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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: April Lexington

I thought he was chairman of the RNC.


61 posted on 03/11/2009 10:08:13 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant

I just heard that Steele and Mike Tyson were related. Tyson married his sister in 2006?

http://www.thepoliticalcesspool.org/jamesedwards/tag/michael-steele-mike-tyson/


62 posted on 03/11/2009 10:09:14 PM PDT by TomasUSMC ( FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM)
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To: xjcsa

Time to abort Michael Steele!

http://www.goodrichardsalmanac.com/archives/2009/03/holy_frap_steel.html


63 posted on 03/11/2009 10:10:19 PM PDT by goodrichardsalmanac
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To: TomasUSMC

Explains his missing ear chunk


64 posted on 03/11/2009 10:11:16 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: xjcsa
No, but he probably would acknowledge that his personal opinion doesn't matter nearly as much as his other statement; that is the one which is vastly more important and politically meaningful.

The states should make the decision; people should duke it out at the state level.

65 posted on 03/11/2009 10:12:05 PM PDT by what's up
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To: xjcsa
Affirmative action in picking National Committee chairmen produces results equivalent to affirmative action in picking presidents.


66 posted on 03/11/2009 10:17:47 PM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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To: JLS; calex59
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.

There is almost no chance SCOTUS would "overturn" Roe v. Wade in the way some here believe. SCOTUS will certainly not state that their is no "right to privacy", which Roe was based on, because privacy is certainly a right retained by "the people". If Roe is overturned it will most likely be because SCOTUS rules that the unenumerated right to privacy is trumped by the enumerated right to life.

If there is indeed a "right to life" it is surely a fundamental right and therefore protected by the Constitution. I see no circumstance that SCOTUS would say that the fundamental right to life exists but it is not protected by the Constitution and is therefore left to the vagaries of the states. No way.

67 posted on 03/11/2009 10:20:26 PM PDT by Prokopton
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To: xjcsa

Pelosi Catholisism.


68 posted on 03/11/2009 10:21:22 PM PDT by Global2010 (Worship the Creator Not the Creature.)
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To: what's up

Which other unalienable rights do you want to “let the states decide” besides the unalienable right to live??


69 posted on 03/11/2009 10:21:23 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (www.RosannaPulido2009.com)
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To: cammie

Not true.

No state has the right to decide that a certain class of people are not entitled to protection from homicide.

Any state that designates any class of people as undeserving of the protection of the law should be expelled from the Union.


70 posted on 03/11/2009 10:34:10 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: exist

Not true.

No state has the right to decide that a certain class of people are not entitled to protection from homicide.

Any state that designates any class of people as undeserving of the protection of the law should be expelled from the Union.


71 posted on 03/11/2009 10:34:27 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: what's up

Not true.

No state has the right to decide that a certain class of people are not entitled to protection from homicide.

Any state that designates any class of people as undeserving of the protection of the law should be expelled from the Union.


72 posted on 03/11/2009 10:35:45 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
That argument really helped our cause in 1973, right?

That was 36 years ago. Amazing medical advances have been made in those 36 years.
In 1973 there was no such thing as ultra sound or sonograms. IIRC, even the doctor could not hear the baby's heart beat until 3-4 months. Medical advancement has completely changed the argument, but in this case, many don't want to look at the "science" involved.

The Life at Conception Act, if passed, would define life as beginning at conception.
If that happened, the Preamble, 5th, and the 14th amendments would apply to protecting the lives of the unborn.
An admission made by the court in their Roe v. Wade ruling when Justice Blackmun wrote;
If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.

73 posted on 03/11/2009 10:36:17 PM PDT by Just A Nobody (Better Dead than RED! NEVER AGAIN...Support our Troops! Beware the ENEMEDIA)
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To: EternalVigilance
Like most other issues (including capital punishment...another life issue) responsibility at the state level leads to an increase in responsible behavior.

If given the responsibility, the States would see to it that abortion levels would decrease quite dramatically.

74 posted on 03/11/2009 10:37:00 PM PDT by what's up
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To: exist
The job description Of a Republican National Committee Chairman does not include leaving conservatives confused, defensive, and bickering in the wake of every television interview. The job calls for a chairman who can render the opposition defensive and bickering.

Ask yourself how Haley Barbour or Newt Gingrich would have answered last question.

No one in America is more vulnerable on the abortion issue than President Barak Obama who condoned abandoning babies simply to die who miraculously survived botched abortions. Steel is not even smart enough to recognize a question about abortion as an invitation to tee off on Obama's murderous depravity. Once the liberal media begins to understand that such questions hurt their party because effective spokesman for the party exploit the opening, they will stop laying snares for the unwary on the abortion issue. Instead Michael Steele was so obtuse that he actually attempted to answer the question on the interrogator's terms. He is a fool.

He may be identical error with respect to the homosexuality question. Conservatives have the numbers on their side on this issue, Michael Steele managed to piss off both sides.

In answering these questions, he made the same mistake that he is made twice before, he tries to ingratiate himself with critics by conceding the premise and then weasel around his concession with mindless blather. So he accepts the premise of the Republican convention was like a Nazi gathering, for example. The man acts as though he is ashamed of conservative principles. He does not understand that it is impossible to apologize your way into becoming a majority party.

For the record, I have been opposed to this man since before his selection. I have opposed him because he does not have the candlepower or the charisma required to save a party that is on the verge of political oblivion. He does not understand the role of a national chairman and he does not have the forensic skills required to fulfill that role.

Michael Steele simply must go!


75 posted on 03/11/2009 10:39:37 PM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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To: calex59

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

Bovine excrement. States have the right to do some things, and do not have the right to do other things.

One of the things a state has the right to do is secede from the Union. One of the things a state does not have the right to do is designate a certain class of people who may be held as slaves. Another thing no state has the right to do is designate a class of people who are to be denied legal protection against homicide.

Any state that DOES designate such a class of people should be expelled from the Union.

On the day Roe v. Wade was announced, it was the DUTY of the fifty governors to announce that their states were seceding from the Union. It is STILL the duty of every governor to do so.

They think that, as long as they ignore this duty (or never allow themselves to become conscious of it), the U.S. can continue to exist.

But they are wrong: The course of nature will follow the course of logic eventually. It just takes longer.

The United States will dissolve in chaos because its government definitively ceased to be legitimate on January 22, 1973.


76 posted on 03/11/2009 10:43:04 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: Arthur McGowan
Any state that designates any class of people as undeserving of the protection of the law should be expelled from the Union.

That would be decided by Congress if the issue was returned to the State level.

The mistake was raising the issue to the Federal level in the first place.

77 posted on 03/11/2009 10:43:53 PM PDT by what's up
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To: jeltz25
maybe he meant that if the governor is a woman then it is her individual choice?

ok how many chances are we giving Steele? I lost track.

78 posted on 03/11/2009 10:45:11 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
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To: xjcsa

“Lots of Freepers supported him, too. Lots. “

just like they supported Romney...who cares what he stood for? He’s cool, different and gives a kicking speech!


79 posted on 03/11/2009 10:49:07 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
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To: xjcsa
This guy reminds me of Colin Powell and we all know how that turned out, so Steele is pro-choice on abortion, equates the homosexual struggle with the black struggle, and believes in affirmative action, is this the new direction of the GOP now, Democrat-lite?

In the interview what the hell does he mean by this?

"Do you have a problem with gay priests who are celibate? (his answer) No, it’s your nature. It’s your nature. You can’t—I can’t deny you your nature."

And why is this guy a Republican, he never answered that question fully only saying he liked Reagan. Initially a lot of freepers were jumping up and down over this guy, I wonder if they now have buyer's remorse.

80 posted on 03/11/2009 10:49:52 PM PDT by whatisthetruth
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