Posted on 11/18/2007 12:10:42 PM PST by dano1
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee rejects letting states decide whether to allow abortions, claiming the right to life is a moral issue not subject to multiple interpretations.
"It's the logic of the Civil War," Huckabee said Sunday, comparing abortion rights to slavery. "If morality is the point here, and if it's right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can't have 50 different versions of what's right and what's wrong."
"For those of us for whom this is a moral question, you can't simply have 50 different versions of what's right," he said on Fox News Sunday.
The former Arkansas governor, who has drawn within striking distance of Mitt Romney in Iowa's leadoff presidential caucuses, said he was surprised by the National Right to Life Committee's endorsement of Fred Thompson.
"But my surprise was nothing compared to the surprise of people across America who had been faithful supporters of right to life," said Huckabee, a conservative who is challenging Thompson's claim to the title.
"Fred's never had a 100 percent record on right to life in his Senate career. The records reflect that. And he doesn't support the human life amendment which is most amazing because that's been a part of the Republican platform since 1980," Huckabee said.
In a pre-recorded interview on ABC's "This Week," Thompson said Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision allowing legal abortion, should be overturned, with states allowed to decide individually whether to permit abortions.
"We need to remember what the status was before Roe v. Wade," Thompson said in the interview, taped Friday.
Huckabee also previewed his first television ad of the campaign on the program. The 60-second spot stars actor Chuck Norris, and is scheduled to begin running in Iowa on Monday.
"My plan to secure the border. Two words: Chuck. Norris," says Huckabee, who stares into the camera before it cuts away to show Norris standing beside him.
"Mike Huckabee is a lifelong hunter, who'll protect our Second Amendment rights," says the tough-guy actor, who takes turns addressing viewers.
"There's no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard, only another fist," Huckabee says.
"Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business," Norris adds.
"When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the earth down," Huckabee says.
"Mike's a principled, authentic conservative," says Norris.
In closing, Huckabee says: "Chuck Norris doesn't endorse. He tells America how it's going to be. I'm Mike Huckabee and I approved this message. So did Chuck."
Huckabee acknowledged that the ad probably won't change a lot of minds.
"But what it does do is exactly what it's doing this morning," he said. "Getting a lot of attention, driving people to our Web site, giving them an opportunity to find out who is this guy that would come out with Chuck Norris in a commercial."
That could hurt him in the deep south.
I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering. I believe that Roe v. Wade should be over-turned.
I applaud the Supreme Court's recent decision in Gonzales v. Cathcart forbidding the gruesome practice of partial birth abortion. While I am optimistic that we are turning the tide in favor of life, we still have many battles ahead of us to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and so it is vital that we elect a pro-life President.
No candidate has a stronger record on the sanctity of life than I do. I have always been actively and aggressively pro-life. I first became politically active when I helped pass Arkansas' Unborn Child Amendment, which requires the state to do whatever it can to protect life.
As Governor, I used that Amendment to pass pro-life legislation. The many pro-life laws I got through my Democrat legislature are the accomplishments that give me the most pride and personal satisfaction. I banned partial birth abortion, I required parental notification, I required that a woman give informed consent before having an abortion, I required that a woman be told her baby will experience pain and be given the option of anesthesia for her baby, I allowed a woman to have her baby and leave the child safely at a hospital, and I made it a crime for an unborn child to be injured or murdered during an attack on his mother.
What I accomplished as Governor proves that there is a lot more that a pro-life President can do than wait for a Supreme Court vacancy, and I will do everything I can to promote a pro-life agenda and pass pro-life legislation. If I'm saddled with a Democrat Congress, I'll veto any pro-abortion legislation they pass. I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees. I will use the bully pulpit to change hearts and minds. I have no desire to throw women in jail, I just want us to stop throwing babies in the garbage.
To me, life doesn't begin at conception and end at birth. Every child deserves a quality education, first-rate health care, decent housing in a safe neighborhood, and clean air and drinking water. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover and use his God-given gifts and talents.
With respect to stem cells, I support federal funding of research using existing stem cell lines. I do not believe in creating life for the sole purpose of destroying it. I'm encouraged by recent discoveries showing that stem cells from the umbilical cord offer great promise.
Perhaps that’s why my Pro-Choice Liberal Democrat friend is so supportive of him. He doesn’t seem to care about the Constitution or Federalism.
By his (il)logic, why isn’t all murder a Federal crime?
Does he really not understand the American system, or does he just not care?
Huckabee’s a loser. This is all sour grapes because the NRLC didn’t endorse him. He’s going to need more than Chuck Norris for him to win.
PING
One problem conservatives have to face is either we are for state’s rights or we are not. If we are then abortion would become one of those issues states decide. If it’s a national issue, then there needs to be a constitutional amendment passed since the constitution does not address it (the major problem with Roe v Wade).
My only point is there are numerous questions besides simply yes or no on Roe.
BUMP
The Man for Hope just may cut into some of Romney’s lead in Iowa...... Here’s Hope....
45 days and we’ll see how the caucus goers rate the participants from 1 - 100.
Fred's position makes sense to me.
Why does the Huckster have an obsession with inserting racial bigotry when addressing controversial issues ?
Oppose Amnesty = Racist
Federalism = Slavery
This is getting old , fast .
LLS
Hey Huck how about alcohol?
How so?
1) Amending the Constitution, these days, on any substantive issue, is impossible. You can't get 2/3rds of both houses to whistle 'Yankee Doodle' together, much less pass an amendment on an important issue in the fashion required by the Constitution. Therefore, the Human Life Amendment merely represents posturing, and one's support for or opposition to it just more posturing. Arguing over this type of amendments is just like arguing how many unicorns can fit atop a desk.
2) Huckabee's position on the morality (or not) of abortion, as well as his analogy to slavery, is valid (and I share it), but irrelevant to the Consitution. Amendment X is very specific, to wit:
'The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'
The Constitution says nothing whatever about abortion, either explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, the United States has no lawful, Constitutional authority to legislate upon the issue. Period.
Of course, we all know how scrupulously (cough, choke) the Regress obeys the Constitution, as in their utterly unlawful creation of the Dep'ts of Education and Energy, to name but two examples.
You and your candidate have no clue what Federalism is, do you?
For example, has Fred ever been active on forefront of the fight against abortion within his own home State?
Was Fred ever a state legislator?
States already have lost too many rights to the Feds. Evidence shows, on social issues especially, that they do a fine job one one thing - not doing anything.
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