Hate to play "ticky tack" but you just called a "touch foul" on me. I wasn't trying to demean Reagan, I believed his conversion and I believe Romney's conversion. You can't deny that what I stated was accurate that "Reagan was pro-choice" before his conversion.
Of course Reagan was so repentant on the abortion issue: He signed into law California's liberal abortion rights legislation and therefore had some responsibilities for abortions taking place. I'd be repentant too. Romney has not signed or voted for one bill that has lead to more abortions. I think you're likely to see more repentance where the guilt is greatest.
Romney only has to be repentant of his previous OPINIONS that didn't end up hurting anyone (actually as a leader of Mormon congregations he has been on the record of personally counselling women against having abortions . . . a point that he was attacked on in the 1994 campaign as being someone who would really impose his views on an unwilling electorat).
My view on Romney and Abortion in Massachussetts as a Mormon? . . . he's done the best that he could.
And I don't think you'll see him breaking down and crying about that politically pragmatic position . . . if it had lead to an expansion of abortion rights then I would expect a more "tearful repentance." I still think that he'll convince the GOP base that he's pro-life and will govern that way (heck . . . if he can govern in a pro-life manner in Mass, why are people concerned about what he'd do as president.
Dear Jeff Fuller,
"I wasn't trying to demean Reagan, I believed his conversion and I believe Romney's conversion. You can't deny that what I stated was accurate that 'Reagan was pro-choice' before his conversion."
In that the term "pro-choice" didn't exist when Mr. Reagan was Governor of California, it's an anachronism to call him such. However, even if I were to grant, for the sake of argument, that one might call someone such a thing in 1970, it wouldn't really apply to Mr. Reagan.
As Mr. Reagan related himself, years later, he didn't realize just how liberal was the piece of legislation he was signing. He thought it would liberalize the rules for abortions, but not that it would usher in abortion-on-demand. Thus, he was never a pro-abort in need of conversion, but rather someone who believed some exceptions should be made to the general rule that abortion ought not be permitted.
Yet, even this intention he repented.
"I think you're likely to see more repentance where the guilt is greatest."
Mr. Reagan acted wrongly at the BEGINNING of the abortion-on-demand, mass murder era. He didn't see the consequences of his actions before he committed them, and he didn't realize just where we were headed in 1970.
Mr. Romney has the benefit of 20/20 hindsight of the entire miserable 33-year reign of terror that is the era of abortion-on-demand throughout the United States. That it took the first THIRTY-TWO years of that era for Mr. Romney to figure it out does not speak highly of him. And, yes, it requres far more repentance than Mr. Reagan ever owed.
"Romney only has to be repentant of his previous OPINIONS that didn't end up hurting anyone..."
In that he was pro-abort from (even before) the beginning of the era of abortion-on-demand, he shares, along with all other pro-aborts, the guilt of the blood of the 40+ million murdered from the time that the black-robed tyrants opened the floodgates from Hell up until the time that he publicly reversed himself.
Personally, I believe that the bully pulpit that politicians use, especially chief executives of major jurisdictions, has some effect on folks. Thus, he is even more responsible than the average pro-abort voter, who never gets to have his own personal soapbox from which he will be listened to by millions.
"I still think that he'll convince the GOP base that he's pro-life and will govern that way..."
I think you're kidding yourself. Mr. Romney's "pro-life" position reeks of opportunism. He may be able to deodorize and air out much of that stench in the next couple of years, but then again, he may not. The problem is that his support for abortion at the level of a constitutional "right" is just too unambiguous, and all his other actions and rhetoric just look like an attempt to straddle the fence.
Of all the social conservatives I know (and that's pretty much all I hang with), I'm the most likely to vote for Mr. Romney.
And I wouldn't bet the farm on my vote for him.
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