McCain's "Abortion rights vice president possible" = "Kiss the Evangelical vote goodbye"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Just a reminder of what happened in 2004.

My Evangelical and/or Catholic friends (I'm Catholic) said "Kerry is pro abortion."

No, Kerry was PRO-CHOICE.

But in my Catholic church, during the "intentions" portion of the Mass, we were asked to pray for leaders who "respected the rights of the unborn."

In 2004, the Catholic Church really wanted you to know that John Kerry is a baby killer.

No talk about Bush tossing American soldiers into the meat grinder known as "Iraq"...just "I HEART fetus."

McCain cannot win the evangelical vote...or Catholic vote...with a VP choice who has anything to say about abortion rights other than "abortion is immoral."

You can take that to the fucking BANK.

For the record, the VP in question is Tom "Color Coded" Ridge: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26187319/

[Avalux]

1. Not gonna happen. Ralph Reed is raising $$ for him.

I can't imagine McCain not choosing a pro-life VP; otherwise would be suicide.

[yellowcanine]

5. Not sure that Rightous Ralph has much influence with either McCain or the true believer fundies

since he caught his tail in the Jack Abramoff crack.

[Avalux]

6. Hmmm.....

A Message from Ralph Reed:

Senator John McCain will be coming to Atlanta on August 18 for a very special event at the Marriot Marquis downtown and I have agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 Team.

John McCain also believes that tax cuts work best when tied to spending restraint. He has a 26-year pro-life voting record and has pledged to appoint conservative judges who will interpret the law, not legislate from the bench.

Thank you for all you have done for our country and our shared conservative values.

Look forward to hearing from you, best, Ralph

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/polit...

[yellowcanine]

9. Keep in mind that Ralphie sent this out himself. I don't doubt that the McCain camp is willing to

have Ralph help raise money for them but I would bet Ralph volunteered himself in hopes of redeeming his scandal tarnished political bona fides. But that is not the same as Ralph having any say whatsoever in the VP choice - I very much doubt that will happen. At this point Ralph is like the fuckup kid trying to get into the good graces of the neighborhood gang. The neighborhood gang will use kid for their own purposes - and prmptly ditch him when he is no longer needed or when he gets too much noticed.

[Avalux]

11. They will be at the event together.

I hope there are pics of the two of them. Will be wonderful. ;)

[inthebrain]

2. That gonna be a tough issue cause

some of the VP candiates we have don't exactly stand up for a women's right to choose.

Kaine wants to ban partial birth abortions.

Biden wants to ban partial birth abortions and public funding for abortion.

[Alexander]

12. That's why Kaine and Biden won't be picked.

Clark, however, is fully supportive of a woman's right to choose.

[napi21]

3. My negative opinion of Ridge has NOTHING to do with is stance

on abortion rights! IMO, he's just STUPID! Has everyone forgetten the "orange & red" days! It was confirmed that these silly color days were deliberately used to frighten people when the Dems received some good news! Remember the plastic sheeting & duct tape? That was from one of Ridge's associates!

I was born & raised in Pa. and still have a lot of friends & relatives there. Not all Pa residents liked Ridge when he was Gov. and they don't like him any better now!

[seafan]

4. Yes, look for the GOP ticket to be Angry Old Cold Warrior/Tom Ridge.

I believe this is going to happen.

[endarkenment]

7. evangelical is not the same as fundamentalist

some evangelicals support abortion rights, some oppose them. There is an evangelical left and an evangelical right. While the majority of evangelicals are socially conservative, they are not all socially conservative. The substitution of 'evangelical' for 'fundamentalist' is a rightwing dodge to avoid confronting the fact that a substantial portion of their political base is composed of incredibly stupid and/or fanatical religious lunatics.

[Cosmocat]

8. Hardly ...

Again, these people have NO fundamental values other than beating the democratic candidate ...

They collect their grouping of values as they go along ...

John McCain could pick a child molesting space alien and he would get 80% of the evangilical vote ...

[saracat]

10. I look to the day neither party has anti choice candidates.

[adoraz]

13. I doubt that will happen

http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm

Interesting stuff there.

Seems the majority of Americans are pro-choice, but if the GOP had a pro-choice candidate I don't think they could win.

[saracat]

14. I don't think that is true .Just as Idon't believe we need to 'reach out to pro-lifers and

evangelicals to "win". I think that is why Mccain is considering Ridge. I actually think a choice Republican would have a better chance, and I believe our ticket would be stronger if we stopped "blurring " the issues and made our pro-choice position"clear' instead of parsing and pandering.