Obama and the Born Alive Controversy

As the links provided above by Ruben demonstrate, Obama accused the National Right to Life committee of "lying" after it claimed he voted against a Born Alive bill which had been amended to conform with a federal bill that he previously had stated was acceptable. Obama claimed that he voted against the bill because it didn't contain the federal language, but that vote was actually against an earlier, non-conforming bill.

Obama's campaign yesterday confirmed that the bill he voted against was identical to the federal bill:

http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-facing-attacks-from-all-sides-over-abortion/84059

There's no "controversy" here. The facts are very simple. Belief.net owes its readers a simple explanation of the completely uncontested facts. To claim that "Obama finally attacked the issue more emphatically" when all he did was repeat his past, now-acknowledged mistatements and accuse NRTL of "lying" is highly unfair. It is also unfair to dismiss Obama's "no comment" as merely a "missed opportunity" and act as if you are helpless to clarify to the matter without further assistance from the campaign. The facts are in the hard, cold legislative record.

Yeah Obama votes clearly against the bill that would protect babies born alive from being left to die or thrown in the garbage after a failed abortion. The bill was identical to the federal law that was even supported by the pro choice lobby including all of the democrats in Washington. Obama is misleading and he said that his very first act as president will be to sign the freedom of choice act, legalizing partial birth abortion, and ending regulations such as waiting periods prior to an abortion, pre abortion counseling, parental notification for underage teens seeking abortions etc..

I am truly puzzled by your post, Mr. Waldman.

You must be aware by now that the issue is very simple: Obama falsely claimed that he voted against the Illinois born alive bill because it had a provision granting the fetus personhood rights, when in fact he was fully aware that it had been amended to delete that provision. The amendment made the state bill identical to the federal bill that Obama has earlier said he would have voted for. There is no controversy -- NONE WHATSOVER -- about that, and it is a documented legislative fact that you should have made clear at the very top of your post.

Instead, you talk about Obama missing an opportunity to "attack" the issue, and then state that he finally attacked it emphatically. The plain implication of your language is that Obama is the victim of some false accusation, and although he has fought back, his response has been inadequate to fully address the smears of his critics. As noted above, however, they are not smears and there is no defense.

Particularly misleading is your failure to explain the nature of his "emphatic" attack, which was nothing more than a reckless, evidence-free accusation that the National Right to Life Committee was "lying." His campaign today conceded that NTLC was correct regarding the legislative record. You owe your readers an emphatic correction.