Oklahoma Politics: August 2004 Archives

Keith Gaddie of soonerpolitics.com is shedding light on a deceptive push-poll designed to alienate pro-life supporters of Dr. Tom Coburn:

The newest dirty campaign in Oklahoma is the person or persons who are calling around the state, performing a push-poll and asking the respondents if they would vote for Dr. Tom Coburn if they knew he had performed abortions. There are two reprehensible acts here, and I intend to lay both to rest right here and now. The first is the portrayal of Tom Coburn as an abortionist. The second is the use of the push-polling technique.

First, with regard to Dr. Tom Coburn and abortions: Tom Coburn freely admits that, on two occasions, he terminated pregnancies in order to save the life of the mother. He also stated in a debate last month that, definitely, if he had to end a pregnancy to save the life of a mother, he would do so.

Let us talk about the pregnancies Tom Coburn terminated. As I understand it from people who should know (people who spoke to Coburn about this matter), both of the pregnancies he terminated were what are called ectopic pregnancies....

This type of pregnancy is non-viable. In other words, there is no chance of the safe and normal development of the baby, no prospect for carrying an ectopic pregnancy to term and delivering a baby....

To equate the termination of an ectopic pregnancy with an elective abortion is at best ignorant, at worst politics at its most-mean-spirited and guttural.

So Dr. Tom Coburn did not perform abortions. He terminated two nonviable pregnancies of the sort that constitute a grave threat to the life of the expectant mother.

Second, about push-polling: A push-poll is a telephone campaigning technique disguised as an opinion poll. Push polls are used to spread disinformation about candidates by couching questions into a context, such as asking the question “would you vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” Whether or not there is any basis in fact for the assertion is secondary to the effect of spreading the disinformation. Bush political guru Karl Rove has been termed “the Prince of Push Polls” for his effective use of this questionable campaign technique.

soonerpolitics.com has more details, with links, about both ectopic pregnancy and push-polling. Right now the item is at the top of the page, but be aware that it will move down the page in days to come.