Hewitt did not challenge Palin falsehood about Obama's "extreme position" on abortion

Summary: On his radio show, Hugh Hewitt did not challenge Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that the "extreme position" on abortion Sen. Barack Obama took in the Illinois state Senate included "not even supporting a measure that would during a -- after a botched abortion and that baby's born alive -- allowing medical care to cease and allowing that baby to die." But Obama and other opponents said that the legislation to which Palin referred posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary because Illinois law already prohibited the conduct being addressed by the bill.

During an interview on the September 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Hugh Hewitt did not challenge Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that the "extreme position" on abortion Sen. Barack Obama took in the Illinois state Senate included "not even supporting a measure that would during a -- after a botched abortion and that baby's born alive -- allowing medical care to cease and allowing that baby to die." Palin's claim was based on Obama's opposition to a bill amending the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, which, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Obama and other opponents said posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary because Illinois law already prohibited the conduct being addressed by the bill.

Indeed, as Media Matters noted, when tasked by the Illinois attorney general's office with investigating allegations that fetuses born alive at an Illinois hospital were abandoned without treatment, the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly said it was unable to substantiate the allegations but said that if the allegations had proved true, the conduct alleged would have been a violation of then-existing Illinois law. Obama himself has cited specific provisions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes in stating that the "born alive principle was already the law in Illinois."

Palin went on to assert of her characterization of Obama's position: "That, to me, is extreme. That's so far, far left. It's out -- certainly out of the mainstream of America. To me, that is the extreme position, not my position of just wanting that culture of life to be respected and not wanting government to sanction the idea of ending life." In response, Hewitt asked, "Do you think the mainstream media and the left understand your religious faith?"

From the September 30 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's The Hugh Hewitt Show:

HEWITT: Governor, let's turn to a couple of issues that the MSM's not going to pick up. You're pro-life, and how much of the virulent opposition to you on the left do you attribute to your pro-life position, and maybe even to the birth of -- your decision -- your and Todd's decision to have Trig?

PALIN: Yeah, you know, I think that that's been probably the most hurtful and nonsensical slap that we've been taking is our position that we have taken -- pro-life, me personally, and saying that you know, even though I knew that 13 weeks along that Trig would be born with Down syndrome, and I said, you know, he's still going to be a most precious ingredient in this sometimes messed-up world that we live in.

I know that my son is going to provide a lot of hope and a lot of promise in this world, and I'm so thankful of course that I've had the opportunity to give him life and to bring him into this world. But I think, yeah, truly that that's been a hurtful slap that we have taken, because people just don't understand. Ironic, too, Hugh, that some would consider my position on life and trying to usher in a culture of life, respecting the sanctity of life in America, that that is seen as an extreme position, when, to me, an extreme position is one that Barack Obama took when he was in the Illinois state Senate, not even supporting a measure that would ban partial-birth abortion, not even supporting a measure that would, during a -- after a botched abortion and that baby's born alive -- allowing medical care to cease and allowing that baby to die. That, to me, is extreme.

That's so far, far left. It's out -- certainly out of the mainstream of America. To me, that is the extreme position, not my position of just wanting that culture of life to be respected and not wanting government to sanction the idea of ending life.

HEWITT: Do you think the mainstream media and the left understand your religious faith, Governor Palin?

—M.G.