Roundup: Key Races Show Republican Gameplan for 2010

Jun 11, 2010, 9:19am

Robin Marty

"Champion for the Unborn." "Struggle for the soul of the nation." Remember when elections used to be about taxes and education?

Everyone is talking about the World Cup today, it seems like, but as for me, I have a different kind of fever — election fever. So, today’s roundup is a look at some of the hotter races across the country, and what those candidates will do to win.

In Nevada, it was supposed to be Sue Lowden taking on Democratic Senator Harry Reid in the fall, but somehow, Tea Party darling Sharron Angle stuck in and stole away the Republican nomination. Now, Susan B. Anthony List is giving her their coveted endorsement, since they already committed the money to the race and lost their flagship candidate. And other anti-choice groups are lining up right behind, prepared to make the race as much about abortion as possible.

“The State of Nevada is fortunate to have a champion of the unborn running for United States Senate against Harry Reid,” Jeremy McNeil, director of its PAC, told LifeNews.com. “While a state legislator, Sharron Angle consistently voted according to her pro-life convictions and sponsored significant pro-life legislation.”

“Sharron Angle and Harry Reid stand in stark contrast on the issue of abortion. While Harry Reid asserts he is pro-life, his actions belie his words,” McNeil said. “Reid has helped spearhead the Obama Administration’s radically pro-abortion agenda, including blocking an amendment to prevent the federal government from subsidizing health plans that cover abortion on demand and voting to fund the U.N. Population Fund, which has significant ties to government-coerced abortions in China.”

Seems like a pretty ironic game plan, considering both candidates are actually anti-abortion.

But Nevada isn’t the only state playing the abortion card when it comes to the 2010 election. Rhetoric in the California senate race has become heated as well now that Carly Fiorina has won the Republican nomination to run against Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. And the anti-abortion defenses have definitely scaled up, such as this Town Hall columnist who chides pro-choicers for stating that women would be sent to jail if abortion were illegal.

Today, not one proposed abortion ban criminalizes the woman who has an abortion. In fact, measures like the infamous South Dakota abortion ban of 2006 made no mention of her–only of the person performing it. The doctor is the one subjected to jail time and fines. The doctor is the only person these laws aim to punish.

If pro-choice activists have faith in the movement, they need to do better than trotting out a scenario that never happened in this country and claiming it’s a historical reality on the verge of re-emerging. If they truly have the moral high ground, they have nothing to lose from being honest.

See, they have no intention of punishing women. Only punishing doctors so abortion becomes completely inaccessible. Then, when women have to self-abort because no doctor will help them for fear of jail or fines, the women will get what they deserve via complications, illness, blood loss, and potential death.

Hey women, you brought it on yourselves, right?

In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has continued his evolution to fire and brimstone, this time while courting the Eagle Forum, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Gov. Rick Perry painted the upcoming election as a religious crusade to take back the soul of the country during a Thursday night speech to the conservative Texas Eagle Forum.

While Perry has invoked God and country before, his 14-minute speech to the 500 gathered, most of them delegates to the Texas Republican state convention, was stronger and more strident than previously.

“We will raise our voices in defense of our values and in defiance of the hollow precepts and shameful self-interests that guide our opponents on the left,” Perry said to the receptive audience.

He said the November election is bigger than “red states and blue states, conservatives or liberals, stimulus or budget cuts.”

“We are in a struggle for the heart and soul of our nation,” Perry said.

“That’s the question: Who do you worship? Do you believe in the primacy of unrestrained federal government? Or do you worship the God of the universe, placing our trust in him?”

So, what about those of us who don’t believe that every race is a symbolic of the battle of the end times? Those of us who just want strong education, quality healthcare and maybe some clean water when we turn 80? Will we ever see politics as usual again?

Not if anti-choice conservative groups continue to convince all non-Democratic candidates that the only way to win is to follow their talking points in order to win their support. One example of exactly how a candidate changes when such a group gets a hold of them is in the Washington Post.

“[Manchester, N.H. mayor Frank] Guinta came into the race with a libertarian streak,” acknowleged[sic] Connie Mackey, president of FRC [Family Research Council] Action PAC. “His intentions were good — he was focused on small government. But I don’t think he understood all of the issues at first, and he got mugged on them. It didn’t seem at first that gay marriage would be an issue he’d have to look at as a small government libertarian, but he saw what happened when it was forced to a vote in New Hampshire, and he realized that it was an issue.” What he saw, she explained, was the rough-and-tumble strategy liberals used to push it through.

According to Mackey, Guinta has assured social conservatives that he’s moved closer to their stances on the issues — Mackey has a letter from Guinta explaining his new views.

“Candidates evolve,” said Mackey, “and they tend to evolve toward us, not toward the libertarian streak that Guinta came in with. And when that happens, that tells us we won’t just have a good vote. We’ll have an advocate.”

And so it goes.

Mini Roundup: Seems like everyone is getting their metaphors mixed up. So which is it? Abortion by remote control, or abortion by vending machine?

June 10, 2010

‘Abortion by remote control’? – The Week Magazine

Anti-Abortion Language Dropped From Crist’s Website – Central Florida News 13

How the Family Research Council convinced a GOP candidate in NH to ‘evolve’ – Washington Post

John Seiler’s blog: Boxer abortion attack on Fiorina inaccurate – OCRegister

Sharron Angle Takes Double Digit Lead Over Pro-Abortion Harry Reid After Win – LifeNews.com

Jesus Ultrasound Poster Fuels UK Abortion Uproar – Christian Post

Crist should veto ultrasound bill – Tampabay.com

Mich Daniels Causes Pro-Life Uproar After Declaring “Truce” on Abortion – LifeNews.com

UK Christmas ads criticized for perceived anti-abortion message – National Post

Anti-abortion group urges Crist to sign bill requiring ultrasounds – Tampa Tribune

Barbara Boxer’s Abortion Lie – Town Hall