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.

Does It Really Matter?

This evening Sarah Palin is delivering a much anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention. She will claim to be a whistle blowing, party bucking outsider, and the claims will be accurate.  But will it really change anything?  The people who are excited about her are already excited, and the people who hate her are galvanized against her.

Can one speech change much?  Will the headline readers and sound bite listeners really be influenced?  Will the people who actually believe that “Alaska ain’t got no black people, no crack and no foreign policies,” (sic) really be convinced that Palin is qualified to hold any office?  In the end, I wonder if it all won’t just be more words, more speeches . . .

RNC ‘08 – What A Difference

I already know that the Republican National Convention will contain much of the same self congratulatory,  self celebratory speeches and videos that the DNC exhibited; but it must be mentioned that before introducing any speakers, the RNC devoted prime time to honor a Navy Seal who sacrificed his life.

This is why people think that the Democratic Party is out of touch, insular and elitist.  I don’t understand why something like respecting our troops is a party issue.  That should be a national issue.

In Other News

Proving once again that he is an unpredictable Maverick, only a day after every pundit who cared to pundit it predicted a McCain/Pawlenty ticket, John McCain has announced his VP choice.  Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, hockey mom to five and honest to goodness conservative, has been added to the McCain ticket.  It was a masterful choice, and it surprised me no end.

While liberal and unaffiliated voters may be saying “Palin . . . Who?”, the conservative base of the party, who have been terribly disillusioned with McCain as a nominee, have been talking about her for months.  Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have mentioned her as someone who could solidify the base that McCain often seems to either forget or take for granted.  William Kristol has been salivating about her as a VP choice whenever he has been asked.

The fact that she is a woman (yes, a good looking one) is mere window dressing to her outstanding credentials as a conservative.  She’s pro-life, opposed to gay marriage, and when she took office as Governor of Alaska, she sold the gubernatorial jet on E-bay.

But the strongest point in her favor is her genuine blue collar roots.  While Obama claims to have come from poor stock, he was raised by a globe trotting intellectual mother and her middle class parents.  Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has worked side by side with her husband on a commercial fishing boat, and gone moose hunting with her grandfather.

Finally, her pro-life stance, at least, has been proven to be more than just words.  When pregnant with her fifth child, the child tested positive for Down’s Syndrome.  After being counseled to abort, she and her husband made the decision to keep the baby, whom she brought with her to work.

I don’t think Palin can completely erase conservatives’ unease with some of McCain’s decidedly not conservative stances (McCain-Feingold being among the most heinous) but she has become a large dollop of honey on a formerly “hold your nose and vote” Republican ticket.

How Would I Vote?

DNC ‘08 – What ISN’T There

Pundits will be talking for weeks about what was said and done and written and served at the Democrat National Convention in Denver. But the real story, as far as I see it, is what you don’t see on the podium at the conference. For a campaign that has run on Change and Hope, I see none of either.

Where is the change? What I see is tributes to old insider politicians. Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton stood on the stage, all heavily networked insiders, familiar with the beltway. Where is this difference Obama was supposed to bring? Where is the change from business as usual? Look at the faces on the stage at any given time – how is this Convention different from ‘04, or ‘00, or ‘98? Where is the change?

And where is the hope? In 2004, John Kerry invited a brand new junior Senator from Illinois to deliver the keynote address of his convention. It was a look to the future, a symbol of hope in the future of the party. Four years later, that junior Senator is the party nominee, and where are the bright, rising stars? Nowhere near prime time, that’s a certainty. Where is the hope?

It seems to me that the Democrats aren’t trying to be “progressive,” they’re being regressive. They are trying to replicate Camelot and the Clinton years rather than building a firm platform and marching into the future.

It’s certainly not change I can believe in.

I’m Beginning to Feel Sorry For Barack Obama

I don’t think it’s possible to find a politician in this country with whom I would disagree more than Barack Obama, That being said, I am beginning to feel sorry for the man.  I think it is probable that he will be the next president of these United States, and if that happens there is no possible way he can be successful.  Consider the following facts:

1.  If he appoints a single white person to any position at any point, he will be called an “Uncle Tom” by leading black leaders.

2.  If anything wrong happens in the smallest corner of this country, a small contingent will claim it is because we have a black president, a small contingent will claim it’s proof that Obama isn’t “black enough”, and a lot of people will be disappointed that their great savior is actually human.

3.  There is no possible way that Barack Obama can do all of the things he says he’s going to do.  For most politicians that is a given, but for the “first” of anything, it is a recipe for disappointment and disillusionment.

4.  I don’t think there is any way possible that Barack Obama could serve as President without having at least one assassination attempt.  I don’t know if it would be from a white supremacist, or a disillusioned young black man.  It doesn’t really matter, and that, alone, should scare him.

I wouldn’t vote for him, but those things are making me sorry for Barack Obama.

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