“Romney’s claim, however, is just patently false. Reagan’s most able biographer, Lou Cannon, has documented* that in contravention to Romney’s claim that Reagan was “adamantly pro-choice” Governor Reagan had never really given the abortion issue much thought before he took office. Cannon demonstrates that when Reagan was first confronted with abortion in 1967 he was unusually indecisive and had a difficult time deciding what he should do with a liberal abortion bill winding its way through the state house in Sacramento.
Cannon documents that after the abortion bill passed the California Senate, Reagan was asked by reporters during a press conference about his stance on the bill. When asked if he would sign the bill, Reagan answered, “I haven’t had time to really sit down and marshal my thoughts on that.” Such a reply certainly does not reveal an “adamant” position on the issue, as Romney claims Reagan held. Further, such indecision was not in any way a hallmark of the Reagan mode of operation.
In fact, Cannon writes that in 1968, the year after the bill passed, Reagan said that “those were awful weeks,” and that he would never have signed the bill if he had “been a more experienced governor.”
In light of the evidence it cannot be said that Reagan was ever an “adamant” pro-abortion supporter who later “grew” into an anti-abortion advocate. For Romney to invoke the spirit of Ronald Reagan in this way is a disgraceful attempt to co-opt the reputation of the most famous and successful politician of his age and an icon of the conservative movement to the aid of a candidate floundering on an issue. Mitt Romney’s abortion problem bears no resemblance at all to Ronald Reagan’s views “grown” or not.”
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/27404.html
“Governor Reagan had never really given the abortion issue much thought before he took office. Cannon demonstrates that when Reagan was first confronted with abortion in 1967 he was unusually indecisive and had a difficult time deciding what he should do with a liberal abortion bill winding its way through the state house in Sacramento.”
That’s some of the silliest (and least skillful) spin I’ve ever seen. One thing that can be concluded is that he was definitely not pro-life, or he would have had no problem deciding to veto the bill.
“I haven’t had time to really sit down and marshal my thoughts on that.”
Again, definitely not pro-life. He signed the abortion bill. This poor spinmeister concentrates on word games, whether or not Reagan was “adamantly” pro-choice. He was pro-choice based upon his actions, but his poor defenders play word games, Lol. It’s unreal that people present such nonsense as a reasonable defense for anything.
When do you think Reagan was able to conclude that abortion might be, er, wrong?
It would sure be nice if one of you guys that know how to do ping lists and such, would start a ping list to defend Ronald Reagan.
It looks like the anti Reagan efforts are not going away.