Posted on 05/09/2007 7:17:06 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
See posts 386,388 and 390.
I’m aware there are a lot of pro-life libertarians. My political positions are certainly much closer to the “pro-life” label than the “pro-choice” label. I’m against any public funding of abortion, and I favor overturning Roe v. Wade. I favor allowing states to outlaw abortion, and I’m also personally in favor of a partial birth abortion ban and parental notification laws at the state level, but I think the federal partial birth abortion ban is unconstitutional. I think the best way to deal with it is to let the people of each state make their own rules.
Abortion- the Right to Life- is the most significant issue on the platform.(period)
The personal responsibility factor you imply comes automatically with the ban. That begins to change the culture - suddenly, girls will be getting pregnant according to current cultural norms and have no options available to them. They will face the temporary inconvenience of pregnancy and subsequent adoption. This will make their friends think long and hard about sexual activity. It is but one brick in the Culture of Life, but a very important one.
You and I are cobelligerants on this issue - we both want the ban, and I even go so far as to support it in cases of rape/incest - because I do not believe abortion in such cases is just to the child (obviously) or to the mother. I just want to warn you not to contribute to the popular caricature of the pro-life position as simplistic, harsh, and unreasonable. It is not. It is the compassionate, reality-based, logical position and we ought to comport ourselves as such. Please take this a friendly advice, not as from one egging for a fight.
So be it!!
I may be a nut, but I’m in good company in the pro-life nuthouse.
That being said, rotsa ruck succeeding in passing legislation that re-criminalizes abortion. All you're going to do is galvanize the moderate right-center-left voters to reject each and every one of these referenda. Just like S. Dakota.
Interesting that you appear to be both “prochoice” and Libertarian. I’ve always found the Libertarian arguments against infanticide to be some of the more philosophically compelling.
I don’t consider myself pro-choice. See my post #402.
The point of my original post was, anybody who considers themselves any kind of conservative should be opposed to a Giuliani candidacy. I completely understand that abortion is a non-negotiable issue for many people, and I respect that. But for those of us who are not adamantly anti-abortion, there are still plenty of other reasons to be against Giuliani, and we shouldn’t lose site of that.
Your argument is self-defeating. You say that the abortion issue is very important to 9%-13% of the electorate, but fail to recognize that the percentage is not the same in all areas of the country. In fact, I would bet a very large sum that abortion is very important to a much larger percentage of voters in those very southern states you are not worrying about - probably more along the lines of 20-25%. Add in Rudy's stand on guns (also a big issue in the south for members of both parties), and you could quickly see the "solid South" disappear.
The fact is, no Republican candidate can win the presidency unless he/she holds on to 95% of his base and pick up a large number of independents or conservative Democrats. If Rudy is prepared to write off 20-30% of his base in the "red" states and hopes to make that up in the "purple" states such as PA, he is dreaming.
He’s a liar. How could he be honest?
“Is Rudy hoping to run on the Democratic ticket?”
“Maybe he’s planning on running as a democrat.”
“Why doesn’t he just run on the Democratic ticket?”
The more I think about this, the more I think that Mayor Giuliani might be thinking about some sort of twisted unity ticket to “unify America” or some such rot.
Keep in mind that the primaries in the the big, leftwing coastal states are early. Now wouldn’t it be just leftmedia picture perfect to have the two party frontrunners decide to “put aside their differences” and run together on a “unity” ticket? You know, to get rid of all the partisan bickering and do what’s “right” for America?
“Unfortunately, Giuliani is ruthless and desperately yearns for the presidency. A man who is willing to do anything to achieve his goal is a dangerous adversary.”
Amen to that.
“No need. I think Rudy just committed political suicide.”
I respectfully disagree. Mayor Giuliani appears to be a political opportunist of the first order. I’ll believe he’s out of the picture when he officially leaves the race and takes a long overdue retirement on an a tropical island somewhere.
If then.
and your evidence Rudy is mob is what ?- or is this more of continued FR speculation meant to torpedo him from the election process.....it's a whisper campaign plain and simple and if I sound annoyed, it's only that as an Italian, the stereotype by white middle class people (be it blue or white collar) is that Italians, regardless of thier achievements are mob tied.....
Yes it's thin skinned but I still to this day hear spaghetti bender, guinea, pizza boy, used as slurs...and as a Protestant Pastor, still face mob related innuendos, which is infuriating since my family started with nothing, and has built our fortunes through hard work to the point Im retired financially at the age of 44.
So that said - rather than pay your nonsense much more heed, I'll say it's boorish and not up to the standard of FR - which disappoints me - because youve been here long enough to know
I have no factual basis for disagreeing with you, but my own hunch is that Algore will sweep into the Dem primary sometime this fall and take it from Ms. Rodham.
...and almost surely what Giuliette is relying on.
I agree, but is America's Ex-Mayor™ also prepared for real opposition from his right? If he somehow manages to get the nomination, which I predict he won't unless there is another significant terrorist attack within the next six months, this may end up being a four-way race.
Fred Thompson hits the Rust Belt, flips WI & MI, keeps all the Bush states, and wins in a landslide.
This is clearly our best option.
You obviously can't read. You even repeated what I wrote, so why are trying to put words where they don't exist? I said, "Apparently he didn't "eat up" the part of the mob connected to Bernie Kerik."
It is common knowledge that Bernie Kerik has had ties to organized crime.
Beware the man who has no honor. Such a man is capable of anything. —Persian proverb
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