At Firedoglake, Jane Hamsher writes that Obama should not appoint a moderate Republican such as Chuck Hagel or Dick Lugar secretary of state, because both oppose abortion rights. Indeed, there's a lot of work to be done overturning the vestiges of the "global gag rule," which prevents American foreign aid funding from supporting condom distribution and abortion abroad, or reaching out to sex workers. Lugar has a mixed voting record on abortion, while Hagel has a 0 percent NARAL rating. He has consistently voted against funding domestic contraceptive and abortion programs. But it's possible that Hagel in particular would be more than willing to subsume his personal opposition to abortion to a broader Obama global health agenda. Here's what Hagel had to say about abortion to The New Yorker:
There was a political party in this country called the Know-Nothings. And we're getting on the fringe of that, with these one-issue voters—pro-choice or pro-life. Important issue, I know that. But, my goodness. The world is blowing up everywhere, and I just don't think that is a responsible way to see the world, on that one issue.
Lugar I'd be more cautious of. During debates over refunding PEPFAR, President Bush's HIV/AIDS program for the developing word, Lugar said the insertion of family planning programming into the legislation would be a "poison pill."
--Dana Goldstein
