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Senator Clinton Speaks of 'Common Ground' on Abortion (Hillary Alert)
New York Times ^ | 1/24/05 | PATRICK D. HEALY

Posted on 01/24/2005 5:30:54 PM PST by nj26

Proposing new political language about abortion rights for the Democratic Party, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said today that friends and foes on the issue should come together on "common ground" to reduce the number of "unwanted pregnancies" and ultimately abortions, which she called a "sad, even tragic choice to many, many women."

Mrs. Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, Roe v. Wade. But then she quickly shifted gears, offering warm words to opponents of abortion - particularly members of religious groups - asserting that there was "common ground" to be found after three decades of emotional and political warfare over abortion.

Mrs. Clinton is widely seen as a possible candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, and her remarks signaled that she could be recalibrating her strong identification with the abortion-rights movement as the Democratic Party engages in its own re-examination of its handling of the issue in the wake of Senator John Kerry's loss in the 2004 presidential race.

Ms. Clinton has been a visible and very public defender of abortion rights, appearing at a huge rally in Washington last spring and denouncing what she called Republican efforts to demonize the abortion rights movement.

While she acknowledged in her address today that Americans have "deeply held differences" over abortion rights, Mrs. Clinton told the annual conference of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State, "I for one respect those who believe with all their heart and conscience that there are no circumstances under which abortion should be available."

In addition to her description of abortion as a "tragic choice" for many," Mrs. Clinton said that faith and organized religion were the "primary" reasons that teenagers abstain from sexual relations, and reminded the audience that during the 1990's, she promoted "teen celibacy" as a way to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

"The fact is, the best way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in the first place," Mrs. Clinton said.

Mrs. Clinton also called today for the Bush administration, religious groups, supporters and opponents of abortion rights and others to look beyond the abortion rights divide and form a broad alliance on other issues that she suggested as less incendiary: sex-education programs for teenagers that included abstinence education, emergency contraception for women who have recently had unprotected intercourse, and family planning.

The speech was also notable for a stream of statistics and data that, Mrs. Clinton's aides said afterward, were included to underscore her view that the reduction of "unwanted pregnancies" could be a unifying issue for supporters and opponents of abortion rights.

At one point, for instance, she drew gasps from some in the audience by mentioning that 7 percent of American women who do not use contraception account for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies.

Several women in the audience reacted positively to Mrs. Clinton, whose remarks were interrupted by applause several times and ended with a standing ovation. But they also said her language and themes seemed politically calculated to deal with the abortion "freak-out" among Democrats, as one audience member put it, and reach out to independent and conservative voters in hopes of broadening her base of support for a possible 2008 presidential run.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; commonground; hillaryclinton; righttolife; roevwade
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To: nj26

"He who fears corruption fears life." - Saul Alinsky (Hillary's mentor)

Barbara Olson's Article on Hillary's College Thesis
entitled: "There is Only the Fight ... An Analysis of the Alinsky Model"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1035840/posts?page=73#73

*
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky Courtesy of The Wanderer.
Saul Alinsky and the Lessons He Taught Bill and Hillary
http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/Alinsky-SaulRef.html

Saul Alinsky wrote two books outlining his organizational principles and strategies: Reveille for Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1971).

Rules for Radicals opens with a quote about Lucifer, written by Saul Alinsky:

“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer.”

....Altogether, Alinsky provides eleven rules of the ethics of means and ends.

They are morally relativistic:

.....Rules for Radicals teaches the organizer that he must give a moral appearance (as opposed to behaving morally): “All effective action requires the passport of morality.”

The tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends states “that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments ... Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.”

Rules for Radicals provides the organizer with a tactical style for community organization that assumes an adversarial relationship between groups of people in which one either dominates or is dominated.

“The first rule of power tactics is: power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”

“Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.”

“Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this. They can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also, it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”

“The threat is generally more terrifying than the thing itself.”

“In a fight almost anything goes. It almost reaches the point where you stop to apologize if a chance blow lands above the belt.”

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

One of the criteria for picking the target is the target’s vulnerability ... the other important point in the choosing of a target is that it must be a personification, not something general and abstract.”

“The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”

Saul Alinsky urged the active and deliberate “conscious-raising” (Ed note: a tactic used by feminists) of people through the technique of “popular education.”

Popular education is a method by which an organizer leads people to a class-based interpretation of their grievances, and to accept the organizer’s systemic solutions to address those grievances.

“Through the People’s Organization these groups [of citizens] discover that what they considered primarily their individual problem is also the problem of others, and furthermore the only hope for solving an issue of titanic proportions is by pooling all their efforts and strengths. That appreciation and conclusion is an educational process.”

Rules for Radicals stresses organizational power-collecting: “The ego of the organizer is stronger and more monumental than the ego of the leader.

The organizer is in a true sense reaching for the highest level for which a man can reach -- to create, to be a ‘great creator’, to play God.”

Alinsky considered Hillary a terrific “organizer” and wanted her to become his protege. She declined. She had bigger fish to fry. She learned her lessons well. She and Bill have employed Alinsky’s tactics probably better than anyone else.


61 posted on 01/24/2005 6:36:37 PM PST by Matchett-PI (Today's DemocRATS are either religious moral relativists, libertines or anarchists.)
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To: nj26

The Hillary Transformation Tour rolls on......all gleefully promoted within the pages of her PR machine - the New York Times.


62 posted on 01/24/2005 6:37:18 PM PST by Libertarian444
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To: oceanview

I know Democrats, lifelong, FDR, dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, who don't trust the woman. Even they know, that she wears a mask. I'm referring to elderly, WWII-era members of my own family who haven't voted for anyone if they didn't have a "D" next to their name in their entire lives. My point is that these people are the hard base of the Democrat Party. Some of these people didn't even vote in the last election (in Ohio BTW) because they didn't like Teresa Heinz-Kerry.

This is not good for Hillary.


63 posted on 01/24/2005 6:39:21 PM PST by uncitizen
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To: nj26

Senator Clinton? If abortion had been illegal, how many step children would you have?


64 posted on 01/24/2005 6:41:53 PM PST by NativeNewYorker (Don't blame me. I voted for Sharpton.)
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To: uncitizen

agreed.

but the big problem is going to be the women's vote - young single women, "moderate" suburban women, and with Richardson on the ticket - the Hispanic vote.


65 posted on 01/24/2005 6:42:22 PM PST by oceanview
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To: nj26
She's coming

Not likely.

66 posted on 01/24/2005 6:42:31 PM PST by NativeNewYorker (Don't blame me. I voted for Sharpton.)
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To: oceanview
but the big problem is going to be the women's vote - young single women, "moderate" suburban women, and with Richardson on the ticket - the Hispanic vote.

I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. But i still say she can't get elected. Maybe if she were a man with the same exact record and history, there'd be a chance. But it will take someone with her husbands level of charisma to pull it off.
67 posted on 01/24/2005 6:45:02 PM PST by uncitizen
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To: Matchett-PI
“The first rule of power tactics is: power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”

Pay attention to this freepers, don't be scared of the witch , get fired up !
68 posted on 01/24/2005 6:49:54 PM PST by John Lenin (You have to be a lunatic yourself to appeal to the RAT base)
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To: nj26

HILLARY: What can I SAY to fool them today ..??


69 posted on 01/24/2005 6:59:18 PM PST by CyberAnt (Where are the dem supporters? - try the trash cans in back of the abortion clinics.)
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To: nj26; John Lenin
Saul Alinsky, in his book Rules for Radicals teaches the organizer that he must give a moral appearance (as opposed to behaving morally): “All effective action requires the passport of morality.”

The tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends states “that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments ... Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.”

Rules for Radicals provides the organizer with a tactical style for community organization that assumes an adversarial relationship between groups of people in which one either dominates or is dominated. ...." Excerpted from: #61 above

And Saul Alinsky follows his own rules, too:

Sojourners Magazine March/April 2000 issue [Hillary's Marxist mentor] Saul Alinsky Goes to Church Faith-based community organizing ... by Helene Slessarev HERE

70 posted on 01/24/2005 7:18:26 PM PST by Matchett-PI (Today's DemocRATS are either religious moral relativists, libertines or anarchists.)
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To: F16Fighter

"Cackle cackle. I do believe that f16fighter guy has a thing for me. Sorry, pal. I'm saving myself for Bill."

And I just knew you'd want to save this one as wallpaper for your computer. :o)

71 posted on 01/24/2005 7:33:50 PM PST by arasina (So there.)
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To: nj26

You know, I'm already feeling queasy and then I have to read something like this. I guess you warned me--you said Hillary Alert which is the same as a Barf Alert.


72 posted on 01/24/2005 7:44:56 PM PST by beaversmom (The greatness of a man is measured by the fatness of his wife)
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To: nicmarlo
I for one respect those who believe with all their heart and conscience that there are no circumstances under which abortion should be available just as much as I respect the "Vast Right Wing," the military, law enforcement, church-goers, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, and President Bush.


73 posted on 01/24/2005 7:57:12 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: MeekOneGOP

lol!!


74 posted on 01/24/2005 7:59:05 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: nj26

She is blowing her wad to soon... If she goes too hard right too quick her party wont nominate her, reguardless of who she is.. I hope they do though, easy win for us.


75 posted on 01/24/2005 8:06:40 PM PST by Next_Time_NJ (NJ demorat exterminator)
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To: arasina
Those two juicy pics of Helen make me want to lock myself in the bathroom for days.
76 posted on 01/24/2005 8:33:22 PM PST by F16Fighter
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To: F16Fighter

Now, Pookie, you're starting to scare me. Hmmm...does this mean I get to buy some new towels? ;-)


77 posted on 01/24/2005 8:55:33 PM PST by arasina (So there.)
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To: nj26

Um, who is she kidding? Doesn't she know we're on to her and there is no way in H-E-Double Two Sticks that we would ever vote for her. I would personally cast my vote for Osama Bin Laden before I'd ever cast it for Hillary.

Yes, You now are against abortion. No, your husband never inhaled.

As the kids are saying these days: "Whateva!"


78 posted on 01/24/2005 9:32:25 PM PST by Big Guy and Rusty 99 ("Drivin' in my car. Livin' like a star. Ice on my fingers n my toes n on my Taurus.")
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To: uncitizen
Bring it on, Hillary! You won't get elected.

Un, I hope you are correct. I believe, however, that the only way Hillary does not get elected will be if we all take her and her obedient persons of hench* very very seriously, and work very hard starting in 05 to 1) spot her tactics, and 2) make our candidate electable.

Hillary is already making a head fake toward the right. In fact, don't be surprised if she supports the Iraqi elections with a gratuitous congratulation for our troops For-warned is for-armed.

*Henchmen is so sexist!

79 posted on 01/24/2005 9:44:32 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: arasina
"Hmmm...does this mean I get to buy some new towels? ;-)

It's Helen. Better make them beach blankets ;-)

80 posted on 01/24/2005 9:53:03 PM PST by F16Fighter
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