History Forum / General / British History / August 2008

Then comes that moment when being in favor of Hillary and pro-choice
are incompatible, at least in Republican circles. And John McCain once
again does not speak for the McCain campaign.

August 25, 2008 2:44
From the RNC Podium: McCain Does Not Want to Overturn Roe--What?

The McCain campaign welcomed delegates to Denver with a new ad Monday,
showing Debra Bartoshevich, a self-described "proud Hillary Clinton
Democrat," announcing that she opposes Barack Obama and will vote for
John McCain. To back up the message, Republicans arranged a press-
conference in Denver Monday morning with Bartoshevich and other
Clinton supporters, who are all now backing McCain.

Midway through the event, Bartoschevich was asked if she was concerned
about McCain's pro-life voting record. At a podium paid for by the
Republican National Committee, with McCain aide Carly Fiorina standing
nearby, Bartoschevich said this:

   Going back to 1999, John McCain did an interview with the San
Francisco Chronicle saying that overturning Roe v. Wade would not make
any sense, because then women would have to have illegal abortions.

Was she going off message? Or are Republicans engaging in some cagey
multi-messaging? After the event, an RNC spokesman reiterated that
McCain has been very clear about his position on abortion this
campaign cycle. And he has. He speaks about the life issue at almost
every campaign event, and his campaign has aggressively courted
evangelical voters by highlighting McCain's consistent pro-life voting
record, and his stated determination to appoint Supreme Court justices
like Alito and Roberts. Just last week, in his weekly radio address,
McCain hammered Obama on abortion. "I can assure you that if I am
president, advancing the cause of life will not be above my pay
grade," he said.

But the quote Bartoschevich pointed to did, in fact, happen.

"I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed
because abortion is no longer necessary," McCain told the Chronicle in
1999. "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would
not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of
women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."

Almost as soon as he said it, McCain's aides were running away from
the quote, and McCain has maintained since then that Roe v. Wade was a
bad decision that should be overturned. He does not mince his words:
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” McCain
said during the South Carolina primaries. Back then, confusion over
McCain's abortion stance was a problem for the McCain campaign, a
weapon used against him by conservatives who said he could not be
trusted. But now, as the McCain campaign seeks to woo disaffected
Clinton supporters, the campaign appears to be playing the other side
of the coin. Either that, or the campaign's new poster lady just
veered way off message.