Politico reports on Democratic National Convention planning documents that they’ve seen and how Barack Obama’s party is planning to highlight the so-called “hot-button” issues like gay rights, abortion, Planned Parenthood funding, and immigration. Politico reports:
The most innovative — and harshest — element of the preliminary program is a nightly “social contrast” in which two people describe their personal experience with a hot-button issue — one person lauding the president’s actions, the other taking Romney to task. “Each paired-testimonial should have an ‘unexpected’ participant,” the documents say.
But the plans show organizers intent on steering clear of controversy as well. For the gay marriage social contrast, for instance, the documents state the participants should be “not a gay couple” — but a “parent and gay son or daughter.”
Other examples: “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: Gay soldier and fellow (straight) soldier who served together in Iraq or Afghanistan (ideally the straight soldier was helped by the gay soldier, i.e., medic, in fire fight) … Planned Parenthood: Husband who talks about how a PAP smear saved his wife’s life and his spouse … Immigration: Two young people from the same family, one who was born here, the other a few years older who was not … Choice: A couple who has children, but wants to make their own decisions, not have the government do it for them (or who has confronted a difficult medical situation).”
This seems so fundamentally dishonest. Don’t the Democrats have the courage of their convictions. Why can’t they be honest with the American people? Is it because when the average person is forced to think about homosexuality and abortion they still aren’t quite comfortable with it? It seems that their sly ploy admits that the Left knows Middle America — working class and other independent voters in swing states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa — isn’t quite ready for the radical social experiment the Democrats want to impose on the United States. Their strategy is brilliant. It’s not honest, but it’s brilliant. It humanizes the issues, which is what the Democrats are trying to do, but they are not an accurate reflection of the issues. Planned Parenthood funding is not about PAP smears and gay marriage isn’t really about have a gay child and having an abortion is not usually about being confronted with a medical situation (and it is overwhelmingly single women, not couples who are making the decision). The Democrats are being misleading in how they are pushing on these contentious issues.
