How can some of you look at yourselves in the mirror?
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 ...
BREAKING! Pro-life, devout Catholic named new RNC chair!
Opinion: Michael Steele, Black, Pro-Life Catholic Takes the Helm of the G.O.P.
Catholic Michael Steele (former seminarian) takes over leadership of RNC
How can some of you look at yourselves in the mirror?
Either you believe in states rights or you don't, can't have it both ways.
Well thinking the matter should be left to the states is in fact the view of those who want Roe v. Wade overturned. If Roe is overturned, then the states control.
As a matter of Law right now, abortion is a woman’s choice.
huh, I thought there was something about inalienable right to life in there...I better go check again :/
I'd like to see all abortion doctors locked up in prison for murder, and I'm usually accused in most circles for being 'soft on crime'.
I'll tell you what I don't believe in: a party leader who is an incoherent mushbabbler. I didn't support Steele for VP and I didn't support him for party chair. You know why? I didn't think he had the intellectual horsepower for the job, and I didn't trust his commitment to conservatism. He's demonstrating both of those reasons these days.
Spin it all you want, that's not what Steele was saying. Not that it's an easy task to decipher what he *was* saying, incoherent as it was.
It is not spin:
1. Abortion is a woman’s choice legally now.
2. Overturning Roe v. Wade would make it a matter for the states.
Had Steele said differently on 1 he would have been hounded by the press as Jerald Ford was about Poland being free.
it’s not even so much that he has a pro choice position, but that he seems utterly befuddled and unable to even understand the basics of the issue
~~~
So true. His message, his decisions are totally wrong.
If the GOP wanted to keep losing, bleeding money and being the consistent underdogs going forward, they couldn’t have a better plan. What dolts. I’m more convinced than ever that the Beltway environs totally corrupt .. even formerly good conservatives.
So far, Mike DeMint is admirably holding strong, but most of the others aren’t worth a bucket of spit.
Time to flood their offices with a wakeup call: you don’t represent us, you don’t get our $$.
Either you believe in states rights or you don't, can't have it both ways.
I would be interested to see where "state sanctioned taking of life, without due process" is found to be a right of the state (or of the feds for that matter).
The rest of the interview is even worse!
First he curses up a storm opening up the interview by saying Aw, s***. Then he says he liked Dean Martin because he just didn’t give a f***.(True, perhaps, but is that the kind of thing the natl chairman should be saying, that kind of language)
Then he says he liked Sinatra and Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr and the Pack Rats, at which point the writer corrects him and says “you mean the Rat Pack?”
Then he says he likes P Diddy which just got every black person in America to laugh uproariously at him. P Diddy is about the lamest hip hop guy there is out there. He doesn’t even record anymore. I mean at least if he said Biggie or Pac he’d had have some cred? but P Diddy? As Steele himself has probably said before, Please
Then he talks about dating in college and it’s a very curious answer:
Did you date a lot in college?
No, I didn’t. I had a lot of girl friends, and I loved—I love hanging out with women, sometimes more than men. You know, sit back and let your hair down type thing?
Now, I’ll just say I have some questions after reading that. I’ll just say most guys, especially when they’re in college don’t have a lot of female friends and like hanging out with them, sitting back and letting their hair down, watching soaps and gossiping.
he also pretty much says that he voted for Carter before seemingly realizing what he was saying midway through and with the help of the writer he backtracked and said he thought about voting for Carter but in the end “probably” voted for Ford. He also says it was his first vote for President.
he’s full of it. No one forgets who their first vote for President was for, or any vote for that matter, but especially their first. And he can only say he probably voted for Ford? So, he most likely voted for Carter. Great.
On the plus side, he does defend Gov Palin and Rush Limbaugh, although he then demeans Rush by basically equating him with Al Franken. A huge insult.
he calls Rush and Ann Coulter “bomb-throwers”. Again, in a post 9/11 world, not exactly the best word choice.
He does make some good points about Obama stiffing him when he was first electe to the Senate and being the only black guy to campaign against him in 2006.
That said, Steele is in charge so he better do a good job. It’s still early, and in the end the party chair doesn’t really matter all that much. But it has been a rough beginning
Not ONE penny. Not ONE penny to the GOP until they clean house and get focused.
It depends how you read this :
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.
You can read it as I do and see that the question really had the word “should” before have and that it was implied in the question. And further implied when she says “you do?” in her follow-up? Or, you can think she’s just asking him to state the law as it is currently, which is pretty stupid because everyone knows what it is and there’s no poin in asking. I mean. whats the new sthere. GOP chair says abortion is legal. Big deal. Ask Jim Dobson, he’ll tell you abortion is legal, too.
It makes way more sense to read the question as her asking him “you think women [should] have the right to choose abortion”? And he says, I do[think it’s an individual choice]. absolutely.
You are right its a state issue..I remember when it went to the USSC. The backers of the bill said specifically that they went the federal route because it would be too expensive to go state by state..Many states had a law against it and I think only 2 allowed it..It is an issue for each state. The backers don’t like it because most states would outlaw it if it was up to the voters..If pro-life groups had only a couple of states they had to protest in, it would also be easier for them to work to change minds..
Or, did you mean... presidency?
I have no problem with states rights. I have a huge problem with Steele.
Well.. while I like Steele as a person (he seems amiable enough), he is a politician, and he's doing as politicians tend to do: Say whatever you think will get you what you want. And when your called on it: then say that what you said, was not what you meant to say.
As for the "knife in the back": we are talking about career politicians here: it's to be expected!
And they wonder why it is that El Rushbo has more credibility and popularity amongst conservatives than they do?
Incredible.
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