Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Monday night, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored the best and brightest small screen performances at the 2022 Emmy Awards. While shows like “Succession” and “Abbott Elementary” are certainly deserving of recognition, in our opinion, the best television acting of the year didn’t occur until the day after the Emmys.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a longtime proponent of a federal ban on abortion, said Tuesday he would introduce a bill to create a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks.
After trying to justify stripping the rights of women to control their bodies by dangerously weaponizing “states’ rights,” conservatives rushed to condemn Graham’s proposal as “ill advised.”
Cue the nominees for best faux surprise and outrage in a completely predictable scene.
Back in June, Republican legislators across the U.S. celebrated, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v Jackson, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the nearly 50-year-old right for women to seek an abortion in the United States.
In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito made it clear the decision was based on three cascading foundations: (1) there is no federal constitutional right to privacy; (2) without a right to privacy, there can be no right to seek an abortion; and (3) in the absence of a right to abortion, states are free to regulate abortions as they see fit.
Republican leadership issued a statement framing the decision as a victory for state’s rights and welcoming the opportunity for discourse at the state and local level where it belongs. “The Supreme Court is right to return the power to protect the unborn to the people’s elected representatives in Congress and the states,” the statement said.
Unfortunately for GOP leadership, most of the members of their party didn’t even pretend to care about the issue of state’s rights. And those who did, were straight-up lying.
On July 19, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., told a church in Yuma that abortion “is not a federal issue, this is a state issue. We the people. The states gave the federal government limited powers and we have to take them back.” Yet Gosar failed to mention that eight days earlier, he signed on as a co-sponsor to legislation by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.,that would trample state control by effectively banning all abortions in the U.S. after five weeks of pregnancy.
And Gosar wasn’t alone.
On the day the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., issued a statement reading: “While today we are rejoicing, the fight now turns to the states where the American people must go on the offense for life.” Eighteen days later he co-sponsored the same bill as Gosar.
In fact, dozens of Republican representatives have signed on as co-sponsors to the bill, including many “state’s rights” Westerners such as Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., Ken Buck, R-Colo., Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., and Blake D. Moore, R-Utah.
Texas Republicans didn’t even try to hide their plans for federal legislation. A spokesman for Rep. Ronny Jackson told The Washington Post that “Congressman Jackson did not say that protecting innocent life was narrowly a state issue, he called on the states to enact pro-life legislation now that the heinous Roe v. Wade decision is no longer a roadblock.” And Justin Discigil, chief of staff to Rep.Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, went even further, saying, “following the overturning of Roe, this issue is returned to the people and their elected representatives, whether that be at the state or federal level.”
Apparently, Texas Republicans believe that only the Lone Star State is allowed to govern themselves, every other state must fall in line with the federal government, state’s rights be damned.
Which brings us back to the morning after the Emmys, when Republicans were suddenly aghast at the audacity of Graham to propose a federal ban on abortion after 15-weeks.
Texas’s own Sen. John Cornyn gave an Emmy-worthy performance and a master class in deflection when he suggested that Graham went rogue, telling Politico, “That wasn’t a conference decision. It was an individual senator’s decision.” Pay no attention to the fact that Cornyn was among the first co-sponsors of Graham’s previous bill to create a national ban on abortions after 20 weeks.
And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky must have been imagining some fictional television universe when he said most Republicans “prefer this be handled at the state level.” McConnell was one of 45 Republican senators (out of a total of 49) and 173 Republicans in the House (out of 212) who co-sponsored federal abortion ban legislation proposed by Graham in January.
Maybe the Emmys should create a new category for best performance by a U.S. politician trying to save face by telling a delusional lie to the American public. We’d lay odds on Senate Republicans every year.
But if by some miracle they fail in their efforts to pass a national abortion ban, you can rest assured that local Republicans will carry the banner on their behalf.
Here in Nevada, Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt has refused to answer numerous direct questions about how he would vote if a federal abortion ban were to come before the Senate. But he did call the original decision in Roe v. Wade “a joke” and has clearly stated that he would support a strict statewide 13-week ban. In plain language, Laxalt is flatly against women’s right to control their bodies.
Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo gave a taxpayer-funded Metro helicopter ride to a silent auction supporting an anti-abortion organization. He is clearly cozying up to anti-abortion extremists. A walking cipher, Lombardo runs a bizarre campaign in which he avoids all hard questions and rarely states what he actually believes. But his refusal to speak plainly on the issue is by itself an admission. When it comes to abortion rights, nearly any adult in our society can articulate where they stand on the issue. By sidestepping it, Lombardo tacitly admits he sides with anti-abortion extremists and is afraid to confess it to the voters.
In the theater of politics, it’s unfortunate the categories for silent performers seem to be coming back in vogue.Fortunately, unlike the Emmys, only the voters of Nevada and of the United States will determine whether Laxalt, Lombardo or any other Republicans are rewarded for their silence, corruption and flat out lies.
