This diary is about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his record on abortion rights.
A lot of people talk about John McCain as "a maverick moderate." What I'd like to make clear today is that McCain's no maverick and no moderate on abortion rights. Ask David O'Steen executive director of the National Right to Life Committee:
"He's been very consistent; he hasn't changed his position," O'Steen says. He says that his group has supported McCain in every one of his senate races. "We've always considered him pro-life," he says.
That's a pretty clear track record from Senator McCain's lifetime of experience...
Or we could ask Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. She's was pretty clear in 2007 as well:
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says her group has always considered McCain pro-life as well. And it's not just abortion, she says.
"He voted against family planning, he voted against the freedom of access to clinic entrances — that was about violence against women in clinics," Keenan says, adding, "He voted against funding for teen pregnancy-prevention programs, and making sure that abstinence only was medically accurate. This is very, very extreme."
But as NPR reports, pro-choice voters don't seem to mind McCain's track record of pro-life positions:
In Florida's GOP primary on Jan. 29, McCain won 45 percent of Republican voters who said abortion should be legal. That's nearly twice the total of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who used to be pro-choice, but now says he has changed his mind. [snip]
"I think it comes back to that moderate maverick image that he's tried to portray," Keenan says. "But when you peel the onion back, the record shows that this is a guy who's been very anti-choice since he entered the U.S. House of Representatives back in 1983."
And in 2008 Senator McCain has gone to great lengths to make it clear that he hasn't softened his position on Roe v Wade in the least:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party’s conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."
Now, to be fair, Senator McCain's opposition to Roe v. Wade doesn't mean that he doesn't have some maverick credentials when it comes to lifetime of experience opposing choice and reproductive rights, he's for prosecuting doctors not women. (What a maverick.):
"I don’t claim to be a theologian, but I have my moral beliefs." If Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion outlawed, McCain said he believes doctors who performed abortions would be prosecuted. "But I would not prosecute a woman" who obtained an abortion."
For us Democrats, however, John McCain, does indeed have a perfect record of voting against womens rights and contraception in his lifetime of experience in Washington.
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Today with George Bush's approval it became official that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee. He's wasted no time attacking Senator Barack Obama and his surrogates have joined in.
For every week that the Democratic Party does not define John McCain, doesn't talk about his anything but moderate track record on core issues like reproductive rights, John McCain enjoys a chance to build up his false reputation as a "maverick moderate." He talk an "inclusive language" on reproductive rights that masks his voting record and what he will do with judicial appointments.
Look at how he does just that in this clip from 1999:
That's how politics works. If you don't start defining your opponent they define themselves and they start defining you.
You may know McCain's lifetime of experience on reproductive rights but the vast majority of voters don't. People see him as a reasonable man, a hero, and a moderate. A moderate he's not:
Dear Fellow Pro-Lifers,
I join you today in marking the 35th anniversary of the tragic Roe vs. Wade decision made on January 22, 1973. I salute you for taking the time to show that the cause of Life is alive and well in the hearts of millions of Americans. [snip]
America stands for an ideal that all people are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I know what it is like to live without those rights, and I have an obligation to advocate them wherever they are denied: in Bosnia or Burma, in Cuba or the Middle East; and in our own country when we fail to respect the inherent dignity of all human life, born or unborn. That is why I am pro-life.
While our nation struggles with the issue of abortion and the division it has wrought on our society and culture, Americans on both sides of this debate should agree that the proper solution for this debate to be settled is through the democratic process, not through judicial dictate.
Seven judges in 1973 took the issue of abortion on themselves to settle this issue for every American, in all fifty states. They assured us that by sheer judicial will and power, the question of a so- called right to abortion was settled' and that our society would now arrive at a shared consensus by virtue of their ruling.
They were wrong to make this assumption. Your presence in Washington today marching for Life proves just how wrong they were.
If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next President of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement. The pro-life movement appeals to the best instincts within each and every one of us. In that regard, our pro-life cause will ultimately be successful.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and please be assured of my best wishes and prayers for all those who labor for the cause of Life.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
That letter is from January of 2008.
The time for us to start working on this and talking about this is now.
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Here's how you can help.
First, you can bookmark this page and save some of those links. You can cut and paste that letter from John McCain and send it to some friends. That letter needs to get out before the public.
Second, you can rally behind national front-runner Barack Obama. Senator Barack Obama has spent the last weeks contrasting with John McCain and defining his record.
You can help Senator Obama in three distinct ways:
You can share your story with a super delegate.
You can donate to Barack Obama's campaign.
And, especially if you live in or near a state with an upcoming primary, you can sign up to volunteer and take action.
Voter registration in Pennsylvania the next three weeks will be crucial.
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Finally, if you've got the time and phone minutes you can call someone from this list of Hillary Clinton endorsers and tell them that this is no time to be repeatedly referring to and praising John McCain's lifetime of experience, especially given John McCain's track record on reproductive rights: