More Mainstream Media Swallowing Obama Line...

Have I mentioned lately that much of the mainstream press is not only biased but also incompetent?

A few days ago I did criticize an article in the New York Times for claiming that

[a]t the Democratic convention in Denver, the party?s platform was indeed expanded to embrace anti-abortion views.

I could find no evidence of that alleged expansion, but I found much traditional support Roe v. Wade and the right of women to have abortions, regardless of their ability to pay.

Now comes the Christian Science Monitor, stating in an article yesterday that

[t]his year, Democrats for the first time wrote language into their platform to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies through care and education efforts ? while still staunchly supporting Roe v. Wade.

Really? For the first time? No one on the Christian Science Monitor?s editorial board, under whose byline the article appeared, appears to have looked at earlier Democratic platforms and their attempts to cloak uncompromising support for abortions with gauzy statements about reducing the need for them. The following, for example, is from the 1996 Democratic Platform:

Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare, not more difficult and more dangerous. We support contraceptive research, family planning, comprehensive family life education, and policies that support healthy childbearing. For four years in a row, we have increased support for family planning. The abortion rate is dropping. Now we must continue to support efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, and we call on all Americans to take personal responsibility to meet this important goal.

And, reflecting no doubt a great deal of thought and introspection on this wrenching issue over the intervening four years, the 2000 Democratic Platform had this to say:

Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare, not more difficult and more dangerous. We support contraceptive research, family planning, comprehensive family life education, and policies that support healthy childbearing. The abortion rate is dropping. Now we must continue to support efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, and we call on all Americans to take personal responsibility to meet this important goal.

And what about the 2004 Democratic Platform? You guessed it:

We will defend the dignity of all Americans against those who would undermine it. Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right. At the same time, we strongly support family planning and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare

Perhaps this year, for the first time, the Christian Science Monitor editoral board should do some historical research before making historical assertions.

I realize that whole large swaths of the mainstream really wants to believe (or at least to have its readers believe) that Obama represents something new and fresh from the Democrats, that he's "reaching out," etc. But wanting to believe something doesn't make it true.

Full post as published by Discriminations on September 13, 2008 (boomark / email).