Posted on 02/03/2008 1:52:10 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
Election 2008
Misperceptions About McCain's Abortion Stance
by Julie Rovner
Weekend Edition Saturday, February 2, 2008 · Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's departure from the presidential race earlier this week means that once again, whoever the Republicans nominate will oppose abortion rights and whoever the Democrats nominate will be pro-choice. Many Republican voters, however, seem to believe, incorrectly, that the current Republican front-runner, Arizona Sen. John McCain, supports abortion rights, too.
The misperception is interesting, considering that McCain has not attempted to keep his pro-life views a secret. Here's how he put it on an appearance last year on NBC's Meet the Press:
"I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade was a bad decision, that I support a woman — the rights of the unborn — that I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career," McCain said. "To me, it's an issue of human rights and human dignity."
And while now former candidate Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, won the coveted endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee, McCain's voting record on the issue is just fine, says David O'Steen, the group's executive director.
"He's been very consistent; he hasn't changed his position," O'Steen says. He says that his group has supported McCain in every one of his senate races. "We've always considered him pro-life," he says.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says her group has always considered McCain pro-life as well. And it's not just abortion, she says.
"He voted against family planning, he voted against the freedom of access to clinic entrances — that was about violence against women in clinics," Keenan says, adding, "He voted against funding for teen pregnancy-prevention programs, and making sure that abstinence only was medically accurate. This is very, very extreme."
Yet in Florida's GOP primary on Jan. 29, McCain won 45 percent of Republican voters who said abortion should be legal. That's nearly twice the total of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who used to be pro-choice, but now says he has changed his mind. And Giuliani, who says he still is pro-choice, received just 19 percent of those pro-choice voters.
NARAL's Keenan thinks it's because voters see McCain splitting with Republicans on so many other issues, they assume he must split with them when it comes to abortion as well.
"I think it comes back to that moderate maverick image that he's tried to portray," Keenan says. "But when you peel the onion back, the record shows that this is a guy who's been very anti-choice since he entered the U.S. House of Representatives back in 1983."
Those pro-choice McCain voters may also remember the very public feud McCain has had with the National Right to Life Committee. But that argument wasn't over abortion, says the NRLC's O'Steen; it was over the campaign finance measure that McCain sponsored with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat.
"The McCain-Feingold Act limited the ability of non-PACS [political action committees] to even mention the name of a candidate within 30 days of a primary, or 60 days of a general election," O'Steen says.
In other words, the dispute was a freedom of speech issue.
McCain's pro-life record isn't totally spotless: He did vote in favor of expanding federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. But both pro-choice and pro-life groups say that if McCain becomes the Republican nominee, they'll work hard to make sure voters know what his abortion position really is.
A lot of GOP Senators let us down on that one.
Don Nickles, Robert C. Smith, and Jesse Helms were the only ones who voted against Ginsburg.
Santorum was a Senator then. Curious. How did he vote?
And I wonder how Romney would have voted if he was a Senator at that time.
Hmmm
This is not a flattering article about McCain directed to the NPR listeners.
This is a HUGE caution sign, telling them that "McCain is not one of us."
Ping
tell me what u agree with romney on?
Immigration, for starters.
what is romneys stance on immigration?
You might want to read up on it. I am not necessarily supporting Romney, I am opposed to McCain. In any event, any position opposing illegal immigration would be better than McCain’s position. Utilizing the pro-illegal Hernandez is not a good sign that McCain is in touch with reality.
you might want to read up on it since your the one with the problem
This is the biggest problem with John McCain, with the possible exception of his insanity:
http://tailrank.com/4803962/Open-borders-advocate-Juan-Hernandez-has-joined-the-McCain-campaign
that has been used forever. used mexicans when unions were forming . brought in mexicans to fight against the unions. its not their fault its the powers that be fault. mexico should be a thriving mation and it is not. and i dont understand that all other then the powers that be are still fighting for free labor or cheap
“Don Nickles, Robert C. Smith, and Jesse Helms were the only ones who voted against Ginsburg.
Santorum was a Senator then. Curious. How did he vote?
And I wonder how Romney would have voted if he was a Senator at that time.
Hmmm”
Romney was only supporting democrats at that time, he later registered republican, and then by the time he was governor he made sure that as many as 1 out of 4 of his judges were actually registered as republicans.
“Willard Mitt Romney donated $250 in 1992 to then-U.S. Rep. Dick Swett’s (D New Hampshire) successful re-election campaign. The one-term congressman served another term before losing to Republican Charles Bass in 1994. Two years later, Swett ran unsuccessfully against Republican Bob Smith for one of the Granite State’s U.S. Senate seats.
In 1992, the former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential contender (voted for Tsongas in 1992), also donated $250 to Rep. John J. La Falce (D New York) and $1,000 to Douglas Delano Anderson, an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Utah Republican Jake Garn, who retired that year.
So, between July 1989 and October 1993, Romney exclusively financed these three Democrats.”
You trying to start something? Go peddle the RINO McCain somewhere else. No amnesty! Read my tagline.
because he saw what happened under germany. walls are kind of scary to someone who knows history
Since Nov 22, 2007. So did you just join to push your liberal McCain here?
Isn’t McCain against the human life amendment? And isn’t he FOR embryonic stem cell research?
No I was a mccainiac back in 2000
Well, this site has never been pro-McCain.
It was illegal for president clinton to lie to congress. they set the rules ignore the laws and rules make ur own up as u go.!
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