Bernie Sanders Is Endorsing Marie Newman Against One Of The Last Anti-Abortion Democrats In Congress

[Uncle Joe]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to endorse abortion rights advocate Marie Newman in her primary challenge against Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski, one of the last remaining anti-abortion Democrats in Congress, the Sanders campaign told BuzzFeed News exclusively Tuesday. It is Sanders’ first congressional endorsement of the 2020 cycle.

(snip)

“This type of legislation is authoritarian and totalitarian. There’s no other way to describe it,” Newman said in an interview with BuzzFeed News last week. “Let’s be honest about what it is. It’s taking us back 100 years, and that’s not exaggerating.”

Since launching his 2020 presidential campaign, Sanders has talked often about abortion. Last month, he encouraged men to speak out about the issue more often.

"This is not just a woman's issue,” he told a crowd in North Carolina. "This is an issue that impacts all of us. And the men must stand with the women in their moment of need."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/bernie-sanders-endorse-marie-newman-aboriton-dan-lipinski

[MrsCoffee]

1. And yet he stood on stage with Heath Mello.

"I want him to win," Sanders told NPR last week. "We have got to appreciate where people come from, and do our best to fight for the pro-choice agenda. But I think you just can't exclude people who disagree with us on one issue."

Is he changing his tune now? Can we count on him to use this litmus test in the future?

[Nanjeanne]

2. Sanders supported Mello, a Dem against the Republican. This is a primary where

he is supporting the pro choice Dem against the anti choice Dem.

[MrsCoffee]

7. Regardless.

His message is inconsistent.

He said we needed to let anti-choice candidates into the party. That we shouldn't exclude candidates based on that one issue. Yet here he is doing just that.

Obviously he is right now, but who knows what he'll say next time he wants to jump on board someone's campaign.

[Nanjeanne]

10. So I guess your message is Dems should stay home if the only Dem running is Mello. But given

a choice between a pro-choice and an anti-choice Dem, Sanders shouldn't choose the pro-choice. It's not a very smart message but you are entitled to it.

And just as an fyi, if you really have an interest in finding out about how Mello evolved on the issue - since it appears "evolution" is to be applauded - here's a good article for you:

Here’s the truth about Mello’s record: Back in 2009, he co-sponsored a bill requiring a physician performing an abortion to tell a woman that an ultrasound is available (as most already did). It neither mandated that the ultrasound be performed nor, if performed, that it actually be viewed by the woman—although it did require abortion providers to position the screen in such a way that the ultrasound was easily viewable. Daily Kos member Nova Land—a Tennessean who had never heard of Mello before the controversy—posted a comprehensive, well-sourced correction to this effect the same day. That didn’t lead Nir to reconsider (Nir did post a correction to his original post; see update below). Nor did it stop Perez from issuing a statement announcing that he “fundamentally disagree[s] with Heath Mello’s personal beliefs about women’s reproductive health,” which was worded in a way that appeared to cast doubt on the sincerity of Mello’s pledge that he “would never do anything to restrict access to reproductive health care.”

“I would have appreciated it if NARAL had taken the time to talk to some of us on the ground” regarding Mello, said Megan Hunt, an Omaha reproductive-rights activist. If they had, they might have heard the story of a man whose mother became pregnant with him at 16 and spent her life cleaning other people’s houses to support her son. For much of his first term, Mello’s positions were conventionally pro-life. In 2010, he voted to ban abortions after 20 weeks and to introduce new screening requirements. In 2011, he voted to bar the health exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act from funding abortions; supported a ban on using telemedicine to perform abortions; and voted to change a parental-notification requirement to one requiring parental consent. All of these bills were opposed by Planned Parenthood—and, given the realities of Nebraska politics, all easily passed.

What’s more interesting is what happened next—and what didn’t. In 2012, Mello voted with Planned Parenthood on two out of three bills tracked by the group—and was excused from voting on the third. After that, Mello, who had become the influential chair of the state legislature’s budget committee, voted with Planned Parenthood 100 percent of the time. By 2015, the group was celebrating a “fourth straight year…without enacting any new abortion restrictions in Nebraska, thanks largely to committed women’s health advocates engaged in the legislative process.”

Hunt, who spent much of the past week lobbying the legislature, is one such activist. Another is her friend Sofia Jawed-Wessel, who teaches sexual health at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Long before The Wall Street Journal made it an issue, Mello had asked Jawed-Wessel to speak at Thursday’s rally. “You know the slogan ‘Women’s rights are human rights’? Well, women’s rights are economic rights, too,” said Jawed-Wessel, to cheers from the crowd.

More here: https://www.thenation.com/article/why-was-heath-mello-thrown-under-the-bus/

Mello's positions aren't very different than 2016 VP nominee Kaine actually.

But hey, it's Sanders . . . so (fill in the blank) . . .

[MrsCoffee]

11. No. My message is anti-choice candidates have no place in our party.

They should follow the Democratic platform.

And people shouldn't be saying one thing for one candidate and one thing for another regardless of who is running.

[Demsrule86]

8. Yep and we were lectured by Nina Turner...

[still_one]

3. Newman would probably have won against Lipinski in the primaries, but thanks to open primaries,

which a significant number of those on the left pushed for, Lipinski won because of Republican cross over votes

Many of Those on the left thought open primaries would allow non-Democrats to flock to the progressive candidate without considering the full implications

Democrats should determine who their nominee is, not non-Democrats

[shanny]

4. That's great!

And it's pathetic that the DCCC doesn't concur. We don't need a tent this big.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. "We don't need a tent this big."

Certainly not in an Illinois district that encompasses parts of southwestern Chicago as well as much of its southwestern suburbs.

[shanny]

6. Exactly.

[AllyCat]

9. Good. how anyone can be a Democrat and

not support equal rights?