Last week I noted how the NBCNews.com website considered speeches by Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.), Obama co-chair-turned-Republican Artur Davis, and Staples founder Tom Stemberg to not be "notable" enough for inclusion in their "curated" follow-up posts the day after their respective speeches. Well, today, NBC Politics has a post with "highlights from Tuesday night's Democratic National Convention speeches."
Yet while the Democratic Convention has purposefully sought to play up their pro-abortion rights, pro-taxpayer-subsidized contraception stands, the remarks last night by NARAL Pro-Choice America president -- and Democratic Party Platform Committee member -- Nancy Keenan were omitted from the collection. One of the more striking lines invoked the Divine:
We believe that a woman should make health care decisions with her family, her doctor, and her God.
But while NBCNews.com didn't consider the president of America's most uncompromisingly pro-abortion rights lobby group as notable, the website did explore the plight of the tiny pro-life minority in a post this afternoon entitled, "Anti-abortion Democrats struggle to be heard at Charlotte convention":
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Small, shrinking (at least in its congressional representation), and sometimes forgotten, the wing of the Democratic Party that wants to limit or ban abortions is still trying to assert some influence here at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.
“We are members of the Democratic Party. We are pro-life and we are proud of our position as pro-life Democrats,” Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, told a group of about 40 people at an event Tuesday.
“Being pro-life in the Democratic Party can sometimes be a lonely thing,” former Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania told the audience, which included a few delegates.“There are factions in our party who want us to go away. There are factions that think that we’re not true Democrats.”
But, she contended, Democrats can’t win seats like the one she held for one term in Erie, Pa., without running anti-abortion candidates. Elected in 2008, Dahlkemper was swept out in 2010 in the 2010 GOP wave, losing to Republican Mike Kelly.
“We will never get to be a majority again unless we have pro-life Democrats,” argued former Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, who retired in 2010 and is on the board of Democrats for Life.
For its part, MSNBC carried about half of Keenan's speech last night, with anchor Rachel Maddow remarking that having her speak in prime time was a "bold choice."
