This is a pattern that was already stale by the last election. When George W. Bush ran for president, Planned Parenthood blasted him as the “most anti-abortion governor in America” (who, er, didn’t cut Planned Parenthood’s domestic funding as president)…and guess what, when his brother Jeb ran this year, he just happened to be even further “to the right” — despite the fact that both brothers held a ‘pro-life with exceptions’ position.

The last Republican vice-presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, held “extreme abortion views,” according to the pro-abortion media (but again, not extreme enough to withhold Planned Parenthood’s funding as Speaker), and the “breathtaking” scope of his “anti-abortion credentials” included cosponsoring “all the most extreme anti-abortion bills.”

In fact, nearly all the GOP primary candidates this year have been labeled with the scarlet E, from “anti-abortion hysteria” being deemed the “new norm for Republican presidential candidates” to the candidates taking stances “even more extreme than their constituents.” Heck, it’s still an open question whether Trump himself even believes his pro-life proclamations, yet Planned Parenthood attacks him as every bit as “dangerous” to their cause as anyone else.

After the hundredth time or so, one has to start questioning how much of this crying wolf is on the level…

Most would, but not host Joy Reid. She instead affirmed Sharlet’s summary with a litany of her own:

“On abortion, he signed a law as Indiana governor banning abortions because of genetic anomalies, abortions that were unfortunate anomalies,” Reid said.

It’s extreme to allow abortions for most reasons (even though more than half the country consistently says they’d ban elective abortions) while drawing the line at discriminating against one’s children based on severe medical conditions?

“And he also signed a law mandating, and this is weird, women who have a miscarriage or an abortion had to have a burial for the fetus and must cremate after a miscarriage or abortion…

That does sound weird—because it’s not true. The bill did not require women to have a burial for their aborted babies; it required the abortion facility to either bury or cremate the remains unless the mother chooses an alternate means of burial.

She then pointed out that Pence cut in half Planned Parenthood funding in the midst of an HIV outbreak, which resulted in the closure of some regional clinics in the state.

What a monster! If only there was anywhere else in Indiana where HIV patients could get—what’s that? You say federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics in Indiana outnumbered Planned Parenthood centers nine-to-one? Never mind, then.

For abortion apologists, elections aren’t ever about the candidates and their particular strengths and weaknesses. They’re always about just recycling the same old script, because without the truth or the majority on their side, maintaining power necessitates motivating their devotees with fear that their rights (both real and imagined) are constantly on the verge of extinction.

This is a pattern that was already stale by the last election. When George W. Bush ran for president, Planned Parenthood blasted him as the “most anti-abortion governor in America” (who, er, didn’t cut Planned Parenthood’s domestic funding as president)…and guess what, when his brother Jeb ran this year, he just happened to be even further “to the right” — despite the fact that both brothers held a ‘pro-life with exceptions’ position.

The last Republican vice-presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, held “extreme abortion views,” according to the pro-abortion media (but again, not extreme enough to withhold Planned Parenthood’s funding as Speaker), and the “breathtaking” scope of his “anti-abortion credentials” included cosponsoring “all the most extreme anti-abortion bills.”

In fact, nearly all the GOP primary candidates this year have been labeled with the scarlet E, from “anti-abortion hysteria” being deemed the “new norm for Republican presidential candidates” to the candidates taking stances “even more extreme than their constituents.” Heck, it’s still an open question whether Trump himself even believes his pro-life proclamations, yet Planned Parenthood attacks him as every bit as “dangerous” to their cause as anyone else.

After the hundredth time or so, one has to start questioning how much of this crying wolf is on the level…

Most would, but not host Joy Reid. She instead affirmed Sharlet’s summary with a litany of her own:

“On abortion, he signed a law as Indiana governor banning abortions because of genetic anomalies, abortions that were unfortunate anomalies,” Reid said.

It’s extreme to allow abortions for most reasons (even though more than half the country consistently says they’d ban elective abortions) while drawing the line at discriminating against one’s children based on severe medical conditions?

“And he also signed a law mandating, and this is weird, women who have a miscarriage or an abortion had to have a burial for the fetus and must cremate after a miscarriage or abortion…

That does sound weird—because it’s not true. The bill did not require women to have a burial for their aborted babies; it required the abortion facility to either bury or cremate the remains unless the mother chooses an alternate means of burial.

She then pointed out that Pence cut in half Planned Parenthood funding in the midst of an HIV outbreak, which resulted in the closure of some regional clinics in the state.

What a monster! If only there was anywhere else in Indiana where HIV patients could get—what’s that? You say federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics in Indiana outnumbered Planned Parenthood centers nine-to-one? Never mind, then.

For abortion apologists, elections aren’t ever about the candidates and their particular strengths and weaknesses. They’re always about just recycling the same old script, because without the truth or the majority on their side, maintaining power necessitates motivating their devotees with fear that their rights (both real and imagined) are constantly on the verge of extinction.