Mika Brzezinski talked to Chris Christie this morning about last night's Republican, and why Republicans seemed helpless to grapple with abortion.
"Another issue you talked about last night was abortion, we disagree on this issue, but the one thing you keep saying, you keep talking about abortion in the ninth month which is allowed in your state," she said.
"Bring me a case where a woman walked into doctor's office in the ninth month and decided not to have a baby, it doesn't happen, less than 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks and if there's a situation like that, it's because there's a massive emergency, so I just think of all the candidates you've been the most honest about Trump and election integrity, but in this one respect I have to call you out because you're not being on honest on the issue. We can debate abortion, but there's not abortion in ninth month."
"Mika, you're the one who's not being honest, I did not say there was abortion in the ninth month, what I said was that the law in New Jersey and New York and Illinois and California permits it, you can't deny that's the truth because it is," Christie said. (It is.)
(Back and forth, "You're calling me a liar," etc.)
"Answer my question, does the law permit it in those states? That's all I said, I don't understand what your problem is with that, in the end if that's what the law permits, it's legally permissible," Christie said.
"You're painting a picture of the abortion that's not honest and this is a health issue for women. There are women who are in extreme situations who need healthcare and they should get it. We can debate that. But there are not women in the state of New Jersey going into doctor's offices, asking into doctors' offices asking for abortions in the ninth month. It doesn't happen," she said.
Christie said she was mischaracterizing what he said. Technically, yes. But Christie was making it sound like it happened on a whim.
"I am giving you the state of the law. The state of the law in those states are that you could go into a doctor's office and do it, and that's all I said. But look, you know, this is something that you want to emphasize. I get it. I understand the politics of it and that's fine. It is not going to change my analysis as a lawyer and as a political leader."
Well, Christie is implying that women can casually walk into a doctor's office and get a ninth-month abortion, and Mika is saying women don't request a late-term abortion without a compelling medical reason. (Which is true.) But she should be drawing that distinction with the correct language: elective abortion and late-term abortion. Only a few clinics offer that service.
But the real issue that got lost in the fog is, the Republican party has no idea how to win with the Dobbs decision firmly wrapped around their neck. What a shame that interfering in women's personal decisions has turned out to be such a negative for them.
I just have to add that John Kasich was on TV yesterday, saying Democrats were crazy if they thought Biden could win on abortion a year from now. (I had to stop and think if I've ever thought, "Boy, John Kasich was right, I should have listened.")
And since the answer was no, I just shook my head at how willingly obtuse Kasich and every other Republican is on this issue. Women are FURIOUS over this, and it won't go away anytime soon.
