McCain is not Pro-life
About a week ago (how time flies), I posted a link to an article by Notre Dame law professor Gerald Bradley attempting to make the pro-life case for a McCain presidency. In dealing with McCain’s past support for federally funded embryo-destroying research, Prof. Bradley said as follows:
In face-to-face conversation with McCain I said not only that such research was wrong, but that it would never be limited to “spares.” I said that big biotech needed a far larger supply of research subjects than “spares” could provide. McCain asked to continue that conversation, to hear more. Now he realizes that there is no need to exploit “spare” embryos, in light of recent successes with adult cells. And so he has been telling South Carolinians over the last few days.
This did sound encouraging. But I was unable to find any corroboration of Prof. Bradley’s claims that McCain had publicly switched his position. Now it seems that Prof. Bradley was wrong. Writing on The Corner, Rich Lowry reports on a recent McCain Q and A in Florida as follows:
A woman asked McCain at his West Palm Beach town hall if he will change his position to oppose federal funding for embryonic stem cells research in light of new developments. McCain said he’s very encouraged “by the information you just relayed and I agree it has tremendous potential to eliminate an issue which has divided our pro-life community and eliminate the need for embryonic stem cell research. We’re not there yet. According to a growing body of scientific opinion, we are approaching it. I look forward to that day. I’m not changing my position yet, but I am encouraged by the progress that has been made.”
Note that, not only does he reaffirm his support for embryo-destroying research, but he acts as if this is the first time he’s heard of the alternatives (which, even apart from Prof. Bradley’s comments, seems improbable).
It gets worse. One of the main arguments about the importance of electing a pro-life President is that the President appoints Supreme Court justices, and appointing good, conservative judges is the only practicable way of overturning Roe v. Wade. Yet according to an article out today in the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because ‘he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.’”
The bad blood between McCain and many pro-life groups is well known, and there has been concern that McCain’s support for campaign finance reform would lead him to appoint judges unlikely to overturn Roe v. Wade, but I had hoped that some sort of rapprochement between McCain and pro-lifers might have been possible. But sadly this does not appear to be the case.
UPDATE: It appears that McCain vehemently denies saying that Alito was too conservative for his taste. From an interview with Byron York:
“Let me just look you in the eye,” McCain told me. “I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked.”
“I don’t get it,” McCain continued. “I have a clear record of that. All I can tell you is my record is clear: I’ve supported these guys. I went to the floor of the Senate and spoke in favor of them. It’s in the record, saying, ‘You’ve got to confirm these people.’”
I asked whether McCain had ever drawn any distinction between Roberts and Alito. “No, no, of course not,” McCain said.
I asked about the “wore his conservatism on his sleeve” line. “I’m proud of people who wear their conservatism on their sleeves, because they have to have a clear record of strict adherence to the Constitution,” McCain told me. “Remember, in all my remarks, I’ve said, look, we’re not going to take somebody’s word for it. You have to have a clear record of adherence to the Constitution, a strict interpretation of the Constitution. I have said that time after time after time.”
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Not voting looks better and better.
This strikes me as still an open question with McCain, but I do hope social conservatives keep bringing it up. Salter and his team knows it must be addressed. The new advances of technology give opportunity to re-evaluate ESCR. And he can’t outright say he will appoint judges who will likely overturn Roe, but the base knows what the buzzwords are, and he better abide or my sympathy as a voter is gone.
I had already stated that I would not support McCain unless he changed his position on ESCR – unfortunately, he has chosen not to change his views. And now, I have further reasons to categorically rule out McCain as an option after reading about his comments on Alito.
The John Fund story, with the McCain quote, caught my eye, too. I’d like more context, frankly. That is, in what context did McCain observe that Alito “wore his conservatism on his sleeve”? Certainly, it is true that Alito was more obviously and apparently conservative than was Roberts. Did McCain actually say he would not nominate someone like Alito? I highly doubt it. (He voted for Alito, of course.) More information is needed, I think.
As for McCain not being pro-life, I’ve already offered my disagreement with that statement. Yes, his position on ESCR, which he is reluctant to revise publicly, is wrong. But, unlike some, he was casting pro-life votes in the Senate before he decided to run for President.
McCain might not be as pro life as we want but he’s as pro life as we are likely to get come Nov 4. I can never forgive him for running against Bush and other disloyalty to the party over the years.
It appears that Sen. McCain has responded to the John Fund story, which suggested that he had some reservations about Justice Alito. Go the National Review’s “The Corner” for more, but here is the relevant text:
“Let me just look you in the eye,” McCain told me. “I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked.”
“I don’t get it,” McCain continued. “I have a clear record of that. All I can tell you is my record is clear: I’ve supported these guys. I went to the floor of the Senate and spoke in favor of them. It’s in the record, saying, ‘You’ve got to confirm these people.’”
I asked whether McCain had ever drawn any distinction between Roberts and Alito. “No, no, of course not,” McCain said.
I asked about the “wore his conservatism on his sleeve” line. “I’m proud of people who wear their conservatism on their sleeves, because they have to have a clear record of strict adherence to the Constitution,” McCain told me. “Remember, in all my remarks, I’ve said, look, we’re not going to take somebody’s word for it. You have to have a clear record of adherence to the Constitution, a strict interpretation of the Constitution. I have said that time after time after time.”
“And maybe as an aside, why would I say anything derogatory about somebody like that? What would be the point, after working so hard to get not only those two confirmed, but the Gang of 14 which I know is controversial but our record of getting those judges confirmed that the president nominated, I’m still proud of.”
Even though it left a few appeals-court nominees on the side? I asked.
“It left about three or four that they simply would not bring up,” McCain said. “But when you look at where we were, from getting nobody you ask anybody, the Senate was about to blow up and they may not have had the 51 votes to move forward. It was by no means clear. The ones who were left aside, I continued to fight for. We just ran out of time and lost an election.”
Finally, I asked McCain if he had anything else to say. “It’s distressing,” he told me, “on the day before a primary that something like this should come up, because one, it’s distracting, and two, I have done nothing but support these people.”
Oh my gosh! McCain supports cloning!
LOL!