Liberal group claims Dems in 1992 convention weren't intolerant of abortion foes
On the November 25 broadcast of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, former Clinton special counsel Lanny Davis claimed that "Democrats have been intolerant" and repeated the false claim that former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey Sr. was "refused the microphone at the [1992] Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life." As Media Matters for America has noted, several opponents of abortion rights were given speaking slots at the 1992 convention.
Davis appeared on Weekend Edition to promote his book, Scandal: How Gotcha Politics is Destroying America (Palgrave Macmillan, September 2006). From the November 25 broadcast of Weekend Edition:
SCOTT SIMON (host): "I'm interested in what you say in your book, in the way in which you identify intolerance, not just between Republicans and Democrats, but on certain issues in both the Republican and Democratic Party. And you don't spare your own party on this one.
DAVIS: "No, I don't. We Democrats have been intolerant. Remember the current senator-elect from Pennsylvania, Bob Casey Jr.? His father, the governor of Pennsylvania, in 1992 was refused the microphone at the Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life.
"This is a party that values free expression and civil liberties, and Bill Clinton was in control of that convention. And yet we still, all of us, were complicit in denying that microphone. That's intolerance. "
The New Republic's Michael Crowley noted in a 1996 article that "a slew of pro-life Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Jr., [former] Senators John Breaux [LA] and Howell Heflin [AL], and five governors, did address the delegates in 1992."
Read entire article at Media Matters
Davis appeared on Weekend Edition to promote his book, Scandal: How Gotcha Politics is Destroying America (Palgrave Macmillan, September 2006). From the November 25 broadcast of Weekend Edition:
SCOTT SIMON (host): "I'm interested in what you say in your book, in the way in which you identify intolerance, not just between Republicans and Democrats, but on certain issues in both the Republican and Democratic Party. And you don't spare your own party on this one.
DAVIS: "No, I don't. We Democrats have been intolerant. Remember the current senator-elect from Pennsylvania, Bob Casey Jr.? His father, the governor of Pennsylvania, in 1992 was refused the microphone at the Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life.
"This is a party that values free expression and civil liberties, and Bill Clinton was in control of that convention. And yet we still, all of us, were complicit in denying that microphone. That's intolerance. "
The New Republic's Michael Crowley noted in a 1996 article that "a slew of pro-life Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Jr., [former] Senators John Breaux [LA] and Howell Heflin [AL], and five governors, did address the delegates in 1992."