Editor's Note, 8:45 p.m. Eastern: Since this article was submitted for publication this afternoon, Biden has since caved and renounced his support of the Hyde Amendment.
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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has come under fire from the left and the media after he vocalized his support of the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment restricts the use of federal funds on abortions unless it’s in cases of rape, incest, and protecting the life of the mother. Thursday, CNN Newsroom ran a segment on the apparent controversy with CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and USA Today columnist Kristen Powers.
Bash seemed to think the idea of Biden having personal reasons for not wanting federal funds being used for abortion was laughable. She chortled after stating “he is sticking to it…hold onto your hats, because he believes it.” How is Biden, a Catholic, not wanting tax payer dollars being spent on abortion a laughable position?
Powers took an even harder stance on the topic. She claimed that Biden held an inconsistent view, not because he believes life begins at conception but still supports abortion “rights,” but because he doesn’t support federal funding of abortion in all cases. She believed that Biden was “out of step” for supporting even the most moderate restrictions on abortion, and that truly shows the audience where CNN’s value lie. Here’s Powers’ “reporting” on the issue (click “expand”):
Well, I think there's a couple things. One, if you look at the Democratic Party, he's widely out of step. He does need to get through a primary before he gets to the general. He seems to be running a general election campaign. There was a poll that showed 50% of -- 57% of Hillary Clinton voters in 2016 thought that it was time to scrap the Hyde Amendment. I mean, those are general Democratic voters. That's not just the Democratic base or the Progressive base. So I think that one of the -- the problem I think is the biggest problem for him is it's kind of an inconsistent view. Because he does support funding, I believe, if there is rape or incest, but he doesn't support it if there isn't. Well, I mean, if you're saying well, I believe these things personally, like why are you able to negotiate on certain circumstances but you can't negotiate on other circumstances? And I think that he can have his personal belief. There are Democrats who identify as pro-life, particularly Catholics. Who say I won't impose that view on you, but I think once you start imposing that view, you run into problems in the Democratic Party. So he is out of step, and one of the reasons I think it's important to point out that the Democratic Party has changed so much on a lot of different issues is there's a lot of voices in the Democratic Party that didn't used to have voices.
Amazingly, CNN failed to note that the poll Powers cited showed that 58% of likely voters in 2016 favored keeping the Hyde Amendment in place. The narrative further falls apart when considering a Marist poll that shows that 80% of Americans were in favor of restrictions on abortion.
The most egregious statement during the segment was when Powers opined that Biden’s stance wasn’t a “defensible position.” Powers statement is eye-opening for sure, but it isn’t out of the realm of absurdity that generally occupies the day-time timeslots of CNN’s cable “news.” Only in the bubble of the liberal media can a left-leaning candidate be lambasted for having in an opinion that is slightly contradictory to the rest of the Democratic field.
CNN and the rest of the liberal media’s obfuscation of the abortion debate has been a constant in the past few months since many states began to pass pro-life legislation. From MSNBC lying about legislation only being passed by Republicans, to the entirety of the media convincing their audiences that the Alabama abortion bill being a push by men to control women’s bodies despite the bill being signed into law by a woman, the left’s repugnant crusade to obscure the nation’s optics on abortion has been an ongoing saga that seemingly has no end in sight.
What is clear is that the age of the inclusivity of the “pro-life” Democrat is officially dead.
Here’s the full transcript:
CNN Newsroom
06/06/2019
10:23 a.m. Eastern
POPPY HARLOW: Right, and the front-runner in the polling among Democrats to be that candidate has been Joe Biden, but Dana, this abortion stance and support continued support for the Hyde Amendment, basically banning federal funding for abortions in almost every scenario seems to be weighing on Biden. I wonder how big of a deal you think this is going to be for him.
DANA BASH: You know, it's such a good question. I don't know the answer to that because the politics in the Democratic Party have changed so quickly and so intensely. So, you know, Joe Biden is saying that he is just going to stay consistent with how he has felt and how he has voted for four decades, which is, he's for abortion rights, but that ends with the notion of taxpayer dollars being used to help pay for abortions. That has been, had been, the mainstream of even the Democratic Party.
HARLOW: Sure.
BASH: Not anymore. The platform changed in 2016. And the competitors that Joe Biden has to a person are all on the other side of that. They're with the platform. They think federal tax dollars should be used, particularly because what you're talking about are the lowest income women. You're talking about taxpayer dollars used through Medicaid, and they're the ones who need it the most. I was told yesterday by a source in Biden world that he is sticking to it and was sticking to it by, hold on to your hat, because he believes it. And he's not going to change. So given that, it really is going to be such a fundamental test of whether Biden can stay on the high, high perch he's on given the way that the winds are shifting beneath him.
HARLOW: The winds are shifting, Kirsten, at a time when the makeup of the Supreme Court is far different than it was, you know, when he was the Vice President. At a time also when you have to consider his evolution on the issue. He became a Senator in 1973. The year Roe V. Wade was decided on in the Supreme Court. He said as recently as 2012 that life begins at conception, that that is his personal belief, but of course, he went on to say I don't believe the government has a role getting between a woman and her doctor. But you know, I think Dana's reporting is spot on that this is his personal belief, and are voters -- how are they going to decide, between his personal belief or his belief of what should be the law of the land?
KRISTEN POWERS (USA TODAY COLUMNIST): Well, I think there's a couple things. One, if you look at the Democratic Party, he's widely out of step. He does need to get through a primary before he gets to the general. He seems to be running a general election campaign. There was a poll that showed 50% of -- 57% of Hillary Clinton voters in 2016 thought that it was time to scrap the Hyde Amendment. I mean, those are general Democratic voters. That's not just the Democratic base or the Progressive base. So I think that one of the -- the problem I think is the biggest problem for him is it's kind of an inconsistent view. Because he does support funding, I believe, if there is rape or incest, but he doesn't support it if there isn't. Well, I mean, if you're saying well, I believe these things personally, like why are you able to negotiate on certain circumstances but you can't negotiate on other circumstances? And I think that he can have his personal belief. There are Democrats who identify as pro-life, particularly Catholics. Who say I won't impose that view on you, but I think once you start imposing that view, you run into problems in the Democratic Party. So he is out of step, and one of the reasons I think it's important to point out that the Democratic Party has changed so much on a lot of different issues is there's a lot of voices in the Democratic Party that didn't used to have voices.
HARLOW: Sure, yeah, yeah.
POWERS: There are people of color who have a real impact now. There are far more women in positions of power. So for him to say I have always thought this and I'm going to stick to it, I don't know that that's a really defensible position.
HARLOW: Okay. Thank you both. I think this issue is not going away for him. We'll see where it goes. Great reporting. Appreciate it.
