Posted on 02/07/2004 9:31:56 AM PST by jwalburg
Tom Daschle has learned the information superhighway has some detours.
South Dakotans in search of the Democratic senator's campaign Web site may instead find an anti-abortion site. Daschle's political site is www.tomdaschle.com. However, www.daschleforsenate.com or www.daschleforsenate.org are much different pit stops on the Internet.
Andrew Jaspers, who said he used to live in Pine Ridge, created the opposition Web sites as well as other similar ones. He's a 25-year-old graduate student at Fordham University in New York City. All of his Internet sites target "politicians who support no restrictions on abortions," he said via an e-mail interview with the American News.
Jaspers said he wants people to realize "how far Daschle is from the mainstream values of South Dakota."
The sites say that Daschle:
• Voted to kill the partial-birth abortion ban;
• Is pro-human cloning; and
• Opposes all other common-sense restrictions to abortion.
Dan Pfeiffer, a Daschle aide, says the Web sites are filled with lies and rhetoric.
Pfeiffer authored a statement responding to Jaspers' Web sites. In it he said Daschle voted four times to ban partial-birth abortion, including once to override a presidential veto.
"In 1997, Daschle also authored legislation to ban all post-viability abortions, including so-called partial-birth abortions, except those that are necessary because continuation of the pregnancy would threaten the mother's life or risk grievous injury to her health," Pfeiffer said.
The bill in question on the sites would have hindered late-term abortions unless there was a health risk to the mother. Pro-life and pro-choice supporters often debate how to define "health."
Jaspers said Daschle has had a "record of uncompromising support of abortion rights."
Cloning: Daschle, Jaspers' sites say, has shown "no support for the Brownback-Landrieu human cloning prohibition act. Without this legislation, companies will soon begin growing human beings by the thousands so that they can be used for spare parts."
To Jaspers, Daschle only wants to maintain an appearance of being against cloning.
Again, Pfeiffer disagrees. "Daschle is vehemently opposed to any human cloning for reproductive purposes."
Pfeiffer said Daschle voted in 2002 for a measure that "bans cloning for reproduction, but allows the use of cloning techniques to develop life-saving treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's disease."
Under the legislation, scien-
tists would have had to gain approval from a scientific and ethics advisory board before research could proceed. The bill failed.
Jaspers also said that Daschle, "voted to reject bringing up to a vote legislation that would have prevented strangers from taking underage South Dakotan girls across state lines to avoid South Dakota abortion laws." Pfeiffer, however, said the senator believes parents should be notified before those under 18 can have abortions.
Daschle has twice voted to prohibit clinics from performing such abortions without consent from a legal guardian.
Pfeiffer said, "Daschle is personally opposed to abortion, but believes a woman's health must be protected and respects the Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to restrict a woman's access to abortion before fetal viability."
Some of Jaspers' other sites are aimed at Republicans. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for example is taken to task for "being soft on Saddam" and being "the Senate's doctor of death" because he supports "baby-murder on demand," the site reads.
On Jaspers' Daschle sites, there are several links, including one to the National Right to Life organization and another to a John Thune site. Thune, a Republican, will likely be Daschle's opponent in November's election.
Jaspers said he does not work with the groups whose links he puts on his sites, nor did he ask their permission.
Pfeiffer said Daschle's camp is considering trying to get the www.daschleforsenate.com and .org sites from Jaspers.
Jaspers said other campaigns have pressured him to take his sites down. Daschle, he said, has not. Jaspers said his lawyer has told him his sites are being used for "legitimate business purpose of political speech."
The Baby-Killer Dems can't stand a taste of their own medicine, eh?
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