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Steele: Abortion an 'individual choice' (interview a must-read)
Politico ^ | March 11, 2009 | Ben Smith; interview by Lisa Paulo

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 ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; duplicate; frigginloser; prolife; rnc; rncchairman; steele; steelemustgo; zerosycophant
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To: xjcsa
His views don't jive with what his religion says!

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

10 Things You Didn't Know About Michael Steele

41 posted on 03/11/2009 9:37:30 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All
Yeah, let's leave THIS up to the states.

How can some of you look at yourselves in the mirror?

42 posted on 03/11/2009 9:37:44 PM PDT by bimboeruption (Clinging to my Bible and my HK.)
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To: xjcsa
I don't like Steele, but what he says about aborting Being the purview of the States and not the Feds is correct. He was wrong about women being to make an individual choice but he is correct is saying the feds don't have the right to choose, only the states do. If Roe vs Wade is struck down, as it should be, there should be no federal law preventing abortion, only the states have that right.

Either you believe in states rights or you don't, can't have it both ways.

43 posted on 03/11/2009 9:37:47 PM PDT by calex59
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To: xjcsa

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.


44 posted on 03/11/2009 9:38:19 PM PDT by JLS
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To: KoRn
don’t like abortion, but there is no mention of it in the constitution

huh, I thought there was something about inalienable right to life in there...I better go check again :/

45 posted on 03/11/2009 9:38:25 PM PDT by xhrist ("You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. " - C.S. Lewis)
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To: xjcsa
The same ought to go for killing people who haven't been born yet.

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'.

46 posted on 03/11/2009 9:39:15 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (Obama = Jimmy Carter II)
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To: calex59
Either you believe in states rights or you don't, can't have it both ways.

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.

47 posted on 03/11/2009 9:43:41 PM PDT by xjcsa (Currently shouting "I told you so" about Michael Steele on my profile page.)
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To: JLS
As a matter of Law right now, abortion is a woman’s choice.

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.

48 posted on 03/11/2009 9:45:36 PM PDT by xjcsa (Currently shouting "I told you so" about Michael Steele on my profile page.)
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To: xjcsa

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.


49 posted on 03/11/2009 9:48:29 PM PDT by JLS
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To: jeltz25

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 $$.


50 posted on 03/11/2009 9:50:07 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (LIBS-STILL) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war- Richard Miniter)
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To: All
The right to life is a civil right guaranteed by our Constitution. This applies to the unborn just the same as it does to you and me.


51 posted on 03/11/2009 9:51:24 PM PDT by bimboeruption (Clinging to my Bible and my HK.)
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To: calex59
Being the purview of the States and not the Feds is correct.

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).

52 posted on 03/11/2009 9:52:52 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Proud 1%er... Reagan Conservatism is the only way forward.)
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To: DanZanRyu

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


53 posted on 03/11/2009 9:55:34 PM PDT by jeltz25
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To: xjcsa

Not ONE penny. Not ONE penny to the GOP until they clean house and get focused.


54 posted on 03/11/2009 9:59:41 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: jeltz25
They elected one president. We needed one too. Superior logic from the minority party...The RNC needs to be disbanded, fast...
55 posted on 03/11/2009 10:01:25 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: JLS

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.


56 posted on 03/11/2009 10:02:03 PM PDT by jeltz25
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To: cammie

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..


57 posted on 03/11/2009 10:02:30 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: pissant
How did this nincompoop win the chairmanship?

Or, did you mean... presidency?

58 posted on 03/11/2009 10:02:38 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: xjcsa

I have no problem with states rights. I have a huge problem with Steele.


59 posted on 03/11/2009 10:04:06 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: brushcop
"This is the kind of person that will stab you in the back when the chips are down."

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.

60 posted on 03/11/2009 10:06:50 PM PDT by Hillarys nightmare (So Proud to be living in "Jesus Land" ! Don't you wish everyone did?)
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