Watch Out When the Dems Start Using the Word "Nuanced"

Tweet I'd call this approach paternalistic and misogynist. Is that nuanced enough for you?

"She [an adviser] has been urging Democrats to embrace programs aimed at helping women in crisis keep their pregnancies, in an effort to show voters that "pro-choice" does not mean "pro-abortion." The leading Democratic presidential candidates are increasingly making that more nuanced case.

"At a recent presidential forum, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York decried the failure of activists on both sides to work together to bring down the number of abortions. She repeated a mantra her husband made famous more than a decade ago: Abortion, she said, should be "safe, legal and rare."Then Clinton paused and added deliberately: "And by rare, I mean rare."

"At another forum, this one sponsored by Planned Parenthood, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois called a woman's right to abortion "one of the most fundamental freedoms we have in this country." But he also urged alliances across ideological lines to promote initiatives that value motherhood, such as paid maternity leave."

"If the argument is [too] narrow, oftentimes we lose," Obama said.Democrats first began field-testing this message in 2006. Candidates for governor in Ohio and Michigan made a point of talking about abortion reduction even as they supported abortion rights.

"In one mailer, Ohio candidate Ted Strickland spoke of his desire to give all children "every opportunity to reach their God-given potential. This includes working together, across our differences, to reduce the need for and numbers of abortions."

"Both Strickland and Michigan incumbent Jennifer Granholm won their campaigns. Exit polls showed they did better than national Democrats among weekly churchgoers — and much better among white evangelicals, who tend to be conservative on abortion.

"'This approach is not going to all of a sudden bring the pro-life crowd over to the Democrats, but it creates an opening," said Eric Sapp, a political consultant who helped craft the Michigan and Ohio campaigns. With the nation so closely split, even a small boost in support for the Democrats "could reshape the political landscape," Sapp said.