Posted on 04/18/2007 10:04:30 AM PDT by writeblock
There is a political lesson behind today's Supreme Ct decision on partial birth abortion that some of you who now oppose Rudy Giuliani need to think about.
Back in 2004, Pat Toomey challenged Arlen Specter in PA for the nomination to the U.S. Senate. Both Rick Santorum and George Bush backed Santorum. They did so for three reasons. First, they believed Toomey had little chance to win in the general election whereas it was virtually certain Specter would win if nominated. Second, the Senate was too evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans to risk losing even one seat--which would mean losing control of the Supreme Ct. nominating process as well. It was no time for risk-taking by backing a conservative like Toomey who was a long shot to win in a state trending leftward. Third, they made sure Specter would cooperate with the President if he ascended to the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee in the next Congress.
Specter, as expected, won in the general election and the Republicans kept control of the Senate by a narrow margin. Specter kept his word and ushered-through his committee the two Supreme Court nominees, Roberts and Alito. The rest is history.
I mention all this because Santorum--the real unsung hero behind today's Supreme Court decision--paid a heavy price for his backing of Specter--even though he was the main impetus behind the new law banning partial birth abortions. Ungrateful social conservatives, vowing to seek revenge for his failure to back Toomey, took it out on him in 2006 by voting him out of office. Santorum took the hit for taking a course of action that was wise both politically and morally--and far more principled than the peevish social conservatives could appreciate at the time.
A similar situation is going on regarding the candidacy of Rudy Giuliani. Many conservatives understand that we must win back the Congress for us to be successful in achieving our principles in the long run. They appreciate that only Rudy Giuliani promises to win states that are now either trending left or wholly in the Democratic column. And they appreciate that he stands the chance of winning big, thus returning the Congress to the GOP. But as was the case with Santorum, a core of disgruntled social conservatives are out to sabotage Rudy's candidacy at any cost. This is myopic--and not unlike their reading of what Santorum was doing back in 2004 when he supported Specter. They fail to appreciate that the name of the game is to win elections. If we lose them, we lose everything, including any hope at all of furthering our principles in the long run.
The bottom line is that Rudy has stated that he agreed with Bill Clinton’s vetoes of the Partial Birth Abortion bills, and he thinks that abortions are a “constitutional right” and that taxpayer funds should be used to pay for abortions. Those are all well documented.
I can see you aren’t getting the joke in the original statement, so you are on your own. Have a nice day.
It is conjecture. But history is the best indicator. No prominent politician in the country has been more pro-abortion than Rudy.
That's all I wanted the guy to say. Thank you for saying it.
I guess I did miss that part. Which post was it in?
Like I said, some people don’t recognize sarcasm unless it is spelled out for them with the “/sarcasm” tag. Unfortunate.
Have a good day.
There was no “sarcasm” in the poster’s conjecture. He meant what he said in the way he said it and I called him on it.
I think he played you like a fiddle.
*sigh*
It was a discussion and I simply wanted him to prove his point which he could not. I got the answer that I wanted. As for you, you have been clueless this whole ride.
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