IS McCain pro-life?

Randy Alcorn has written an article that is being much circulated and tagged around the Christian branches of this world wide web.  He says he’s voting for McCain because he’s voting for life.

But the facts do not support Alcorn’s hypothesis.  John McCain is not a pro-life candidate.

1.  John McCain voted against the ban of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.  He further defended that vote at the Saddleback forum:

REV. WARREN: So would you favor or oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research since we have this other breakthrough?

SEN. MCCAIN: For those of us in the pro-life community, this has been a great struggle and a terrible dilemma, because we’re also taught other obligations that we have as well. I’ve come down on the side of stem cell research, but I am wildly optimistic that skin cell research, which is coming more and more into focus and practicability, will make this debate an academic one.

2.  When running against George W. Bush in 2000, McCain repeatedly stated his support of abortion in the case of rape, incest and the “health of the mother.” (see glassbooth.com) This continued into the primary season of 2008.

3.  In putting together his “Gang of 14″ senators in 2005, Senator McCain agreed to permit the most vocally pro-life appointments to be fillibustered, pushing through more moderate appointments.  To make matters worse, he did so when his own party was in the majority, and had the votes to push through the nominees.

There may be some valid economic and national defense reasons to vote for John McCain on November 4, but if you are a single issue voter, and if abortion is that single issue, John McCain should not be your candidate.

Side By Side

i find it interesting that people are comparing Sarah Palin to Barack Obama.  It’s the first time, as far as I am aware, that the #2 slot on one ticket is being compared to the #1 slot on another.  IN the end, a comparison like this is always going to come out better for the Republicans who can pull out the trump card: “But she’s not running for President.”

If I was running the Obama campaign, I’d have marginalized her by ignoring her.  I would have released a statement welcoming her to the race, and then proceeded as if she wasn’t a factor.  The Democrats have decided to go another way with that.

So, if you want a side by side comparison of the two, Red State is offering a pretty entertaining, and fairly accurate, synopsis of the two.  The comments beneath it are even more entertaining and give an insight into the nature of the divide between the parties.  It makes me think that someone should do a side by side comparison of the Democrats and Republicans.  I don’t think it would be as sharply drawn as either side would like to think.

Spin This

I think there should be a group called something like “Conservatives for an O’Reilly free Fox”.  I could rant about how he annoys me, but frankly, I don’t care enough to expend the energy.  Suffice it to say that he’s not a conservative, he’s certainly not “spin free” and he’s really, really annoying.

I’d like to see a trade worked out.  Give O’Reilly two slots on CNN Headline news and move Glenn Beck over to O’Reilly’s 8 pm slot on Fox.

The only two downsides to this is the fact that O’Reilly would be on the air twice as much (but to only half the viewers) and the odds of Glenn Beck being asked to host “Larry King is Still Alive” would decreases substantially.  Of course, the chance of him being included on a panel with Charles Krauthammer would increase, and that would be a panel I would want to see!

So who’s with me?  Conservatives for an O’Reilly-free Fox, you are about to enter a no Bill zone.