Exposing the lies on the slick mail out ads (propaganda)

 

By SJ Otto

As the various elections heat up across the country, here in Kansas we have a heated race between Barbara Bollier and Roger Marshall for senate. Marshall is a typical far right wing Republican and Bollier is a centrist. Normally I give little support to a centrist. But in Kansas that maybe the only way to get a Democrat elected in this right-wing redneck strong hold.

I have been getting a lot of slick mail in campaign propaganda pieces. They all follow a basic trend. Of course we are told that Bollier is actually an extremist due to her support of abortion rights.  She has not denied that she supported “late term abortions.” But what does that actually mean? According to these slick mailers she “voted against commonsense legislation to ban abortion after 21 weeks.”

According to Guttmacher:

“In its landmark 1973 abortion cases, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion, but held that states could prohibit abortion after fetal viability—the point at which a fetus can sustain life outside the womb—if their policies met certain requirements. Since then, the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed the fundamental right to abortion while also allowing new limits on a woman’s ability to obtain one. The composition of the Court became more conservative after the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and more states are expected to challenge the protections of Roe v. Wade by limiting abortion at earlier stages of pregnancy.

 

The current U.S. Supreme Court standard holds that states may prohibit abortion after fetal viability so long as there are exceptions for the life and health (both physical and mental) of the woman. Under this legal standard, viability—which can range from 24 to 28 weeks after the start of the woman’s last menstrual period (LMP) —must be determined on an individual basis, and determinations of both fetal viability and the woman’s health are at the discretion of the patient’s physician. In addition, states may not require that additional physicians confirm an attending physician’s judgment that the woman’s life or health is at risk in cases of medical emergency.”

So just how extreme is it to defend 21 weeks? It is not extreme at all. On TV Bollier is accused of supporting gun laws that allow a criminal of being denied a right to own a gun. Supposedly anyone who is considered dangerous, under this supposed law, must prove they are fit to own a gun.  But who really believes a dangerous criminal is protected under the second amendment?

Then there is the accusation in both print and TV ads that Marshall is in (health care) it for the money. Of course that is true. According to Marshal’s slick ads:

 

“By protecting health care

Fighting to protect your family’s health care

Health care that’s more affordable and accessible."     

And on a similar flyer:

"More Government –Run health care

X Higher Costs

X Fewer Options

Your Control Your family’s Care

✔More Affordable Care

✔Patient-Centered Plans"

 

Also on that flyer: "Health Care That’s More affordable, Greater Access to quality care, Allows You To keep your doctor, Patient Centered Plans for Your Family."

Of course everything Marshall says is a lie. It is true he believes in keeping the doctor of a person’s choice. The rest is a bold face lie. As with the other Republicans, he only protects the health care of the wealthy and upper class working people. The poor and working poor are kept from getting health care. He and Trump have taken away health care from millions of Americans. He is a liar and he is the enemy of working people.

He needs to be exposed for the charlatan he is.