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Charles Cooke calls this an ideological Turing test, i.e. a question whose answer reveals how plausible it is that Trump really is who he claims to be. The standard answer from nearly all serious pro-lifers is that its the abortionist, not his patient, who should be sanctioned if and when abortion is banned. The March of Life explains why:
Ted Cruz, when hes inevitably asked about this now, will give some variation of that same response. Trump, whom his conservative critics suspect of being an opportunist on abortion rather than committed to the cause, went a different route. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head here: He knows, as a political matter, that he cant let Cruz get to his right on abortion. Republicans will let him slide on a lot a lot but if he gives them reason to think hes BSing them on an issue at the very core of social conservatism, it could give Cruz the break he needs to take off. And so, when he gets the question from Matthews about what to do with women who insist on having abortions in a hypothetical future where the practice is banned, he goes with his gut and his gut is stay to the right. So sure, lets punish women for abortion. This is the message the partys carrying into the general election against the first woman major-party nominee, huh? By a guy whos already having major problems polling among women, no less. Its easy to understand how an amateur would stumble into this answer, writes Matt Lewis, but why would you want to nominate an amateur?
Trumps already trying to walk it back even though the townhall with Matthews from which this was clipped hasnt aired yet:
Hillarys already attacking him over it. So is Team Cruz, as youll see in the second clip below. Trump can run from it but its on tape and every down-ballot Republican will wear it now if hes the nominee. And the best part, as one Twitter pal said, is that Trump will eventually (eventually as in probably within the next few hours) deny that he ever said it to begin with. Still think this is all part of a master strategy or could it be that he really is winging it?
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Poster Comment:
The next Trump scandal.This will keep Vannity and Coulter and the other Mini-Me's busy Trumpsplaining it away for the next few days.
#108: Tooconservative To: misterwhite (#105)
This particular policy item was hotly debated over the years in the pro-life organizations. Overwhelmingly, they reject any punish-the-woman policy.
In the meantime, the Dims constantly accuse us of wanting to punish the woman even though we have denied it for decades. They still use it as part of their War On Women strategy.
Certainly, the Dims will use this against Trump if he is the nominee but they will also use it against all GOP candidates.
This is why you've never heard any credible GOP candidate ever suggest a punish-the-woman policy. And that is why I think the women who quietly dominate the pro-life movement nationally may react very negatively toward Trump. This argument is long over. Until Trump opened this can of worms by running his big blabbermouth yesterday. Trump's gift to the Lefties and their propaganda. Less remarked upon is Trump mentioning that any change in abortion law would inevitably result in the return of back-alley abortions, yet another pernicious myth that will certainly rile the pro-lifers.
The nicest thing you can say of Trump's remark is he was ignorant. That's not a very positive quality.
If you're looking for signs that Trump has truly riled the pro-lifers, I'd watch for any statements about Trump's remarks by Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, the various state and national Right To Life orgs and the newer Susan B. Anthony List activists (the younger generation of pro-life women).
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 09:10:19 Reply Private Reply
#109: Tooconservative To: A K A Stone (#107)
Even here, there are only 3 of you. That should give you pause.
I'd be surprised if there are even 100 thousand such voters in the entire country.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 09:11:12 Reply Private Reply
#110: Tooconservative To: A K A Stone, Vicomte13 (#106)
So you really do want to execute the mother but only give the abortionist a prison sentence.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 09:12:47 Reply Private Reply
#111: Tooconservative To: misterwhite (#105)
They cited a position dating back a century that the woman is never to be punished.
We have never advocated, in any context, for the punishment of women who undergo abortion.
As a convert to the pro-life movement, Mr. Trump sees the reality of the horror of abortion the destruction of an innocent human life which is legal in our country up until the moment of birth. But let us be clear: punishment is solely for the abortionist who profits off of the destruction of one life and the grave wounding of another.
It sounds mild enough but that is pretty aggressive for SBA activists.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 09:16:29 Reply Private Reply
#112: misterwhite To: TooConservative (#108)
I didn't know that. I'd like to know what kind of convoluted thinking leads then to conclude that if a woman pays a doctor to murder her unborn child at her request, he should be sent to prison but she walks away scot-free.
Maybe that's how they keep there membership numbers up. Kind of, "We're pro-life ... but not really".
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 09:29:14 Reply Private Reply
#113: GarySpFC To: TooConservative (#0)
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 09:39:01 Reply Private Reply
#114: Tooconservative To: GarySpFC (#113)
I have a few grudges against Cruz (that meeting with the persecuted Mideast Christians where he showboated for the Adelson pro-Israel crowd).
Are you saying Cruz is lying on abortion policy?
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 09:42:27 Reply Private Reply
#115: misterwhite To: TooConservative (#108)
I'd simply say he was caught off-guard by being asked a hypothetical about an issue everyone considers settled law. It didn't help that Matthews was looking for his gotcha moment, so he phrased the question around whether the woman should be punished.
I've been following politics a long time, and I've never heard this "punish the woman" approach before. Certainly if the abortion decision is turned over to the states, won't each state decide that, not the President?
Yes, Trump should have been prepared for that f**ked up hypothetical but, to his credit, he immediately corrected his position.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 09:44:49 Reply Private Reply
#116: misterwhite To: TooConservative (#108)
Why would they be riled? He retracted his statement.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 09:45:52 Reply Private Reply
#117: GarySpFC To: TooConservative (#114)
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 09:48:05 Reply Private Reply
#118: GarySpFC To: misterwhite (#115)
I was a vice-president 10 years with the largest state pro-life group in the country. I remember when the issue of who should be punished was hotly debated.
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 09:58:15 Reply Private Reply
#119: Vicomte13 To: TooConservative (#110)
The proper law is for the mother, the abortion doctor, the attending nurse and the knowing financiers to be treated as first degree murderers, and for those who knowingly drive the victim and his mother to the clinic to be aborted and the billing staff to all be charged with being accessories to murder.
Abortion is the premeditated murder of an innocent child, and the perpetrators, arrangers and other accessories should be treated the same as any other first degree murder case.
That would be justice.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-03-31 10:07:20 Reply Private Reply
#120: misterwhite To: Vicomte13 (#119)
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 10:18:33 Reply Private Reply
#121: Tooconservative To: GarySpFC (#117)
He was playing Senate procedural games but I didn't see any outright lying or any betrayal of his own campaign promises to the Texas voters.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 10:19:28 Reply Private Reply
#122: Tooconservative To: Vicomte13 (#119)
You are an extremist, far outside the Catholic pro-life movement.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 10:21:03 Reply Private Reply
#123: Roscoe To: misterwhite (#120)
Legally and ethically.
Roscoe posted on 2016-03-31 10:21:06 Reply Private Reply
#124: Roscoe To: Vicomte13 (#119)
Don't expect a reasoned response from the Trump-haters.
Roscoe posted on 2016-03-31 10:22:55 Reply Private Reply
#125: Vicomte13 To: misterwhite (#104)
No, there's more to it than that.
If the Senate refuses to hear the cases, then the President can put the Justice on the Supreme Court, or in the Cabinet Secretary position ANYWAY, as a recess appointment.
The recess appointment has full authority and all powers, s/he's just not permanent. The Senate can then remove the recess appointment by rejecting him/her - which requires the hearings and the votes - but if they don't reject the recess appointment, s/he sits and executes the job until the role is filled by a permanent appointment, or the recess appointment is rejected.
Note that the recess appointment does not cease to sit when the President leaves. S/he sits there until the end of the next Senate calendar year, unless earlier rejected by the Senate or replaced by an approved appointment.
Tradition dictates that cabinet secretaries and recess appointments resign when their President leaves office, but they don't have to. They can force the new President to fire them (if they're cabinet Secretaries), or sit in the job until the Senate rejects them or the new President appoints and get approved by the Senate a new permanent appointment.
So, the Senate can DELAY the appointment of a justice until it is in recess, but the President has the absolute power to fill any vacancies for a year during the Senate recess.
So, if our politics remain in World War I gridlock, and nobody can get approved, the President can enforce his policies through the courts quite effectively by appointing judges who will serve for one year only, and whom he can reappoint each year until the Senate moves.
Likewise, if the Congress is so divided that it can't pass laws, the President can simply rule the country by Executive Order, which only the courts could block - and if s/he controls the court through recess appointments (a recess appointee is much more tightly controlled by the President, because s/he has no lifetime appointment and no guarantee of being renominated, or not being withdrawn, if s/he does not do the President's billing.
The Supreme Court could resist this for awhile, by delaying its calendar. But over time, a President facing an elderly Supreme Court - say, now, could end up having three or four recess appointments sitting on the court, with full power, but serving at the pleasure of the President, who can always withdraw their appointments right up until they are approved.
The Senate can play hardball with delay, but the President can trump the hardball, and if it becomes trench warfare, over time the President will gain effective executive control of the Supreme Court through recess appointments that he can remove from the court himself.
Once the Senate adjourns for the election, Obama will appoint the recess appointment and the Court will have a five-justice Democrat majority for a year, or until the Senate ratifies a new Justice.
The only way the Republicans can win this war is by electing Trump. If they won't. then the Democrats will run the table this time, control the Supreme Court and the Presidency, and enact their entire agenda. Without the judiciary, a divided Congress cannot control the President - and if they try, the Supreme Court can strike down their acts as unconstitutional.
This election is for all the marbles. With Trump, the Republicans can win. If they take him out, the Democrats will be ruling for the rest of our lives.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-03-31 10:24:16 Reply Private Reply
#126: misterwhite To: GarySpFC (#118)
Argued, yes. Debated?
I don't see the debate points for excusing the mother. Everything from the beginning to the bloody end is her decision. Not even the biological father has any say-so. Women aren't "victims". Not when they're the ones making all the choices.
Women should at least be honest and say that they're pro-life ... unless they want an abortion.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 10:29:16 Reply Private Reply
#127: misterwhite To: Vicomte13 (#125)
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 10:31:27 Reply Private Reply
#128: GarySpFC To: TooConservative (#121)
Bogus! He lied, and he. Has been very loose with the truth when attacking Trump.
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 10:34:51 Reply Private Reply
#129: Tooconservative To: GarySpFC (#128)
You're not citing any compelling examples.
I think you just prefer Trump so everyone else is a villain.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 10:38:30 Reply Private Reply
#130: GarySpFC To: TooConservative (#129)
Cruz lies
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 10:47:01 Reply Private Reply
#131: Vicomte13 To: misterwhite (#127)
They will no longer be exceptions if the Congress remains gridlocked.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-03-31 10:53:35 Reply Private Reply
#132: Vicomte13 To: TooConservative (#129)
And he will never be President, so who cares.
The question is whether it will be Trump or a Democrat. That is the choice.
You prefer to see the Democrat.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-03-31 10:54:44 Reply Private Reply
#133: tomder55 To: TooConservative (#0)
tomder55 posted on 2016-03-31 10:58:17 Reply Private Reply
#134: Tooconservative To: Vicomte13 (#132)
I think Trump is a Democrat. Just as Bloomberg was elected NYC mayor as a Republican a few times despite being a lifelong Dem.
Trump is pretty clumsy in pandering to boobs like you. But this is why he prefers uneducated voters.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 11:01:55 Reply Private Reply
#135: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#123)
It did with immigration. It did with the Syrian refugees.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 11:03:39 Reply Private Reply
#136: Tooconservative To: tomder55 (#133)
Of course. But Trump and LF's Trumpkins can't be bothered to read anything.
The booboisie, following a witless ape riding a gold-plated escalator.
It's the willful ignorance that is so striking. It takes so little time to discover the facts. It isn't like you have to read long dense books to know the history of pro-life reasonably well. But that is too much effort for Trump and the Trumpkins.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 11:04:43 Reply Private Reply
#137: Vicomte13 To: TooConservative (#134)
To be a "Democrat" means to be registered with that party.
He's not.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-03-31 11:12:48 Reply Private Reply
#138: GarySpFC To: TooConservative (#136)
GarySpFC posted on 2016-03-31 11:16:42 Reply Private Reply
#139: SOSO To: rlk (#99)
You talk like a man with a wooden head. The if conditions are totally immaterial to the issue. The ifs were present in both of his statements, the first one and then the 180 he did a few hours later. WTF don't you understand about this? He waffled big time and it is costing him big time. He also is dragging down the REP Party and virtually handing all three branches of the Fed government to the DRats. Perhaps you think we will live long and prosper when this happens?
SOSO posted on 2016-03-31 11:19:20 Reply Private Reply
#140: Tooconservative To: Vicomte13 (#137)
Not since 2009 apparently. However, he has continued his donations to the hard Left Dim pols unabated.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 11:21:02 Reply Private Reply
#141: SOSO To: GarySpFC, TooConservative (#138)
Wow, an egomaniacal politician a serial liar? Whodathunkit?
I have always believed that anyone that so desperately wants to be elected to high public office should never be given the job. But in practice We The People give it to them anyway.
SOSO posted on 2016-03-31 11:22:57 Reply Private Reply
#142: misterwhite To: Too Conservative, All (#11)
I'm listening to Rush and he's saying the exact same thing I posted.
Trump heard the question as a law-and-order one, not abortion. And that's the way he answered it.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 12:35:09 Reply Private Reply
#143: misterwhite To: tomder55 (#133)
But that's not what Matthews asked. He said IF abortion is illegal and a woman breaks the law, should she be punished?
Should she?
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 12:37:59 Reply Private Reply
#144: redleghunter To: Deckard (#41)
What's interesting about the above is Disney took $1.2 Billion from the House of Saud and they are the largest promoters of the gay agenda.
They took blood money from Muslim oil barons and yet threaten GA with economic sanctions over a religious liberty law.
redleghunter posted on 2016-03-31 12:51:59 Reply Private Reply
#145: tomder55 To: misterwhite (#143)
The woman is as much a victim as the baby . Often the woman is desperate and since she lives in this souless nation ,she doesn't know all the alternatives (including lifestyle choices ) . Many women have deep regrets that affect them the rest of their lives . I'm very suprised that the instinct of some pro- lifers is to punish the women. These women are also victims of a social system that encourages them to take that path.
But let me ask you . All the Trump supporters I encounter tell me they like him because he speaks his mind and to hell with p.c. Well yesterday he spoke his mind and appeared to back track apparently due to pc pressure . What is Trump's true position ....the one he initially spoke ;or the pc one he back tracked to for expediency ?
tomder55 posted on 2016-03-31 13:34:26 Reply Private Reply
#146: Fred Mertz To: tomder55 (#145)
He screwed up answering a hypothetical question.
His screw ups make headlines too, so maybe he did it on purpose.
Fred Mertz posted on 2016-03-31 13:37:18 Reply Private Reply
#147: misterwhite To: tomder55 (#145)
But Chris Matthews was looking for a gotcha moment. He gave Trump a hypothetical scenario, saying that abortion was illegal and asking Trump if he would punish a woman who broke the law.
Trump took that as a law-and-order question and said yes.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-31 13:48:23 Reply Private Reply
#148: Tooconservative To: SOSO (#141)
I know I'm shocked. No, seriously.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 13:55:44 Reply Private Reply
#149: SOSO To: Fred Mertz, tomder55 (#146)
He screwed 3 or times yesterday. I don't think any of them were on purpose. But CNN is having a field day at his expenses and the with the REP Party today and it will likley continue until he makes his next gaffe.
SOSO posted on 2016-03-31 13:59:03 Reply Private Reply
#150: Tooconservative To: misterwhite (#147)
You're as brain-dead as Limbaugh was today.
An open seat on the Supreme Court and it just "is not a burning issue in 2016"?
You're a complete moron.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 13:59:12 Reply Private Reply
#151: Fred Mertz To: TooConservative (#150)
Fred Mertz posted on 2016-03-31 14:02:49 Reply Private Reply
#152: Tooconservative To: Fred Mertz (#151)
People lie about crap online all the time. Military service and Mensa are two faves of serial liars.
Tooconservative posted on 2016-03-31 14:07:53 Reply Private Reply
#153: SOSO To: TooConservative, misterwhite (#150)
You give him too much credit.
There is no hope for a Trump dupe.
SOSO posted on 2016-03-31 14:12:43 Reply Private Reply
#154: Fred Mertz To: TooConservative (#152)
Fred Mertz posted on 2016-03-31 14:14:05 Reply Private Reply
#155: A K A Stone To: tomder55 (#145)
That is a lie. That is a lie. That is a lie.
A K A Stone posted on 2016-03-31 14:23:01 Reply Private Reply
#156: A K A Stone To: TooConservative (#110)
I think the abortionist who does the procedure should be executed. Limb by limb.
A K A Stone posted on 2016-03-31 14:27:29 Reply Private Reply
#157: A K A Stone To: TooConservative (#109)
So you think morality is a vote. That is stupid.
You take the wide gate I will take the narrow one.
A K A Stone posted on 2016-03-31 14:28:39 Reply Private Reply