Opinion: Republicans, Abortion and Lying
On Wednesday, Tagg Romney dazzled America with his stupidity, telling a North Carolina radio host that he wanted to punch the president.
Thursday Ann Romney took to The View and Congressman Joe Walsh used a campaign appearance to further the stupidity.
When asked about Mitt's flipping and flopping on choice, the candidate’s wife uttered a nonsensical statement that came nowhere close to answering the question.
Ann Romney said the following: “Mitt has always been a pro-life person. He governed, when he ran, as a pro-choice, but when a decision came across his desk . . . to use embryos for experimentation, he could not have [that] on his conscience, creating human life for experimentation. And that’s when he came out with an editorial saying he was pro-life.”
"He governed, when he ran, as a pro-choice" what?
She stopped herself from saying when he ran as a pro-choice candidate because the Romney's do not want to remind the GOP base of that fact.
But he did run in favor of choice. He claimed to the voters of Massachusetts that he shared his mother's view, based on the death of what he called a close relative from an illegal abortion.
During a debate with Ted Kennedy, Romney said the following: "I have my own beliefs, and those beliefs are very dear to me. One of them is that I do not impose my beliefs on other people. Many, many years ago, I had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me who passed away from an illegal abortion. It is since that time that my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that."
But Mitt has now more than waivered. After using his deceased relative as part of his campaign strategy he now says he would not only favor a law outlawing abortion, he'd be happy to be the one who signs it.
He claims there will be exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. But one could hardly count on Mitt, who did not have the guts to appear on as softball a show as The View with his wife, to stand up to his colleagues for rape victims, or victims of incest, or even a dying mother.
Why?
Because elements of his party deny that these things even happen.
Congressman Todd Akin denied rape victims could get pregnant "if it's a legitimate rape". He continued that, "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Pennsylvania Senate candidate Tom Smith said that pregnancies resulting from rape where the same as pregnancies resulting from sex outside of marriage are the same when you look at it, "from the father's perspective."
Another Congressman, Joe Walsh from Illinois, has joined the fray. Wilson said that "with modern technology and science, you can't find one instance" in which a woman would actually die from pregnancy.
That is a lie not even worthy of spending time debunking. Because it is bunk.
More and more and more stupidity from the GOP on women and their bodies.
From being deceitful on Romney's actual position to being deceitful that women get pregnant from rape or that women can die from pregnancy complications it is time to call the GOP on the deceit and the stupidity.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
