desh ([personal profile] desh) wrote2004-11-01 01:18 pm

(no subject)

Just over 24 hours before I vote, and I'm still undecided about who I'm going to cast my vote for in the election.

Clearly, I'm talking about the Senate race between Specter and Hoeffel in Pennsylvania.

Specter used to be my favorite Republican, for a long time. He never used to blindly vote with his party. He thought for himself on many issues, even highly politicized ones. For example, he voted "not proven" on the Clinton articles of impeachment. So not only was his vote recorded as "not guilty", thus setting him against his party, but he drew attention to himself while doing so. But in the past few years, he's gotten worse and worse at this, and is now almost a down-the-line Republican. So I'd be inclined to vote against him.

Thing is, though, he's still staunchly pro-choice. And if the Republicans retain control of the Senate, which is looking more and more likely, then he'll be the chair of the Judiciary Committee. In other words, he'll be the second most important person in the country when it comes to appointing judges. I like Hoeffel more than Specter in general, but my worst nightmare is Bush winning the White House, the Republicans keeping the Senate, and someone other than Specter running Senate Judiciary.

So what to do?

[identity profile] conana.livejournal.com 2004-11-01 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"intact dialation and extraction"?

Grr. Just read that law. Scary piece of work.

[identity profile] below-the-belt.livejournal.com 2004-11-02 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
work in a clinic for a couple days and you'll find you're testing the limits of the strength of your stomach. it's an intense field, intense work to do, but it needs to get done and you know it's just, like [livejournal.com profile] ladykat81 said, laying the groundwork for further chipping away at abortion rights and accesibility.

sorry to be so snippy but it truly irritates me when people talk about stuff they don't know about. desh, or anyone else, if you want to watch a procedure and see what it's really like, i can hook you up. but that procedure is described in the words of anti-choice anti-abortion activists, who of course frame it to sound as sick, cruel, painful and murderous as possible.

[identity profile] below-the-belt.livejournal.com 2004-11-02 09:39 am (UTC)(link)
no, you don't have to watch a procedure before you can have and express an opinion. but i don't have to sit here and pretend not to be irritated by my friends' lack of understanding about my line of work.. especially since it would be really easy to ask anything you didn't understand or about which you wanted to know more or have a more informed opinion.

this probably sounds patronizing but put yourself in my shoes. if i was expressing strong opinions about things with which i didn't have a whole lot of experience, and which didn't affect my life very much, but which affects your life in huge ways [your occupation, the possibility of yourself being in the situation - needing an abortion, in this case] - well, you'd probably wish i'd asked you about your experiences.

i will of course never drag you to the clinic.

[it's interesting to read comments by you in lj because i picture you saying the things you're saying while having the expression on your face that's in your photo. so when you're mad at me or disagreeing with me or whatever, you're still smiling and having a good time.]

[identity profile] below-the-belt.livejournal.com 2004-11-02 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
that's a good point. you are always smiling.


psyche. [sike.] [whatever.]