Posted on 03/11/2009 9:02:19 PM PDT by xjcsa
In an interview with GQ, Michael Steele called abortion an "individual choice" and said the question should be left to the states.
Quotes from the interview; interviewer's questions in italics:
THE GOOD:
Do you think bipartisanship can work?
No. [pause] Look, I’m sorry, I know this is, you know, la-la land and Rodney King time and we all wanna get along, but that is not the nature of American politics. That is not the nature of politics, period.
I don’t know if refreshing’s the word, but to hear someone say bipartisanship doesn’t work—
It doesn’t work! I mean, I understand the ideal of it. But at the end of the day, this is a game of winners and losers. This is zero-sum. Your winning is my losing. My winning is your losing.
[snip]
THE BAD
Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”
[snip]
THE UGLY
Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion? Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.
You do?
Yeah. Absolutely.
Are you saying you don’t want to overturn Roe v. Wade?
I think Roe v. Wade—as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter.
Okay, but if you overturn Roe v. Wade, how do women have the choice you just said they should have?
The states should make that choice. That’s what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
right to choose abortion?
Yeah...I think that’s an individual choice.
I was really hoping that the fact he was called a Roman Catholic meant he actually was. He may or may not be a RINO but he has outed himself as a CINO. From now on, I will see him in the same light as Pelosi, Biden and Kennedy...
That's one argument, and it's superior to the current state of things. Another argument is that it's a Declaration of Independence issue and a fourteenth amendment issue.
Why wasn't the issue of whether 1 person could own another person left up to the states?
Abortion is a human rights issue just as much as slavery is and should be banned in ALL states just as slavery was.
Keep in mind that even murder is almost always prosecuted on the state level.
The Declaration of Independence states that all men are endowed by their Creator with the right to life, and the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law; there's a real argument to be made that murder laws that don't protect unborn children run afoul of that clause.
The abortion issue should be left to the states to decide.
By the way, why don't you like abortion?
Have a look at this.
Now, if you cannot recognize those broken, bloodied bodies as evidence of the murder of once living human beings, then you are benighted, as are all your fellow travellers, like Mr. Steele.
i agree, i was just talking about him saying it’s an individual choice but then a state choice in a span of seconds. it can’t be both. he doesnt seem to get that. or he does and is easily confused.
For example, freedom of religion, guns, etc... are individual choices and it doesn’t matter what the state says. Steele seems to agree with the interviewer in saying abortion is also in that class. Obama thinks that as well. That abortion IS in the constitution and is part of the libety in the due process clause. Right now 5 SC Justices also agree. For 40 years almost conservtaives have said no. It’s not in the Constitution and it’s not an individual choice. A woman can’t choose abortion just just she can’t choose to slip arsenic in her baby’s formula cause she’s sick of him crying at night. Obama says she can choose to kill the baby, up until term. As do most dems and liberals and the 5 SC justices.
After reading this interview I honestly don’t know which side Steele is on, but it sounds like he’s on Obama’s and the liberals’ side.
It would have been nice to know that before he was elected. That’s a pretty big shift for the GOP if true.
Because it's infanticide.
**how did Steele ever get elected?***
The other choices were bad. The runner up for RNC Chair was Katon Dawson, South Carolina Chair. His main flaw was that he is a member of an all white country club. 3rd place was Ken Blackwell, OH Governor candidate who lost by 30 points in 2006. The options for RNc Chair weren’t great.
"I support a Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion. Everyone, including the unborn, deserve the precious right to life. However, I do realize that in today's political climate, such an amendment has very little chance of passing. Therefore, I support the next-best step: Overturning Roe vs Wade and returning the issue back to the states, and over time we will see a groundswell of support for a Constitutional amendment."
Very true. But states aren't free to pass murder statutes with one penalty for murderers of white victims and a different penalty for murderers of black victims. The same ought to go for killing people who haven't been born yet.
Good answer; just wanted to see where you were coming from.
Steele is correct about the States deciding.
That argument really helped our cause in 1973, right?
Maybe he would have said exactly that if he had anything approaching a coherent thought on the issue. It would have been a good answer.
**He sounds confused.**
I’m confused.
Is he correct about women "absolutely" having the right to choose abortion?
Does that decision make the argument any less true?
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