Meet the Lonely House Republican Defending Planned Parenthood [View all]

[babylonsister]

Last edited Thu May 10, 2012, 08:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Meet the Lonely House Republican Defending Planned Parenthood
By Marin Cogan


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While the entire political universe was buzzing about the endorsement of same sex marriage by the president Wednesday, there was another, quieter act of political courage taking place on the east end of the Capitol. Robert Dold, a moderate, boyish freshman Republican with wavy brown hair from the suburbs of Chicago, was introducing a bill to prevent members of his own party from stripping federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Cutting off federal funding to Planned Parenthood because they also provide abortions is a favorite pastime of House Republicans. Last year, when the House voted to defund the organization, only seven Republicans voted against it. So watching Dold introduce a bill to prevent members of his own party from defunding it qualified for the unlikeliest Congressional press conference since Anthony Weiner invited reporters to a presser to answer questions about his underwear bulge.

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After the press conference broke, I chased Dold down and asked him why he would bother stepping forward on an issue where he was so far out of step with his fellow Republicans. "I think we need to put people before politics and progress before partisanship," he said. "This is an opportunity that we've got to do the right thing."

When asked if he had any real hope that the bill could get bipartisan support, he said, "I'm certainly hopeful. We'll try to push forward to get bipartisan support. That's the only way we'll get things through in Congress."

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/blogs/death-race/2012/05/meet-the-lonely-house-republican-defending-planned-parenthood.html