Naturally, Democrats campaign against Republicans who want to scrap Roe v. Wade all the time. But one curious thing about McCain is that since pro-choicers and pro-lifers alike seem confused about the fact that he's pro-life he's had to be unusually explicit about his intentions in this regard. Normally, candidates kind of dance around the issue and offer vague formulations about "strict constructionists" that are understood by people who care about politics but go over the heads of most people. McCain, by contrast, is really pinned down.
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McCain and Choice
14 Feb 2008 01:44 pm
Comments (15)
This will probably gain him as main votes as it loses him.
McCain has flip-flopped more than John Kerry and Mitt Romney combined.
Here he is in 2000, saying the exact opposite:
"I would not seek to overturn Roe v. Wade tomorrow, because doing so would endanger the lives of women."
When people find out about this stuff, he's going to be in trouble.
Mike I agree..This Vanity Fair 2/2007 article talks about his flip flopping on many issues from gay marriage to immigration. No more straight talk..
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/02/mccain200702
When people find out about this stuff, he's going to be in trouble.
As an addendum, I would say that when John McCain finds out that John McCain said that, he's going to be in trouble.
Tim K,
No, it won't gain him anything because even those who agree with his new position can't trust him to actually follow through on it. That's the problem with this kind of blatant flip-flopping. You lose trust. Since that was such a big part of McCain's appeal, this will hurt him badly.
I didn't hear any flip-flopping in that ad. I heard only of a consistently anti-choice record. Guess what? Although there are more pro-choices than pro-lifers, the intensity is on the pro-life side. The "life" issue is more important for those voters and the less they have doubts about McCain's pro-life record the more likely they will bother to vote.
I am not a McCain fan, but Hillary holds the all time undisputed record for flipping, flopping, switching, changing, and revising. The flip flop buzzword is annoying. The hypocrisy of it drives me nuts.
Tim K,
I was talking about the issue as a whole rather than this ad. You may be right about this ad. It would have been stronger had it brought up his flip-flopping.
The flip-flopping isn't in that ad...the "would not support the repeal of Roe v Wade" quote is from 1999 when he was running for President as a sorta-moderate.
"Although there are more pro-choices than pro-lifers, the intensity is on the pro-life side."
Depends on definitions; The difference between "pro-choice" and "pro-life" is a continuum, all the way from Singerites who openly embrace what everybody acknowleges is infanticide, to the "ever sperm is a human life" loons. You can get a majority for either side depending on where you draw the dividing line. What's clear is that a large majority of the nation wants a heck of a lot more regulation of abortion than the pro-choice movement is willing to accept, and the courts are, as yet, willing to permit. But not nearly the level the pro-life movement wants.
McCain's voting record is consistently Pro-Life except for the issue of stem-cell research. Granted some Pro-Life groups consider McCain-Feingold a Pro-Choice position, but I think that's debatable. Anyway his statements on gay marriage just indicated churches, like the UCC, can do it if they so desire and that he doesn't favor a Constitutional Amendment. Kerry was seen as a flip-flopper more based on his political record, not random statements he may have made. (Even then that wasn't entirely fair. Kerry was very consistently Left-wing. That he supported for non-defense wars like Panama and Iraq was just sort of an odd aberration)
That said McCain's record does contain some noteable flip-flops, mostly on economic matters. Judging by his interviews this is because he really has no strong positions or understanding of economics so will just do whatever. Although I'm going to vote for him I think this is a major problem. It's also a tad strange as he was on the Commerce Committee so if he's just not interested in it that's a weird place to be. I'd be a bit more comfortable if he was maybe of the view that economics is more about being pragmatic than ideological. That in some situations the estate tax is necessary others not, etc. He doesn't seem that well-thought out or even interested in the matter thus far. Also he seems a tad incable to explain himself on it. This could be problematic for him in the general election.
I said all that before I knew of the recent vote on "enhanced interrogation techniques." I think his vote could still be plausible from his position, but it does look like a flip-flop.
The real challenge is to explain to swing voters that a) McCain is going to be beholden to the conservative right on the issue and that this obligation is going to express itself in the appointment of very anti-choice judges and that b) there are consequences far beyond Roe v. Wade when you put young right-wingers like Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court (and their ilk in circuit and district courts).
Comments closed February 28, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
This wasn' the first time. Here is John McCain on gay marriage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeBw28tX5Nw
Posted by Ann | February 14, 2008 1:49 PM