By Dave Andrusko

Editor's note. Part Two describes one of the great pro-life songs of all times and provides a link so you can listen to "My Chance." Please send your thoughts and comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Every bit as important as giving our faithful readers a first draft account of front-line issues is to offer follow up. Today I'll update you on something we wrote about yesterday--the "Religious Left's" in-kind contribution to the Obama Health Care "reform" agenda--as well as the latest on a desperate attempt by the pro-abortion candidate for governor in Virginia to change the momentum, which we discussed on Monday.

The long and the short of the "People of Faith for Health Reform" ad campaign ("40 Days for Health Reform") is to promote universal health care as a "moral imperative." But as we discussed Tuesday, their 30-second ad not only converts people with legitimate disagreement into pawns of "special interest," it also targets "moderate, swing districts where 'religion is significant to public life.'" It's just politics by another name.

What I didn't have time to talk about was important, and I should have discussed it. According to "The Note," an ABC News blog, the group is trying to "keep abortion from derailing health-care reform" by "promoting a policy of 'abortion neutrality.'"

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson posted a response on the blog that points out that abortion "neutrality" is the last thing on the minds of the White House and the Religious Left's supporting Obama.

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The claim that most of these Obama-affiliated groups are promoting "neutrality" on abortion does not pass the straight-face test. In fact, at least four of the groups sponsoring Mr. Wallis's call, purportedly to promote "neutrality" on abortion, are also members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The RCRC statement on the pending "health care reform" legislation can be seen here:
http://www.rcrc.org/programs/healthcare_62409.cfm

Here is an excerpt from the RCAR statement: "Treatments and services that promote reproductive health throughout a woman's life must be part of any national health plan. These include . . . abortion care . . . The [Roman Catholic] bishops have warned that including abortion as a health care benefit will jeopardize passage of national health care reform. But it's the bishops and their allies who will block health care reform if it includes comprehensive reproductive health services. RCRC's view is that abortion and contraception care should not be treated any differently than any other health care service. Coverage decisions should be left to a council of non-partisan health experts and should be grounded in science and based on the best interest of patients."

Jim Wallis

Not surprisingly, then, the actual provisions of the legislation being backed by the White House, and promoted by Wallis and his allies, is about a far from "neutrality" on abortion as you can get. As amended, the House bill, H.R. 3200 would, among other things, establish a nationwide federal health plan (the "public option") and explicitly authorize that plan to cover all abortions. The abortionists would send their bills to the federal agency, and the federal agency would send them payment checks. If you wanted to sign up with the public plan, you would have no choice except to buy an abortion-on-demand policy. And that is just one of the pro-abortion components. Mr. Wallis may really think he can peddle this as "neutrality on abortion," but to more discerning eyes it looks like a wish-list for the abortion industry.

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On Monday we talked about R. Creeds Deeds, the pro-abortion Democratic state Senator, who is in a rematch with former state Attorney General, Bob McDonnell. McDonnell barely defeated Deeds in the AG race, now they are going head-to-head to succeed pro-abortion Tim Kaine as governor of Virginia.

You've heard of the sports idiom, the "Hail Mary" pass? It refers to where a team is back up against its old goal line with time running out, and the quarterback throws a desperation pass downfield, hoping somehow he'll connect for a touchdown.

Well, that's where Deeds finds himself: 4th and ten, deep in his own territory. A decidedly uncharismatic candidate, at a minimum he needs the "Obama factor" to be a wash. Right now, it is clear that many Virginians, like many Americans across the land, are having a severe case of buyer's remorse.

As public opinion polls show Deeds trailing by as many as 14%,. what to do?

After stating in their first debate that "I've never made social policy a huge part of my campaigns or a huge part of my agenda," on Monday Deeds surrounded himself (according to the Washington Post) with "female activists and lawmakers" to try to make the case that McDonnell was out of step with Virginians on abortion.

This is so transparent, it would be almost amusing if we were not talking about a very significant contest.

Speaking of being out of the mainstream, Deeds is so extreme that he opposed Virginia's Partial-Birth Infanticide law (recently upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals), which McDonnell vigorously defended. By contrast in his years as a state legislator, McDonnell supported such commonsensical legislation as a 24-hour waiting period and parental involvement in a minor daughter's abortion decision.

Reporters understood his attack on McDonnell is a huge gamble. In his attempt to dissuade them Deeds quoted, of all people, Helen Keller.

"Everything in life is risky," Deeds told the Post. "Helen Keller once wrote that life is either a daring adventure or nothing. So this is my daring adventure. . . . And that means sometimes I have do things that some people view as risky. I don't think it is."

Two quick responses. First, you'd have to have blinkers on not to see that the last two Democrats who've won as governor of the Commonwealth rarely talked about the abortion issue publicly, instead lobbing verbal grenades in their mailings to citizens.

Second, at the risk of stating the super-abundantly obvious, the chances of someone with Helen Keller's disabilities surviving in age of ultrasounds--and politicians like R. Creigh Deeds--are close to zero.

Be sure to keep up to date with the latest on health care "reform" by going to www.nrlactioncenter.com.