Lies, Damn Lies, and Bush Campaign Ads

There's a new Bush ad that's been running for about a week that talks about Kerry's missed Senate votes due to campaigning (as if Bush and Cheney have been sitting diligently in the Oval Office and not going to whistle-stop tours and million-dollar fundraisers for the past year). They make a point of saying "But Kerry did find time to vote against the Laci Peterson Law, which protects pregnant women from violence."

So what is this "Laci Peterson Law"? Well, it wasn't called the Laci Peterson Law when it passed. It was then the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. And here's what it does: it makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. So does that protect pregnant women, really? If you're a criminal, and you're looking to harm a pregnant woman, are you ACTUALLY thinking "Hmm, this would be TWO counts of assault, not one, so I'd better go home"? No. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is another way right-wing fundamentalists can eat away at abortion rights. Because if it's illegal to harm a fetus, how far are we from arresting abortion providers? In fact, a GOP Senate candidate in Oklahoma has already gone that far:

Tom Coburn, a former member of the House of Representatives from Oklahoma, who is campaigning to become the Republican party's candidate to replace retiring Senator Don Nickles, recently said he supports the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions.

"I favor the death penalty," Colburn told the AP last week, "for abortionists and other people who take life."

Let's put aside the point that Colburn, a man now on the record for killing doctors, would somehow be labeled by his party as pro-life. The real point is that invoking some tabloid star like Laci Peterson puts in the minds of less savvy Americans phrases like "why would John Kerry not want to protect that nice woman?" when actually, what we have is a craven disguising of the facts. It's disgusting to use an antiabortion law as "proof" that your opponent is soft on crime.

Give Bush and Rove credit, however; just when I think I've reached the top level of my hatred, they find a way to raise it even more.

UPDATE: After posting this story on another site, commenter Bidabunch makes a great point:

It's also pretty useless. The federal government doesn't have police power. Generally, there are no and can be no capital crimes since only the states' police power.

This law applies only to federal lands or committing federal crimes. Had it been in effect at the time, it wouldn't even apply to Laci Peterson.

So Kerry voted against the Laci Peterson law... which doesn't, um, apply to Laci Peterson...

UPDATE #2: Now it appears that the aforementioned Tom Colburn, based on some research by the folks at Atrios, has PERFORMED abortions on two occasions. I'm guessing (hoping) he's a doctor. So he favors the death penalty for abortionists not named Tom Colburn.