Iowa Republicans knew there was no way that a bill attempting to deny funding for Planned Parenthood and ban Medicaid funding for abortions for rape and incest victims would pass, but proposed the measure anyway simply to get a debate on the topic started.  Why? 

Because it’s an election year, of course.

Debate over the bills was short and vitriolic, Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson reports.  But one legislator got just what he wanted out of it — enough fodder to use in a fundraising email.

Via The Des Moines Register:

Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, derides three Democratic senators by name in the email, which refers to a passionate back-and-forth on the Senate floor last week during a vote on a budget bill.

“I’m tired of pro-death politicians and left-wing radicals hiding the fact that they have no problem murdering babies with my tax dollars by accusing people like you and I of not caring for women and children,” Sorenson writes.

He asks for donations of $35 to help fight “the left wing liberals (who) are lining up a candidate against me in the next election.”

If you thought Sorenson’s rhetoric was a little over the top in his fundraising email, it’s nothing compared to his debating style, where he asked one colleague, “How many babies are you willing to slaughter, dismember and throw in a garbage can for a billion dollars?”