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McCain Taking Fire from the…Middle?

Oh, the irony.

By: Brian Simpson (Diary)  |  August 22nd, 2008 at 01:38 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

As anyone who has been following politics for a while knows, Senator John McCain has long been an advocate of changing the Republican Party’s platform with respect to abortion. In 2000, he went head to head with then Gov George Bush in a debate on CNN on February 15 where he pushed for the addition of an exception for rape, incest and the life of the mother. During this election cycle, he reiterated his support for this language. Then, recently he has opted to take a hands-off approach to the party’s platform. He is allowing the RNC, with input from the public, to dictate the party’s platform. This almost certainly means that the exception language will not be added.

This supposed change of position is drawing fire from the moderate group Republican Majority for Choice (RMC). RMC is a group that claims to be the “silent majority” in the Republican Party that wants to change the party’s platform to one that “medical and moral choices are individual and family decisions not government decisions.” So, essentially, they aren’t very “moderate” at all. They are squarely in the pro-choice column.

The irony of all of this is that the Maverick is being attacked by a group that is supposed to represent the middle. Go figure.

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COMMENTS

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  • gensec

    Then, recently he has opted to take a hands-off approach to the party?s platform. He is allowing the RNC, with input from the public, to dictate the party?s platform … drawing fire from the moderate group Republican Majority for Choice

    Yet another bunch of whiners trying to lay down some marker to reassure themselves that they’re special and they matter.

    McCain like every other serious nominee has figured out a party platform is a joke of no consequence. He knows it’s best to leave to their own devices the idiots who want to thump their chests on how important they are, let them fight it out among themselves over Clause B, Subparagraph ii.

  • E_Pluribus_Unum

    Ya might as well go ahead and be true to your base. They’ll at least buy you dinner — if you know what I mean. Moderates will just, well…not.

    Just ask Linc Chafee.

  • simpson316

    He’s definitely not on the list of people that I desire a conversation with.

    BTW, I finally was able to rec your post.

  • aceintx

    it represents the positions of THE majority of the Republican Party…You may worship at the alter of Baal and dance in rapture, bliss and ecstasy every time a child is sacrifice to the great god of death…but you are NOT in the majority of the party despite your assertions to the contrary.

    so…Shut up and get in line!

  • simpson316

    It really makes no sense for McCain to get embroiled in a platform fight. That would only hurt his chances for the election.

    Even if he still wants the exception added (which is the majority opinion to the tune of roughly 70% of the country…including Republicans), he knows it is a fight that he can’t win. It would only hurt him to do so.

  • aceintx

    and my post to gensec isn’t so much about whether McCain should get embroiled in the fight…I tend to agree there…there won’t be a fight anyway…this happens at every Republican convention…it used to be Weld and Witman and the rest of the RMSP crowd who always declare that they’re “fighting for the soul of the Republican Party…and they lose every time…so 70% of Republicans want it watered down? I don’t think so.

    As to politicians attitudes toward the Platform…that’s exactly the Problem with the Republican Party right now…everyone complains that the Party has lost it’s way…while simultaneously demanding that we ignore the very document that declares who we are!

    Finally…I am reacting to the ovious hate that gensec has for the pro life community…and the argument is carried over from another diary.

  • Achance

    and it keeps them busy and out of the way of people doing things that actually mean something.

  • simpson316

    The number is actually 72%

    Go to page 44 of this report(pdf)

  • aceintx

    I’d like to see how the questions were asked…and who did this study…i.e. who they did the study for?

    If things in the Party are so decidedly against the Pro Life wing of the Party…how is it that the Pro-Choicers always lose the Argument?

  • ZootSuit

    The plurality, if not the out-and-out majority, of people in the United States (let alone Republicans) believe:

    I believe abortion is murder but I don’t want to impose my own personal moral view on those who disagree.

    I think that point of view is silly — if abortion is murder, then it should be outlawed (by the legislature and not by judicial fiat) — but that still seems to be the position of a good deal of Americans.

  • simpson316

    and this is the crux of the argument

    You equate Pro Life with government intervention.

    Pro Life should first and foremost be a cultural war…not a legal one. We need to convince people one at a time, not force en mass conversions, that protecting life is the correct thing to do.

  • CrabCakes

    If you ask if someone is “pro-life,” most will say yes. If you ask if people want to outlaw abortion, you’ll get a significantly lower percentage saying yes.

    I’ve actually had several conversations with people in which I’ve asked the questions back to back, getting “Yes, I’m pro-life” and “No, I don’t want abortion to be illegal.”

    For a lot of folks, “pro-life”=”I don’t like abortion” and “pro-choice”=”I like abortion.” No one wants to say “I like abortions,” but most people think abortion should be legal in some cases and illegal in others.

  • Menlo

    It looks like the NARAL “who decides” advertising slogan. It clearly goes along the lines of should it be a “private medical decision” or “dictated by the government.” They may as well ask if you want a totalitarian regime. Moreover, “who decides” doesn’t necessarily speak to legality.

    The only proper question one can ask is when and whether it should be legal or illegal. It’s actually a different question than the one asked. It gets to the point without bias or other possible meanings.

    Polls consistently show two thirds of Republicans think abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances. Exit polling in primary elections this year confirmed it.

    There has been no significant change in support or opposition in the past 30 years. And given the statistics for younger people (who are slightly even more pro-life than older generations), there likely never will be.

  • gensec

    I am reacting to the ovious hate that gensec has for the pro life community…and the argument is carried over from another diary.

    Look Ace, I really enjoyed our time together in the other thread, but it was a one night thing. We can get together again for good times in more diaries, but I’m just not looking for a steady relationship with you. When somebody’s not that into you, you just demean yourself stalking him from thread to thread.

    But I really don’t want to hurt your feelings, so for old times sake I’ll play along now.

    Your fixation with me really went off the deep end with “the ovious hate that gensec has for the pro life community” Whoa there, where did I ever express anything remotely resembling hate for pro-lifers? You’re projecting your own obsessions on me.

    My opposition to Ridge, Lieberman, Huckabee or Paul as VP nominees has nothing to do with any of those guys’ abortion positions (2 of them pro-choicers, 2 pro-lifers). My preference for VP happens to be pro-life, though my support is mainly for his attack dog potential, Romney.

    And in my comment above that where you replied ranting about me worshipping at “the altar of Baal”, it was a pro-choice group that I was making fun of. My contempt is for whiners whether they’re pro-life or pro-choice, and in this case I was having fun with pro-choice whiners. I like to get around, so you shouldn’t take it personlly that I won’t commit to laughing exclusively at your kind of whining.

    Hey gensec…the Platform is written a a democratic process… … so…Shut up and get in line!

    I’ve got good news for you. With a little reading comprehension you would have seen that I was doing exactly what you want, and even better, our pal McCain is doing the same. Whatever the clowns arguing over the platform vote for, I won’t object. As I said above: leave to their own devices the idiots who want to thump their chests on how important they are, let them fight it out among themselves over Clause B, Subparagraph ii.

    You may worship at the alter of Baal and dance in rapture, bliss and ecstasy every time a child is sacrifice to the great god of death

    Man, I must have really got you worked up! Great line. And it even shows some hint of a sense of humor, which is a good sign for your prognosis.

    It’s been fun, but I have to go for now. The service at the First Reform Church of Baal is starting in an hour, and this week it’s my turn to find a baby to kill for the sacrifice at the altar, so I better hurry.

  • aceintx

    nt

  • aceintx

    and I’m glad you found the humor in my Baal Comment. Re-Reading your comment I see where I slipped up…I skim read it and missed a word so I humbly apologize for missreading you in this instance.

    As for you references to relationships…you’ll understand if I don’t take your hand and dance happily through the daisy field…won’t you?

    :>)

  • gensec

    … no doubt including some misdirected ones.

    When you have to put together tens of millions of votes to win a national election, I guess it’s going to be a pretty motley crew, wondering “What am I doing hanging out with these characters?”

    I’ll tell you what, how ’bout we can break out the brass knuckles in 2016 for a really good fight over who to nominate as President McCain’s successor. Meanwhile let’s go kick Obama’s butt.

    GOP Party Unity

    (The first minute or so of the vid might be skipped)

  • aceintx

    That’s why Pro-Lifers are in such a tizzy.