The New York Sun reports. Part one, Obama accuses his critics of lying about his record:
When it comes to his abortion record in Illinois, Senator Obama is taking flak from all sides. . . [Abortion foes] say his opposition to legislation aimed at protecting infants born alive after a botched abortion demonstrates his extremism on the flash point social issue.
The conservative attacks have intensified in recent days, with opponents of legalized abortion sending out missives against Mr. Obama and a YouTube video circulating that casts his position on abortion as more extreme than even the most stalwart supporters of a woman’s right to choose, including Mrs. Clinton and Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The presumptive Democratic nominee responded sharply in an interview Saturday night with the Christian Broadcast Network, saying anti-abortion groups were “lying” about his record.
“They have not been telling the truth,” Mr. Obama said. “And I hate to say that people are lying, but here’s a situation where folks are lying.”
He added that it was “ridiculous” to suggest he had ever supported withholding lifesaving treatment for an infant. “It defies common sense and it defies imagination, and for people to keep on pushing this is offensive,” he said in the CBN interview.
This statement is clear, isn’t it? Obama says he never supported withholding lifesaving treatment for infants. He said it’s “ridiculous,” and his critics “are lying.”
In fact, Obama is the one who is lying. He did do exactly that, and his excuse for doing so — that the measure didn’t have a provision to protect abortion rights — is untrue. As I noted last week, the National Right to Life Committee has found the documents to prove it. The NRLC then demanded that Obama declare the documents forgeries or apologize.
ASIDE: No one is more a scoundrel than the man who lies in accusing another of lying.
Now, the Obama campaign has conceded the facts, and adopted a vague new excuse. Part two:
The dispute flared again last week when a leading opponent of legalized abortion, the National Right to Life Committee, posted records from the Illinois Legislature showing that Mr. Obama, while chairman of a Senate committee, in 2003, voted against a “Born Alive” bill that contained nearly identical language to the federal bill that passed unanimously, including the provision limiting its scope.
The group says the documents prove Mr. Obama misrepresented his record.
Indeed, Mr. Obama appeared to misstate his position in the CBN interview on Saturday when he said the federal version he supported “was not the bill that was presented at the state level.”
His campaign yesterday acknowledged that he had voted against an identical bill in the state Senate, and a spokesman, Hari Sevugan, said the senator and other lawmakers had concerns that even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law.
Will Obama apologize for calling his critics liars? (Just kidding.)
(Via Pro Life Blogs, via the Corner.)
UPDATE: In case this is hard to follow, David Freddoso tells the whole story in one place (except Obama’s concession of the truth, which happened subsequently).
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