Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-203 next last
To: Darren McCarty

“Keep in mind that even murder is almost always prosecuted on the state level. “

yes (and that should be the case for abortion as well) but if a state decided to legalize murder for some crazy reason then I think the federal govt would be able to intervene.


81 posted on 03/11/2009 10:51:38 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: KoRn

I dare any “law-and-order conservative” on here to say, without any equivocation, that any woman who pays money to someone to kill her unborn child should be prosecuted for murder... just like we prosecute any other contract killing.

If abortion in infanticide, then paying a doctor for an abortion is murder-for-hire. Say it if you really mean it. Don’t you have the courage of your convictions?


82 posted on 03/11/2009 10:53:09 PM PDT by Demesne Lord
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: xjcsa

Why is it “bad” to say that “homosexuality is not a choice”?

Except for the fact that the question is more or less meaningless.

Sodomy is a behavior that some people choose. The desire to commit sodomy exists in some people through no choice of their own, and in other people because of malice.

The questioner never defined what he meant by “homosexuality”—the commission of sodomy, or the desire to commit sodomy?

Steele should not have answered the question without requiring disambiguation.


83 posted on 03/11/2009 10:56:33 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: calex59

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

I believe in state’s rights only when it results in more rights for the people, including the unborn. That is why I am a Republican and not just a conservative (one can also be a conservative monarchist or a conservative who believes in doing everything via public referendum)


84 posted on 03/11/2009 10:57:35 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Well stated.


85 posted on 03/11/2009 11:01:06 PM PDT by WildcatClan (Iam fimus mos ledo ventus apparatus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: whatisthetruth

“so Steele is pro-choice on abortion”

I wouldn’t say that but I would say his response is up there along with “It’s above my pay grade”


86 posted on 03/11/2009 11:03:22 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

It is freakingly painfully obvious he has NEVER had any children. If his wife had an ultrasound at just four months they would have witnessed an undeniable HUMAN being in process. Now, he can equivocate all he wants politically, but if it is not in the core of his very being that once upon a time he was a viable human at that stage, then pity the poor man for even trying to stay alive. He is to pitied above all men for he has no inner core, only mush.


87 posted on 03/11/2009 11:04:30 PM PDT by Semperfiwife (Common sense is in short supply in Washington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

It is freakingly painfully obvious he has NEVER had any children. If his wife had an ultrasound at just four months they would have witnessed an undeniable HUMAN being in process. Now, he can equivocate all he wants politically, but if it is not in the core of his very being that once upon a time he was a viable human at that stage, then pity the poor man for even trying to stay alive. He is to pitied above all men for he has no inner core, only mush.


88 posted on 03/11/2009 11:04:45 PM PDT by Semperfiwife (Common sense is in short supply in Washington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

It is freakingly painfully obvious he has NEVER had any children. If his wife had an ultrasound at just four months they would have witnessed an undeniable HUMAN being in process. Now, he can equivocate all he wants politically, but if it is not in the core of his very being that once upon a time he was a viable human at that stage, then pity the poor man for even trying to stay alive. He is to pitied above all men for he has no inner core, only mush.


89 posted on 03/11/2009 11:06:49 PM PDT by Semperfiwife (Woud you trust your life to Pelosi or Reid??)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: calex59
Either you believe in states rights or you don't, can't have it both ways.

Can you see where that is a bit of a strawman in the broad spectrum of the debate? Abortion is either murder or it is not. If it is in fact murder, then no entity, state or federal, should have the right to give a license to murder. Whether or not you believe in states rights has little to do with the issue at hand. I believe abortion is murder and therefore should not be practiced. Your argument holds only, if you believe abortion is not murder, and, there are states who do not already have existing laws that deal with murder.

90 posted on 03/11/2009 11:12:36 PM PDT by WildcatClan (Iam fimus mos ledo ventus apparatus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Semperfiwife
you don't need any children to figure this out. I thought he was so 'with it' and 'hi-tech.' Well, anyone with internet (PS: you don't even need an iphone or use twitter) should know what a 3D sonogram looks like by now.

91 posted on 03/11/2009 11:14:03 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: pissant

You said it. I had no idea this isn’t the Michael Steele I’ve seen up to this point. What in the hell is he trying to do? Comparing Homosexuality to being black? Geesh even Black Democrats don’t do that in public. Steele had better get with it or he is going to sabotage the GOPs chances in the midterms.


92 posted on 03/11/2009 11:18:01 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

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.

Too bad you weren't the President of the United States 150 years ago the slave states would've been pretty cool with being expelled.

93 posted on 03/11/2009 11:20:15 PM PDT by exist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: jeltz25

You are absolutely right. If he’d given this interview he wouldn’t have had a chance. Why is it that individuals Steele think they have to make nice on abortion and homosexuality and the environment and such? Supporting such things are not majority issues. They if anything will guarantee Republicans a bloodletting like they’ve never seen if they keep up this tack.


94 posted on 03/11/2009 11:21:06 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Maelstorm

Folks, let’s be intellectually honest. What has more bearing on how you live: that a man or woman become gay or are gay or that the Messiah is presently in the process of destroying the entire capitalistic system and depriving Americans of their God-given righhts to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Steele, regardless of his perceived defects, is NOT the enemy. Obama and his Marxist hordes are. Never forget that.


95 posted on 03/11/2009 11:22:07 PM PDT by techno
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: Nonstatist

Yeah but I don’t believe his explanation on Abortion. He’d better get his act together or he is going to have to find another job.


96 posted on 03/11/2009 11:22:39 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Mamzelle

Yeah I was too. This is not the Michael Steele I’ve seen. What was he thinking? He won’t last long now and shoot his comments comparing being gay to black are likely to drive minorities of color away from the party.


97 posted on 03/11/2009 11:24:19 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: brushcop

Exactly if he doesn’t have the backbone to make the conservative case (not on a second take) but when confronted on serious questions then there is something wrong. His voting record doesn’t indicate any of these things so the only thing I can think is he is trying to appear more “Moderate” and all he is doing is shredding his own credibility.


98 posted on 03/11/2009 11:27:55 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: STARWISE

I’ll second your thoughts on Demint. We have a number in Congress that are great but we still have too many that behave like chameleons.


99 posted on 03/11/2009 11:29:54 PM PDT by Maelstorm (The connection between Barack Obama & Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Demesne Lord

If abortion in infanticide, then paying a doctor for an abortion is murder-for-hire. Say it if you really mean it. Don’t you have the courage of your convictions?

because we do not want to do anything that will result in more abortions. That is really the bottom line. Punishing regular murderers deters them because everyone is against them. Punish young women and everyone will stand up in their defense. remember, there was a lot of support for the death of Terri Schiavo


100 posted on 03/11/2009 11:30:11 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-203 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson