Vaughn-ted Pro-lifeyness

Wow, this is heating up--after multiple examples of Tennessee's Democrats allowing the slightest of pro-life legislation to die in the Tennessee House, here's an unforeseen wrinkle in the debate. ("House panel kills anti-abortion amendment" on Nashville City Paper). Rep. Nathan Vaughn (D-Kingsport) is claiming that he was not allowed to co-sponsor SJR127 because he was a Democrat.

I, for one, am encouraged to see a Democrat legislator who is willing to be seen in public with pro-lifers. And he seems very sincere in the footage of his statement on the house floor. But I'm wondering what is really at work here. Sure, TN Democratic Party hacks blithely paint it as more evidence of Republican evilness, but I am less inclined to accept that.

My question is--if Vaughn's bid to co-sponsor was sincere, what did he bring to the sausage-making table? Was he going to work hard for the bill? That's an open question, given his choice--prior to the vote, to publicly call out a phantom Republican or Republicans . . . and given that he didn't appear to take any other efforts to swing two little ol' votes in the Democrat-controlled House Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee.

Okay, maybe excluding Democrats from co-sponsorship (assuming that's true) was wrong, but what of the legislation? It is rich for Democrats top to bottom to be deflecting another failure of this common-sense legislation by crying "partisanship." I'd say it is not unreasonable to conclude from this series of events that some Tennessee legislators are, in TNGOP Chair Robin Smith's words, "Faux life" rather than Pro-life. It troubles me that Vaughn (and the Democrats) seem more concerned about the politics of this issue than the policy of this issue.