NICE EDITING, NATIONAL REVIEW

Much of the right has gone to Defcon-1 fauxtrage because of remarks made by Virginia's Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, on a radio show today:

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was accused by prominent Republicans on Wednesday of supporting infanticide because of comments he made about late-term abortions in which the infant is severely deformed or unable to survive after birth.

The Democratic governor and pediatric neurologist was defending efforts to loosen abortion restrictions during a radio interview on WTOP-FM when described a hypothetical situation where a severely deformed newborn infant could be left to die.

Northam said that if a woman were to desire an abortion as she's going into labor, the baby would be "resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue" between doctors and the mother.

The self-righteousness is off the charts. Ben Sasse: "I don’t care what party you’re from — if you can’t say that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the hell out of public office.” Marco Rubio: "I never thought I would see the day America had government officials who openly support legal infanticide." Gateway Pundit: "SHOCK: Democrat Virginia Governor Ralph Northam Endorses the Murder of Babies — AFTER THEY ARE BORN!"

We expect ideologues to go for the jugular and the gutter press to go for the gutter. But how was this story handled by the "responsible" right-wing media?

Let's look at this piece from National Review. The headline? It's inflammatory: "Virginia Governor Defends Letting Infants Die." Hey, but at least NR isn't accusing him of openly sanctioning murder!

Here's how NR quotes Northam's statement:

“This is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians, and the mothers and fathers that are involved,” Northam said. “When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable.”

... he went on to say something even more heinous.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Now watch the clip of Northam's remarks:

VA gov on abortion this morning:

“If a mother is in labor...the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians & mother" pic.twitter.com/cc15pVLjIQ

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 30, 2019

Let me give you a revised transcript of what Northam said. It's not greatly revised -- I'll highlight the key difference:

“This is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians, and the mothers and fathers that are involved. When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable.

“So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Oopsie! NR left out those five words that make clear that Northam is talking about what happens in the case of a fetus that is non-viable or severely deformed.

Northam subsequently issued a statement to that effect:

No woman seeks a third trimester abortion except in the case of tragic or difficult circumstances, such as a nonviable pregnancy or in the event of severe fetal abnormalities, and the governor’s comments were limited to actions physicians would take in the event that a woman in those circumstances went into labor. Attempts to extrapolate these comments otherwise is in bad faith....

Yes, well, pretty much everything right-wingers say is in bad faith, isn't it? The same people who've pretending in recent days that they don't know the difference between a 70% tax rate on the ten millionth dollar of income and a 70% tax rate on all income are now pretending that they believe Northam wants to make it legal to murder live, healthy babies. Deceiving people for partisan advantage is just what they do.