George Rebane
We all know how asymmetrical are the lies from both sides in the media and by politicians. The Right and Left can’t even agree on the definition of which lies (exaggerations?) are consequential, hence ‘Big’, and which are incidental pabulum and of no moment in the public forum.
While legion in number, certain Democrat lies achieve prominence now and then in the political fray of today’s election season. Here we focus on abortion as featured in the 8oct24 WSJ lead editorial ‘The Abortion Distortion Campaign’ – “As Republicans move to the middle, Democrats falsely claim their opponents favor a national ban or no exceptions for rape or incest.”
A more detailed look brings the following uncountable daily assertions by progressives – all lies.
- Republicans support “a registry of pregnancies.”
- “[Donald] Trump is trying to create this new government entity that will monitor all pregnancies to enforce their abortion bans.”
- Republican candidates want to “allow state governments to track pregnant women to prosecute them if they get an abortion.”
- Source for these is identified as the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy paper, which hasn’t been adopted by the GOP as a party and Mr. Trump has disavowed many times. But even Project 2025 doesn’t propose such a registry.
- Democrat political ad, “Washington Republicans want to criminalize abortion, even when a woman has been raped or is facing a medical emergency,”
- Republicans would use their Senate seats to “pass a national abortion ban.”
- And on and on …
The WSJ editorial board concludes with – “Politics isn’t pickleball, and distortions occur on both sides. But Democrats aren’t even attempting to be honest about abortion this year. Perhaps they’re lying so extravagantly because abortion is a rare issue on which they have a clear political advantage. Republicans are left having to decide whether to spend scarce campaign dollars debunking the distortions or risk letting some voters believe them because they’re unrebutted. … The distortions can also harm more than other politicians. They can frighten some women into thinking they can’t risk getting urgent medical care if they have a pregnancy emergency. This from the party that claims to be the protector of women’s health. The next time you see an abortion ad from a Democrat, assume it’s not telling the truth.”
And there’s the rub of their Big Lies; they can do real harm to the under-educated and less-read, those who comprise the largest cohorts of constituents that vote Democratic. This perhaps best illustrates the moral asymmetry of the parties. It is hard for the Left to show how Republicans come anywhere close to equally misrepresenting Democrat goals, means, and messages, and thus harming the public at large. However, such evidence will always be welcomed and debated here.
rebanesruminations.com 
Leave a comment