If you think the issue is just abortion, you don't see the dangerous pattern emerging.

[madfloridian]

I have been reading the posts here that are defending the Stupak amendment. I see the technical analyses saying we are over reacting, that we need calmer heads, that we are not reading it correctly.

Last night Rachel Maddow covered it extensively. (Video) She understood that it was not about abortion. It was about a trend within the Democratic party to please the religious right movement. The conservative Democrats wanted to please not only the Catholic bishops with whom Nancy Pelosi met on Friday night before the vote.

They also want to please the evangelical movement which includes varied churches, one of which is the hijacked Southern Baptist church of which I used to be a member.

We have seen it over and over and over. We saw it happen when Tim Kaine was appointed chairman of the DNC. It was a culture shock after having a socially liberal chairman for 4 years. Kaine has at various times been opposed to abortion, stem cell research funding, same-sex marriage, civil unions, and many labor issues.

WASHINGTON - While Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said he supports the $500,000 allocation in the budget bill lawmakers approved last month to fund adult stem cell research in Virginia, he does not want to see taxpayer money used for embryonic stem cell research.

“I don’t think we should be publicly funding it in Virginia,” Kaine, who is Catholic, said Tuesday during his monthly appearance on WTOP radio. “You will not see me proposing that. I think there are huge advances that can be made in adult stem cell research. I think that’s the way to go.”

..."The state also saw the swearing-in today in of a new governor, Democrat Tim Kaine, who opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions. He has promised to sign the measure that places the amendment on the ballot after the Senate passes the proposal once more. Even more depressing is that measures that would have limited the scope of the amendment's discrimination were deep-sixed. (WashBlade):

Kaine spokeswoman Delacey Skinner said that the governor-elect will sign the bill to call for a referendum. Kaine supports the amendment and opposes civil unions, she said. She added that he is interested in discussing measures “to make sure people can still be able to contract with each other.”

Kaine on labor issues and right to work issues.

Kaine:"I am saddened that the House leadership has chosen the Washington style path of partisanship by rejecting a good and capable man...The Secretary of the Commonwealth has no - I repeat, no - role in the enforcement of Virginia's right-to-work law, a law I strongly support."

That told us a lot about the direction of the party.

At least he did not want to criminalize women or doctors. That was thoughtful.

"Promote abstinence; ban partial-birth abortion
I will reduce abortion in Virginia by enforcing current Virginia restrictions, passing an enforceable ban on partial-birth abortion, ensuring women’s access to health care (including legal contraception), and promoting abstinence-focused education and adoption. We should reduce abortion in this manner, rather than by criminalizing women and doctors."

We should really have been alarmed seriously recently when the DNC of which Kaine is chairman, and the OFA which is the reorganization of the Obama campaign....REFUSED to take a stand for gay rights in Maine. They not only refused to donate to the cause, they refused to even mention the amendment.

DNC, OFA distanced themselves from the Maine anti-gay resolution.

"The Executive Director of Organizing for America sent an email to Mainers telling them to vote. Someone I know just got it:

"Tomorrow is Election Day once again in Maine. It's as important as ever for you to get out to vote. And just like you did last year, bring friends, family, and co-workers with you when you go to the polls."

Funny thing (or not), OFA forgot to tell Mainers what issues are on the ballot and how to vote on those issues. For example, there's no mention of Question 1, the measure to repeal Maine's marriage equality law - i.e., repeal gay marriage - in the email (really big surprise, huh?)

What a waste of time and energy. Progressives in Maine are working their butts off to save marriage equality. The Democratic Governor of the State, John Baldacci, signed the marriage law, which passed the Democratically-controlled House and Senate. Baldacci and members of the legislature have been campaigning tirelessly to save the new law from being repealed. Yet, OFA, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, couldn't even say: Vote No on 1."

There are the words of Chuck Schumer in 2005 in which he effectively said the party could no longer afford to be pro-choice.

Schumer took women's rights off the table.

"So I called up Governor...our number one target is Rick Santorum...let him go back to wherever he lives, Maryland, you know you heard about it, he is Pennsylvania but he tried to get exempt from the school tax there cause he lives in Maryland even though he is a registered citizen of Pennsylvania. In any case I called up the Governor of Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell, I said who is the best candidate to beat Santorum. He there is only one person who could beat him but he won't run and B you wouldn't want him to. I said why wouldn't we want him to run, he said he's pro-life. He's a deeply religious Catholic man. Bob Casey."

"I said, those days are over Ed. Yes I'm pro-choice, but we need the best candidate. We can't insist that every democrat check off 18 different issues before they get (unintelligible) we could do that, we can't anymore. And so, we persuaded, Harry using his very...Harry has amazing insights into people...and we together persuaded Bob Casey to run. A poll yesterday...national...all the polls they did...Casey 51 Santorum 40. You should see Santorum nervous and walkin on the floor."

(unintelligible)

"And we're doing this in the other states."

So that is two groups, women and gays, whose rights the party no longer considers important enough to defend.

We should have seen it coming as well when the Democratically controlled congress in 2007 upped the amount for failed abstinence only education by 28 million dollars.

The uproar over the Stupak amendment is about abortion, but only on the surface. It goes so much deeper. Those here who defend it, those here who ridicule those of us who are truly angry about the sell-out....do not see that this is about religion taking over our party.

Don't ever forget the words of Simon Rosenberg that were quoted in the America Prospect about the DLC's formation.

"Simon Rosenberg, the former field director for the DLC who directs the New Democrat Network, a spin-off political action committee, says, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party. In that way," he adds, "they are ideologically freed, frankly, from taking positions that make it difficult for Democrats to win."

Bottom line is that women and gays are considered among those issues which might make it hard for Democrats to win.

We have again caved in on the issue of abortion. We have caved to the right on their anti-gay agenda. Next comes contraception. After that who knows?

We deserve it if let them do keep doing it.