It's nice to see people complain about disinformation by spreading further disinformation.
Here is a more nuanced description of Dr. Wehby, from
The Oregonian, a news outlet that, to say the least, is not left of center:
Portland doctor Monica Wehby will seek to unseat Democrat Jeff Merkley
Monica Wehby, a Portland pediatric neurosurgeon, formally jumped into the race for the U.S. Senate Tuesday, joining a growing horde of Republicans hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
Among those Wehby will compete against in the May primary are state Rep. Jason Conger, R-Bend, and Bend businessman Sam Carpenter, who loaned his campaign $100,000 of his own money.
Wehby said she’s driven to run for Senate in order to correct what she sees as a decline in opportunity for the young thanks to the fallout of the Great Recession.
“I look at the way things are going and I want our kids to have the same opportunities that we had,” Wehby said. “I’m really concerned when I look at the way things are going we may be the first generation that can’t say that their kids are going to be better off.”
But it’s her background as a doctor that will likely define Wehby’s candidacy. In 2004 Wehby was the chief petitioner of Ballot Measure 35, which would have limited non-economic damages in medical lawsuits. Voters narrowly defeated the measure, but Wehby has remained active in medical policy circles and serves on the board of the American Medical Association.
A critic of the Affordable Care Act, Wehby said she opposed the requirement that individuals buy health insurance and that as the new program is rolling out, its weaknesses are becoming apparent.
“There’s a lot of problems with the law and I think that’s what happens when you push it through so I think there’s a lot of things that have to be addressed,” Wehby said.
Whoever prevails in the primary election will have face a tough challenge in defeating Merkley, who has already amassed a campaign warchest worth $2.2 million.
"Senator Merkley is focused on doing the job Oregonians want him to do: making this country work for middle class people again by fighting to create good paying jobs, make college more affordable, and cracking down on the predatory practices of Wall Street and the big banks,” said Merkley campaign spokesman Tim Leahy.
Democrats also enjoy a 181,000-voter edge over Republicans in party registration.
“Because of party registration none of these candidates will be close to Merkley in the initial and developing public opinion polls,” said Jim Moore, political science professor at Pacific University. “This is Merkley’s first defense, thus it is his most vulnerable time. We haven’t seen him on the list of vulnerable candidates.”
Len Bergstein, a lobbyist with decades of experience in Oregon politics, said the primary could prevent the party from finding a moderate Republican that could appeal to the electorate by forcing moderates to appeal to a fired-up conservative base.
“They’re going to out do each other on shutting government down,” Bergstein said. “You’re not going to be able to get a Republican moderate.”
A Catholic mother of four, Wehby, 51, grew up in Tennessee, then studied at Notre Dame and Baylor. She moved to Portland 15 years ago to work at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel.
She said her Catholic background and work taking care of children informed her “personally pro-life,” stance on abortion, but said those views weren’t going to change the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade.
“The Supreme Court ruled that this is, that abortion is supposed to be safe and legal,” Wehby said. “And that’s where we are. I don’t think this should be used as a litmus test for people.”
--Christian Gaston
To summarize:
1) she's a pediatric neurosurgeon - that means she ain't dumb and she loves kids;
2) she fought for a ballot measure to restrict non-economic damages in medical lawsuits - that's a fancy way of saying she fought for tort reform;
3) she's a critic of Obamacare, including the individual mandate - she ain't dumb;
4) she's a Catholic - Catholics generally don't think abortion is a good idea, and that's putting it mildly;
5) she's a mother of four - she really, really loves kids;
6) She studied at Notre Dame - Notre Dame is
not a liberal catholic university;
7) she is "personally pro-life" but also recognizes that
Roe v. Wade is not going to go away, period - she's pro-life
and realistic or, to put it another way, she's in a very small group of pro-lifers who understand reality and understand that they have to work with what they're given, not with what they wish they'd been given.
Finally, to address the specific accusation: Dr. Wehby is
not pro-abortion, she's pro-life, she just also happens to be a realist. Being realistic about
Roe v. Wade, including that it will never, never, never, not in our grandchildren's lifetimes at least, go away or even be substantially cut back.
I have no idea if overall she'd be a better Senator than this other fellow, but she certainly doesn't deserve to have such lies and calumny heaped on her, especially not from people who themselves are claiming that they've been misrepresented.