Family Research Council: Where's GOP Opposition Over Sebelius?

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

The Family Research Council, D.C.'s première conservative evangelical group, is wondering where the Republican outrage over Kathleen Sebelius is. While conservative groups that oppose abortion have hammered away at President Obama's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the GOP has kept quiet. Sen. Sam Brownback, an outspoken opponent of abortion and, like Sebelius, a Kansan, has announced he'll vote for her confirmation. Here's what the Family Research Council said to supporters in an E-mail last night, in the course of riffing on the Rush Limbaugh-Michael Steele tiff:

The biggest example of this divide between conservatives and the GOP may be found in President Obama's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). With the exception so far of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.)—arguably the most pro-abortion governor in the nation—has been met by the Republican leadership with a collective yawn. Here is a woman who aligns herself against 80% of the country in suggesting that the government knows better than parents in children's health decisions, and yet the GOP can't muster the will to fight her nomination. As governor, she hosted a private reception for a notorious partial-birth abortionist, vetoed bills that would have made abortion clinics cleaner for women, and blocked court reforms that would have helped to prevent third-term abortions. Like President Obama, she even opposed protection for infants who are born alive during an abortion.

If Republicans won't take a stand now, when will they? Once Sebelius is confirmed, she will control the largest government agency in America with more power and resources to advance a radical social agenda that will drive a deeper wedge between parents and their children. Grassroots conservatives understand what's at stake here. Why doesn't the Republican leadership?

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