Boston Globe: Brown's failure

Brown's amendment would have added to rape victims' trauma and made a mockery of the emergency contraception law.  [....] Here's what members of his own party said about his amendment back then, before voting to defeat it.

"I can't believe what we're doing to this bill,'' said then-minority leader Brian Lees, who called it, "a poison pill amendment. . . . I can't believe that you're going to say [this] to your constituents who've been through a traumatic experience.''

Senator Richard Tisei said: "I can't recall another instance where we've basically said, 'This is the law, and it's OK not to follow it.' . . . It doesn't make any sense.''

Now, you'd think a state senator would remember being publicly reamed by members of his own party, right? Or recall his own shaky defense of his proposal, which he said he put forward "just for conversation.''

Nope. On Tuesday night, When Janet Wu of WCVB-TV asked him if he'd sponsored the amendment, Brown said: "I have to check. I don't know. It was so long ago.''

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/14/browns_failure/?comments=all&plckCurrentPage=14

Pretty easy post if you've posted here before. It asks only for email and password. Post goes right up.

[ FYI MA Senate records show that Brown wrote and filed the amendment himself. ]

WashExaminer: EASY POST Coakley-Catholics-shouldnt-work-in-emergency-rooms

Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don't want to do that.

Martha Coakley: No we have a seperation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.

Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.

Martha Coakley: (……uh, eh…um..) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn't work in the emergency room.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-Catholics-shouldnt-work-in-emergency-rooms-81711532.html#ixzz0cjnNA5wQ

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-Catholics-shouldnt-work-in-emergency-rooms-81711532.html

No reg required, post goes right up. Only a few posts so far.

Most of the comments are sensible and are agreeing with Coakley.

politico: Coakley hits 'lockstep' Brown

Text of Coakley ad:

It's almost unimaginable but it's true. The Boston Globe confirms Republican Scott Brown sponsored legislation to allow hospitals to deny emergency contraception to rape victims. Brown will vote to let insurance companies keep denying care because of pre-existing conditions and denying millions of seniors prescription coverage. One thing Scott Brown can't deny is that he is in lock step with Washington Re

Under the text is a link for 'post a comment'. Article is just posted, 20 comments so far.

[ FYI it is true that Brown wrote and filed such an amendment to a MA law in 2005. Details and cites at my blog, http://florasteele.blogspot.com ]

Boston Globe: Abortion takes stage in Senate race

The 2005 amendment that Brown sponsored in the state Senate would have allowed a physician, nurse, or any other employee to deny rape victims an emergency contraceptive if it "conflicts with a sincerely held religious belief.'' The facility would have had to have someone else who could administer the contraceptive or refer the victim to another facility at no additional cost to the patient.

[....]

In Coakley's latest ad, a narrator says, "Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims.''

Brown and his supporters have declined to discuss the underpinnings of his amendment, instead trying to focus on the fact that he supported the overall legislation. He also voted to override a veto by Governor Mitt Romney.

[....]

Brown has also declined to discuss his amendment proposal.

"It's irrelevant; it's a red herring,'' he told reporters after Monday night's debate, as an aide cut off further questions.

On WCVB-TV last night, he said he could not recall whether he had actually filed that amendment, although Senate records clearly say he did.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2010/01/13/abortion_takes_stage_in_senate_race/?comments=all#addComm

Comment form at the bottom. Reqires registration but we've had other items here.

phoning for Coakley

Massachusetts State Senate President Therese Murray, co-chair of the Coakley campaign, said, "Special elections have notoriously low turnouts and our phone from home program can make the difference to ensure that voters know the importance of securing a victory for Martha Coakley and women throughout the country. Activists can join the program by contacting Kate Foster at [ phone redacted] kfoster@marthacoakley.com."

[PumaResponders] Boston Herald: Coakley's record speaks for itself

"People show their passion in different ways," said Coakley. "I've
always said the passion I have shows in the work I do, not in pounding
my chest in front of a TV camera or screaming at somebody."

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1224974&format=comments#CommentsArea
Comment form at the bottom. Requires registration (we've had some
items here already iirc) 231 comments. Story posted Jan 12.

[pumaresponders] Martha Coakley needs help!

Martha stood with Hillary through Denver and voted for Hillary on the
Denver floor. Bill Clinton is campaigning for Martha in her race for
Senator from Massachusetts (formerly Ted Kennedy's seat). The election
is Jan 19.

Martha is strongly pro-choice and pro-gay. Her GOP opponent is just
the opposite.

Here is her donation page: https://coakley.zissousecure.com/contribute

And her website: http://www.marthacoakley.com/

(I'll be back with more info)

[PumaResponders] politico:End of the Clinton machine?

What's notable about the highly publicized release of "Game Change,"
however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp - a lack of
public outrage that seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once
known as the Clinton political machine and underlines a fact that
onetime Clinton loyalists acknowledge: The book's primary sources
about the former candidate and current secretary of state are her own
former staffers and intimates.

As a result, there is no campaign of veteran Clintonites spinning the
press corps and trying to pre-emptively discredit the book's scathing
depiction of Hillary Clinton as a rudderless candidate and a
cheerleader for vicious tactics against eventual winner Barack Obama.
There is no team of Clinton proxies going on cable television to
denounce authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann as scurrilous and
unworthy of belief.

This time, Bill and Hillary Clinton are virtually alone.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/The_end_of_the_Clinton_machine.html?showall

(Thanks for the tip, SK!)

Martha Coakley needs help!

Martha stood with Hillary through Denver and voted for Hillary on the Denver floor. Bill Clinton is campaigning for Martha in her race for Senator from Massachusetts (formerly Ted Kennedy's seat). The election is Jan 19.

Martha is strongly pro-choice and pro-gay. Her GOP opponent is just the opposite.

Here is her donation page: https://coakley.zissousecure.com/contribute

And her website: http://www.marthacoakley.com/

(I'll be back with more info)

ETA: Just posted a lot more detail on Coakley's pro-choice record vs Brown's anti-choice record, at http://florasteele.blogspot.com/

Teh Economist praisies Hillary

But in general Clinton has disentangled herself enough from the daily
demands of these regions to focus on strategic questions that are too
often given short shrift.

The only disappointment, from her point of view, is that she did not
bring the same skills to fighting Obama, a year ago, that she is now
bringing to serving him. If she had, Obama might have been the one
learning how to play second fiddle.

gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10325455.html

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Sorry I don't have time to check whether this takes comments but it's
a nice article.