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Title: That was then, this is now: Scott Walker suddenly a hard-liner on abortion as he vaults to 2016 GOP front-runner status
Source:
Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... ts-2016-GOP-runner-status.html
Published: Feb 23, 2015
Author: David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor
Post Date: 2015-02-23 12:05:21 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 2599
Comments: 17
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is learning that major leagues pitchers throw harder than in the minors, as journalists are piling on the newly minted Republican front-runner – first with gotcha questions and now with questions about an abortion flip-flop over a period of just four months. The New York Times highlighted on Monday a campaign ad Walker made in October as he fought through a tough re-election contest. 'I'm pro-life,' he says in the video, but Walker also announced his support for 'legislation to increase safety, and to provie more information to a woman considering her options. The bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS FRONT-RUNNER: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has surged to the front of the GOP presidential pack, opening him up to instant media slaps about inconsistencies in his political record FOUR MONTHS AGO: Walker made a campaign ad in October 2014 saying he supported legislation that would keep abortion legal, albeit 'safer,' although he insisted he was pro-life POLITICAL MINEFIELD: Pro-life partisans make up a large part of the Republican electorate that will decide who is nominated for president next year – and they could stay home on Election Day if a pro-choice candidate is named But last month, according to a witness who spoke with The New York Times, Walker met privately with potential donors to his nascent presidential campaign and boasted that he supported a 'personhood amendment' – which holds that human life begins at conception and practicaly bans abortions along with so-called 'morning after contraceptives.' His evolution from a blue-state governor to a potential GOP primary winner is similar to that of Mitt Romney four years ago: Walker must straddle between his moderate positions at home and the need to appeal to the Republican Party's evangelical Christian base. Abortion is one of America's most hotly contested and emotionally charged political issues. Entire lobbying industries have sprung up to defend abortion clinics – especially those run by the moneyed Planned Parenthood – and to push a rollback of the 1973 'Roe v. Wade' Supreme Court decision that enshrined the practice in American law. Walker delivered a breakout Jan. 24 speech In Iowa, crescendoing on a boast that he had 'defunded Planned Parenthood' in hist state's budgets, something that GOP conservatives wand to see replicated at the federal level. But in October he dodged questions from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about his support for a proposed 'partial birth' abortion ban – a law that would prohibit terminating a pregnancy that was more than 20 weeks old. The Times reports that Walker has also expressed a preference for abortion bans even in cases of incest and rape. In his Iowa speech, he he drew loud applause from a red-meat audience when he recalled signing 'pro-life legislation.' AMERICAN CROSSROADS: The battle over abortion continues to hold Americans' attention and generate protests more than 40 years after it came to a head in the Supreme Court WALKER'S HOME STATE: University students and staff braved cold weather this month to protest Walker's proposal to cut state spending on higher education Walker is learly a front-runner, more than 16 months from the Cleveland, Ohio convention that will annoint a GOP presidential nominee. One surprise poll result, published Monday, has him in a statistical tie for the lead with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the lone-star state, one of America's largest and most conservative political strongholds. Cruz attracted 20 per cent of support from Texas Republicans, followed by Walker with 19. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, favored by moderates and already lapping the field in fundraising, was a distant third with just 9 per cent. Uber-conservative doctor Ben Carson came in with the same number. Walker is expected to give Bush a run for his donors' money, potentially representing a political consensus between the establishment and the right wing FLIP-FLOPPER? Walker isn't the only public figure to have a change of heart on abortion: Norma McCorvey, the 'Jane Roe' in 'Roe v. Wade' who sued for her right to have an abortion, is now an anti-abortion activist 'I think he’s going to make the case we nominate the most conservative person possible who has the ability to win in a general election,' Republican Party of South Carolina chairman Matt Moore told the Times. Walker's team is already learning how to make hay when reporters ambush him with emotionally charged questions deigned to throw him off-balance. Fundraising emails went out shortly after The Washington Post cornered him on Friday by asking if he thought President Barack Obama is a Christian. By Sunday night his appeal for money pledged that Walker 'refuses to be distracted by the small, petty, and pale ideas that the "gotcha" headline writers for the Liberal Media want to talk about.'
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
Walker has to take a hard line on abortion to get the vote of people like me. He has been a pretty consistent person at doing what he said, so even if this conversion to the hard-core on this issue is expedient, if his record is any indication, having taken the position, he will stand by it. His position is right too: babies are people. Therefore, I support him. And I will vote for him in the Presidential election if he stays the course.
Same here. In fact looking at all the candidates for the GOP, Walker seems to be the only one that has endured the full cannons of the left. He was elected, then won a recall and then re-elected. Of course the national scene is much different.
"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." (1 Timothy 6:6-7)
As you say, if his record is any indication, he will. And that might well make him toxic to the RNC/Rove/Priebus combine.
Abortion "safety" is a code word for what Rick Perry did in Texas to force abortion clinics to comply with the same regulation as any hospital would. Better staffing, more emergency equipment, etc. It has the effect of forcing many of these clinics out of business. I'd say Walker is just hopping on Perry's bandwagon. As with many other things in the GOP at state level, the approach was pioneered by Mitch Daniels as governor of Indiana.
If Walker stays the course, I'll follow him and vote for him. He's a Republican, therefore I don't trust him, but he is saying the right things and doing the right things. I have less trust in the GOP than Reagan did in the USSR. He said "Trust, but verify." I say that trust is not warranted: Verify, verify, verify. But if Walker stays on that straight and narrow path, then he'll be elected, and then during his term Ginsburg will retire. And then Walker will be put to the test. If he demonstrates to me that I can trust him to pass that test, I will give him the chance to take it.
Nope! Kansans for Life is been at the forefront for many years pushing stringent standards for abortion clinics. Many of these clinics are sewers at best.
“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen, from the grave.” John Chrysostom www.evidenceforJesusChrist.org
Daniels passed the first such "safety" laws (which got set aside by courts before Perry pushed them through an even stronger version in Texas). And given the history with Tiller's abortion mill, Kansas has a lot of makeup work to do anyway.
And given the history with Tiller's abortion mill, Kansas has a lot of makeup work to do anyway So! Daniels wasn't even elected to be governor of Indiana until 2004. Kansans for Life is the largest state pro-life group in the nation. We started the battle to mandate all abortion clinics be required to have high standards back in the early 90s. Your comment regarding Tiller is completely unwarranted. Kansans fought hard against Tiller's clinic, with over 1600 being arrested during Operation Rescue’s 1991 “summer of mercy.” I was a VP in KFL during that time.
“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen, from the grave.” John Chrysostom www.evidenceforJesusChrist.org
AFAIK, Kansas still has not actually done much to prevent a Tiller horror. Texas is in the forefront, following Daniels' first efforts about 4 years ago. Even the full extent of Tiller's abortion mill were unknown until after his death.
Texas is in the forefront, following Daniels' first efforts about 4 years ago. Even the full extent of Tiller's abortion mill were unknown until after his death. That was because Tiller donated huge sums of money to the governor's and attorney general's campaign coffers. He spent over one-million to defeat the election of AG Phil Kline,a personal friend of mine. Indiana did not have abortion wars comparable to Kansas. As but one example, AG Paul Morrison surrounded the Double Tree Hotel with Kansas State Troopers in Overland Park to prevent a noted psychologist from testifying regarding PP providing abortions to underage girls. That is typical of what we see in Kansas. I'm also familiar with the battles in Texas, and they don't compare to what KFL has done.
“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen, from the grave.” John Chrysostom www.evidenceforJesusChrist.org
You may have had battles. I don't see any legislative victories to show for it.
Abortion's still legal everywhere in the US. We have very little to show by way of victories anywhere. Paltry little things won at great expense, like yardage picked up in World War I trench warfare battles. But if you can get a Republican to appoint a pro-life justice to the Supreme Court to replace Ginsburg, then maybe...maybe...Alito and Roberts and Scalia will remember what they're supposed to stand for (Thomas doesn't lose track of those things), and Roe could be struck down, ideally on the basis of the personhood of the baby, so that the issue does not simply revert to the States. That, then, would be a decisive victory EVERYWHERE, and would set up a pitched war that would shake up political lines. The Catholic Church would be COMPELLED to stand forward on that, and in that case the Latino Church would suddenly be at the forefront, because they are more conservative on abortion than the white Catholics. And all of a sudden a nice secular political narrative of absorbing the Hispanics into the Democrats will get overturned and things will become unpredictable. And babies lives will be saved. And the social welfare system will have to adjust to provide for them. All good.
Or get more Republican governors to follow the direction Texas has taken. Not every fight needs to go to the Court. CCW was a battle slowly won in the States by passing new laws. Abortion can be greatly reduced in the same way.
Gassing Jews was greatly reduced by reoccupying Nazi-held territory. But the answer was cutting off the head of the Third Reich. The answer to infanticide in America - the easiest answer by far - is to have just 5 men - FIVE - on the same institution that CREATED the universal right to abortion in America, strike it down and remove it all. That's how you end it, in once decisive blow. Persuading vast numbers of people to struggle against their neighbors, and then endure punishing opposition, to move the needle somewhere, with the court always able to simply undo it: this is not the way. The way is to aim at the center of gravity and have five men do it all, all at once, as a matter of Constitutional law that - once again - overrides the will of the states and of the democratic majority. Impose it from the top, just like Roe, and then it becomes much easier to defend with a minority. Overturning a right that the majority of the people hold to be real, and that has the active support of the Supreme Court, isn't ever going to happen. But turn a few minds on the Supreme Court, and you can get a reverse Roe that ends it all at once. That should be the objective. It's the only one that wins the war. And people should grant the Republicans no quarter and no wiggle room. It's total war against this evil, and unconditional surrender after conquest should be the goal, not incrementally, but by making every Republicans political career contingent on holding strictly to the party line on the matter (which should be striking down Roe). Anything else, and nothing will ever get done. It will all be smoke and mirrors and meaningless little gains that will be eroded, and the Republican Party triumphing and doing their economic evil year after year after year, on the backs of the political support of people who just want to save babies. No. If Republicans want ANYTHING, if they don't want their rich to be taxed down and their wealth redistributed, they need to be firmly held hostage, gun to the head, and made clear that Roe goes down FIRST, that the appointment of pro-life justices to every level of courts is a LITMUS TEST and that NO DISSENT will be permitted. Just like the Republicans do when it comes to taxing the rich. Otherwise, it's all going to just be piss in the air and end up giving the rich everything, again. I can stomach letting the rich have more and more wins IF I can see THIS win coming fast. Otherwise, forget it.
Maybe you should inform those six Catholics on the Supreme Court. Do we even have any Prots on Court any more? Maybe Breyer? Yeah, well that hasn't worked so far. The CCW state-by-state strategy did. Are you only interested if you get to grab the brass ring or should you simply choose to do the good that you can do today, save the babies that you can save today?
No, your incremental strategy didn't "win" ANYTHING. 2 million babies a year still die here. Abortion has been made more inconvenient, so now people drive across state lines, and the money that used to go to run the clinic, goes to pay the gas money to get there. The babies still die. You've accomplished nothing but move Auschwitz over to the next town.
It could work. You could slowly smother the entire abortion industry across most of the country using this tactic.
#2. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Walker has to take a hard line on abortion to get the vote of people like me.
#3. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
if he stays the course
#4. To: cranky (#0)
In October the Wisconsin governor pledged to support legislation focused on 'safety' during abortions
#5. To: TooConservative (#4)
#6. To: TooConservative (#4)
As with many other things in the GOP at state level, the approach was pioneered by Mitch Daniels as governor of Indiana.
#7. To: GarySpFC (#6)
Nope! Kansans for Life is been at the forefront for many years pushing stringent standards for abortion clinics. Many of these clinics are sewers at best.
#8. To: TooConservative (#7)
Daniels passed the first such "safety" laws (which got set aside by courts before Perry pushed them through an even stronger version in Texas).
#9. To: GarySpFC (#8)
We started the battle to mandate all abortion clinics be required to have high standards back in the early 90s.
#10. To: TooConservative (#9)
AFAIK, Kansas still has not actually done much to prevent a Tiller horror.
#11. To: GarySpFC (#10)
I'm also familiar with the battles in Texas, and they don't compare to what KFL has done.
#12. To: TooConservative (#11)
You may have had battles. I don't see any legislative victories to show for it.
#13. To: Vicomte13 (#12)
But if you can get a Republican to appoint a pro-life justice to the Supreme Court to replace Ginsburg, then maybe...
#14. To: TooConservative (#13)
Not every fight needs to go to the Court. CCW was a battle slowly won in the States by passing new laws. Abortion can be greatly reduced in the same way.
#15. To: Vicomte13 (#14)
(Edited)
The answer to infanticide in America - the easiest answer by far - is to have just 5 men - FIVE - on the same institution that CREATED the universal right to abortion in America, strike it down and remove it all.
That's how you end it, in once decisive blow.
#16. To: TooConservative (#15)
#17. To: Vicomte13 (#16)
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