Toni Vernelli and Friends

Ms. Vernelli is “Eco-Friendly” believing pregancy and giving birth hurts the planet earth.

Having an abortion some years ago was not enough for Ms. Vernelli, she wanted it “fixed” so she could never give birth.

Finally, eight years ago, Toni got her way.

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilized to “protect the planet”.

Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.

“Having children is selfish. It’s all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet,” says Toni, 35.

“Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population.”

“After my abortion, I was more determined than ever to pursue sterilization.”

We only wish Toni and her ilk had parents who would have considered sterilization. Read more about “Moonbat” Toni and others like her.

Norma Leah McCorvey, aka Roe, saw the light and consequences of abortion and unlike Ms. Vernelli became aware of destroying a life and didn’t feel abortion or sterilization was complicit in saving the planet. Indeed!

Moonbat is a special feature of Liberally Conservative and posted each Saturday. For previous awards visit Moonbat Awards. 

Dirty

So just what is behind the item that syndicated columnist Bob Novak put out this weekend saying “agents” of Hillary Clinton’s campaign were “spreading word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent”? Barack Obama’s campaign certainly decided to make an issue out of the innuendo, launching a furious barrage of press releases demanding that Ms. Clinton either confirm her allies were behind the rumors or rejecting such tactics.

“We are letting Democratic voters know, and we are letting Republican operatives know, and we’re letting other people know that we will respond swiftly and forcefully when there’s untruths being told about me,” Mr. Obama told reporters.

The Clinton campaign responded coolly and merely stated that Team Obama had fallen for a Republican dirty trick: “Voters should be concerned about the readiness of any Democrat inexperienced enough to fall for this.”

Well, the rumor may be lacking in substance, but there’s no doubt Democrats as well as Republicans have been talking about it. The murmured charge is that as an Illinois state senator, Mr. Obama engaged in a real estate deal that benefited him in exchange for legislative favors. In short, what might pass for standard operating procedure in the Illinois legislature could nonetheless prove embarrassing to someone campaigning as a paragon of political virtue for president. So far, however, no proof of the allegation has been presented.

Dirtier

Who done it? That’s the question in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the fight for the Republican presidential nomination last week officially got dirty. Governor Mitt Romney found himself the object of a dreaded “push poll,” inspiring the New Hampshire attorney general to launch an “expedited investigation” into who was responsible for skirting the state’s election laws.

A “push poll” is right at the top of dirty campaign tricks; it starts out sounding like a survey, but ends up planting negative messages in voters’ minds. According to reports, a company called Western Wats last week placed 20-minute calls to potential voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, asking whether they knew Mr. Romney was a Mormon, that he’d received military deferments, and that his faith believes the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible. The calls purportedly also pushed a positive image of Senator John McCain.

Mr. McCain’s campaign was quick to say it had nothing whatsoever to do with the phone calls. Mr. McCain himself was the target of similar tactics in 2000 in South Carolina, and the Arizonan denounced the poll and called on the other campaigns to swear off any push polling. The Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson campaigns also vehemently denied involvement, as did the Romney campaign itself (see item below).

New Hampshire authorities are nonetheless investigating, since state law requires that all political ads — including phone calls — identify the candidate behind the effort. Early prediction: Should the attorney general succeed in finding a culprit, it will most likely be a special-interest group working in support of a candidate, even if it isn’t directly affiliated with a campaign. Whatever the ultimate source of the latest outrage, Mr. Romney himself was certainly right when he told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow that push polling and other opaque campaigning techniques are a direct result of campaign finance laws like McCain Feingold, which don’t remove money from politics, they just push cash toward less transparent groups and tactics.

Dirtiest

Mitt Romney reacted with icy fury last Friday to reports that voters in New Hampshire and Iowa had received phone calls from so-called “push pollsters” casting aspersions on his Mormon faith and making favorable mention of rival John McCain.

Who would be behind such a thing, given that the risks to any campaign caught dragging religion into the race would be enormous? After an extensive investigation, Mark Hemingway of National Review has fingered a likely culprit: “Although the Romney campaign denies involvement, evidence points in its general direction.”

Why? One plausible motive would be to gather data about public reaction to negative information about the Mormon Church. Another might be to arouse sympathy for Mr. Romney and provide him a needed pretext to give a major address on why voters should not factor in his Mormon religion when making their presidential decision.

Mr. Hemingway reports that the firm making the calls is the Utah-based Western Wats, which may have direct ties to the Romney campaign. Back in August, people in Iowa and New Hampshire who received unwanted telephone calls of a political nature were able to trace those calls back to Western Wats. The client paying Western Wats was Target Point Consulting, a firm that had been received $720,000 from the Romney campaign. Alex Gage, president of Target Point, has been identified in the media as “Romney’s Data Cruncher” and part of “Mitt Romney’s Inner Circle.”

Everyone associated with Mr. Romney’s campaign denies any role in the calls, but questions remain. Roger Stone — the acknowledged Mr. Big of GOP dirty tricks — told Politico.com that Robert F. Kennedy was secretly behind anti-Catholic campaigns designed to generate sympathy and help his brother become the first Catholic president. Earlier this year, a partner in a Romney campaign consultant’s office in South Carolina was caught launching a Web site attacking Fred Thompson in highly inflammatory terms. The Romney campaign at first denied any links between its allies and the Web site. The truth turned out to be more complicated.

Mr. Romney has every right to be outraged at any attacks on his religion. But he also has an obligation to make sure his allies aren’t secretly behind the calls. Western Wats’ client list features many key Romney supporters, including Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida and former Florida House Speaker Allan Bense. Mr. Feeney’s former chief of staff recently worked as Mr. Romney’s deputy campaign manager.

Western Wats operates in the shadows of American politics, which is and should be very tolerant of even objectionable free speech. But just as every campaign should be sharply questioned about any connection to the anti-Mormon calls made by Western Wats, reporters and others should also examine possible links between Western Wats and the Romney campaign’s own supporters and vendors.

Source: OpinionJournal’s Political Diary [Subscription]

Newt Gingrich

Former Republican Speaker of the House

We’re not too thrilled with Newt Gingrich, the darling of “neocons” everywhere. Sean Hannity loves him (we’re not crazy about Mr. Hannity either) and you’ll find Mr. Gingrich all over National Review and other outlets.

However, Mr. Gingrich teams up with left-wing nuts and we’re sorry, politics aside should not equate to promoting health care with the likes of Hillary Clinton or John Kerry.

Providing credibility to Leftists while calling yourself Conservative is a bit over the top and Mr. Gingrich doesn’t choose his “buddies” carefully.

In 2005, Mr. Gingrich, appeared at a news conference with H. Clinton, appeared with her at a press conference to promote – of all things – health care legislation. Mr. Gingrich was Gingrich had also been talking up Clinton’s presidential prospects in 2008.

At the time the International Herald Tribune wrote:

For Clinton, standing side-by-side with her husband’s onetime nemesis gives her the chance to burnish her credentials among the moderates she has been courting during her time in the Senate.

Hillary Clinton stated:

“I know it’s a bit of an odd-fellow, or odd-woman, mix.”

“But the speaker and I have been talking about health care and national security now for several years, and I find that he and I have a lot in common in the way we see the problem.”

Gingrich called Ms. Clinton, “very practical” and “very smart and very hard-working,” adding, “I have been very struck working with her.”

Gingrich must have been struck in the head and is now demonstrating he hasn’t recovered.

Fast forward 2007 – The New Odd Couple

Newt Gingrich and John Kerry have teamed up and have written in the Wall Street Journal [Subscription] on the merits of “E-Prescriptions.”

The new “Lib-Con” team (hardly short for Liberally Conservative) write:

The federal government can lead by requiring that doctors who do business with Medicare convert to e-prescribing. This can be done by using market forces and the federal government’s purchasing power to align financial incentives.

New Gingrich, claiming to be Conservative, co-author’s with John Kerry that the federal government should use it’s “purchasing power” in the private sector. Astounding yet true, Gingrich is advocating the government harness the prescription drug market.

If a majority of doctors don’t e-prescribe a few years down the road, the government should require all doctors to adopt e-prescribing or face financial penalties.

The new health care tag team of Gingrich-Kerry is discussing Medicare prescriptions primarily but we know involving government will only lead to the “step-by-step” Liberal approach of medical socialization.

E-prescribing for Medicare is just the beginning of the modernization and digitization our ailing health-care system urgently needs. A high-tech, healthier future is within our grasp. We just need creative leadership bold enough to reach for it.

Creative leadership from the federal government, that’s rich, indeed! As an old school Conservative I’m still seeking the actual definition of a “Neo-Con” and New Gingrich worries me it could be “Lib-Con in GOP Clothing.”

What’s next for Mr. Gingrich, a formal appearance with Jimmy Carter?

Moonbat is a special feature of Liberally Conservative and posted each Saturday. For previous awards visit Moonbat Awards.