Campaign Foot-in-Mouth.

Somebody should tell the interviewer there is no such thing as "partial-birth abortions"; D&E abortions, which are late-term and almost always performed for reasons of the life of the pregnant woman or a seriously defective fetus, are extremely rare.

Of course those who peddle the fraud of "partial-birth abortion" know this. If they can con enough people to be revolted by late-term abortions, then they think they can start whittling away abortion rights altogether.

Anyway, getting back to topic. Like campaign finance, FISA, and Iraq, the presumptuous Democratic presidential nominee tries to walk a fine line, and once again plunges flat to the ground:

Strang: Based on emails we received, another issue of deep importance to our readers is a candidate’s stance on abortion. We largely know your platform, but there seems to be some real confusion about your position on third-trimester and partial-birth abortions. Can you clarify your stance for us?

Obama: I absolutely can, so please don’t believe the emails. I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.

The other email rumor that’s been floating around is that somehow I’m unwilling to see doctors offer life-saving care to children who were born as a result of an induced abortion. That’s just false. There was a bill that came up in Illinois that was called the “Born Alive” bill that purported to require life-saving treatment to such infants. And I did vote against that bill. The reason was that there was already a law in place in Illinois that said that you always have to supply life-saving treatment to any infant under any circumstances, and this bill actually was designed to overturn Roe v. Wade, so I didn’t think it was going to pass constitutional muster.

Ever since that time, emails have been sent out suggesting that, somehow, I would be in favor of letting an infant die in a hospital because of this particular vote. That’s not a fair characterization, and that’s not an honest characterization. It defies common sense to think that a hospital wouldn't provide life-saving treatment to an infant that was alive and had a chance of survival.

"Mental distress" doesn't "qualify" as a valid reason for late-term abortions in Obama's view. He is parroting the familiar anti-abortion argument that women will use "mental distress" to have abortions of "convenience" if there are exceptions made to banning late-term abortions (and all abortions, for that matter). And we all know abortion is such a picnic for women; they have them so they can continue to have illicit sex.

Of course there IS such a thing as "mental distress," and some of the few later-term abortions (second- and third-trimester) are performed on young girls who have put off having them until later in their pregnancies. They are scared of what would happen if their parents found out, or they are living in denial they are even pregnant at all until it becomes too obvious. That is mental distress. So are women who are diagnosed as mentally ill and pregnant. And women who find out the fetuses they are carrying suffer from some severe abnormalities are certainly "mentally distressed."

Although these statistics from the Guttmacher Institute are more than a decade old, they do give a good indication on how rare late-term abortions are.

But the "partial-birth" abortion nonsense is a good wedge issue to rile up the religious right and anti-abortion base, all the while the same politicians who peddle this nonsense are ripping these people off in terms of their job security, their retirement security, and their health security.

And what about Obama? He will say anything to anybody depending on the audience. He doesn't even care if he's consistent.

A ringer for the opposing political party will do anything to make it easier for that opposing party to win the presidency.