*SOON TO BE BORN AGAIN: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean warned the Boston Globe in a piece published on Christmas Day that although he has not talked about religion during his campaign in Northern states, he intends to make it a staple of his campaign in the Bible Belt.
The Globe said that Dean described himself "as a committed believer in Jesus Christ and said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches as he stumps in the South." Dean's last religious conversion was sparked by his conviction that Episcopalians had too much respect for private property rights. "Dean himself made a decision about religion in the early 1980s," the Globe reported, "opting to leave the local Episcopal Church when it sided with landowners seeking to preserve private property in lieu of a bike path in Burlington." Dean told the Globe he didn't think opposing the bike path "was very Godlike and thought it was hypocritical of me to be a member of such an institution."
*MESSIANIC COMPLEX: Despite the transparently political motive behind Dean's new "Jesus Strategy," the Democratic frontrunner said: "You have to respect other people's religious beliefs and honor them, but you don't have to pander to them." Meanwhile, on his website, Dean revealed what could be taken as a messianic complex, when he encouraged supporters to contribute to his campaign during what he called "The Twelve Days of Dean," December 20-31.
*NON-VIABLE DEMOCRAT: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D.-Conn.) may have further alienated the left wing of the Democratic Party when he suggested in an interview with the Manchester, N.H. Union Leader that some aspects of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion should be re-examined.
"To me, Roe vs. Wade said that in the stages up to viability [of the fetus], the state basically cannot intervene in a decision a woman makes to go forward with a pregnancy or not," said Lieberman. "But after viability, the state can regulate that choice because the interest of the fetus goes up .. . . What has changed is that the court talked in terms of trimesters. But has viability-because of the extraordinary advances in medical science-begun to occur at an earlier age?" The strongly pro-abortion senator, who voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion last year, added that viability "is now in some cases 24 and 25 weeks and in a few cases, a little bit less."
*MISUNDERSTOOD: Howard Dean wasted little time coming down on Lieberman for his statements to the Union Leader, saying the senator is "very much off base and doesn't understand the science."
Lieberman himself tried to explain away his comments. "I did not say nor do I believe that Roe should be looked at again, revisited or reconsidered," he said in a statement. "I said in that interview what I have said for years-namely that medical science has advanced the time of legal viability to approximately 24 weeks. In response, the courts have determined that the viability standard has replaced the original trimester formulation of Roe." Edward Domaingue, managing editor of the Union Leader, told the Associated Press, "We stand by what we reported."
*DONE DEAL: At least one piece of immigration reform legislation should reach the floor of the House this year. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.-Calif.) has cut a deal with the House Republican leadership to allow a vote on a bill he is writing that will require hospitals receiving federal funds to report illegal aliens who seek treatment.
"I was going to vote against the Medicare reform bill because it had a provision from Sen. Kyl for a billion dollars for hospitals to reimburse them for emergency treatment of illegal immigrants," Rohrabacher told HUMAN EVENTS. The Republican leaders "surrounded me, put their hands on my shoulders, and asked me what they could do to get me to vote for the bill. I said that I needed a vote on this issue to reverse the damage of [Kyl's] provision," said Rohrabacher.
*HASTERT'S GUARANTEE: House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) guaranteed Rohrabacher a floor vote. "My bill has two provisions," he said. "In order to be reimbursed by the federal government for treating an illegal alien, a hospital will have to report him to the INS and the INS will have to place him on the list for deportation. And the bill will make sure it's really emergency treatment. No more extended cancer treatments." Rohrabacher predicted "this bill will be the most controversial over the next six months."
