Mainstreaming Extremism: More GOP Candidates More Extreme than Ever

Oct 26, 2010, 5:00pm

Amie Newman

The 2010 crop of GOP candidates is a group with more extreme stances on reproductive rights issues than we've seen in a long time.

The 2010 crop of GOP candidates is a group with more extreme stances on reproductive rights issues than we’ve seen in a long time. Five of these candidates have confirmed they favor forcing a woman to give birth to the offspring of her rapist, should she become pregnant as the result of rape. The idea that the government should not even provide an exception for women to choose abortion when pregnancy is the result of rape or incest used to be an extremely fringe position. Being anti-choice is standard for GOP candidates as the party continues to rid itself of social moderates, but five candidates confirming they are against these exceptions seems to be a trend toward mainstreaming the extreme.

Here is a roundup of the most extreme anti-choice GOP candidates up for election to Congress next Tuesday.

Sharron Angle (R) – Candidate for Senate in Nevada

Running against incumbent Sen. Harry Reid (D), Sharron Angle, backed by the Tea Party, won her primary race against the GOP establishment candidate.

Angle opposes abortion access even in cases of rape or incest, or when the pregnancy poses a threat to a woman’s health. She’s even gone so far as to say that, essentially, women who become pregnant from a rape should “make lemonade out of lemons” – because it’s God’s plan.

Angle is as extreme as a candidate gets on women’s health access and proves that female lawmakers don’t necessarily support women’s – or gay – rights. She:

Opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, and is against national health care coverage for the procedure.
Opposes adding “sexual orientation” as a protected minority under current civil rights laws, and opposes laws allowing homosexuals to adopt children.
Believes clergymen should have the right to support or disapprove of candidates from the pulpit, something that’s banned by the federal government and punished by revoking tax exempt status.
Supports school prayer and “religious speech” in public schools.

Finally, Angle recently attempted to (embarrassingly and offensively) defend her strong anti-immigrant position to a group of young Hispanic students, telling them that some of them “looked Asian” and that the people they saw in her anti-immigration commercials, by a border fence, were not necessarily Latino – that they could have been coming from our country’s northern border.

Angle is endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List (anti-choice) and the National Right to Life Committee.

Sen. Reid has a mixed record on abortion but a strong record when it comes to supporting women’s health and rights in general. He’s supported UNFPA funding, the Paycheck Fairness Act, equity in insurance coverage for contraception, and ensuring emergency contraception is available to sexual assault victims in emergency rooms.

Ken Buck (R) – Candidate for Senate in Colorado

Running against incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (D), Ken Buck is backed by the Tea Party.

Buck has dodged a hard-line position on abortion during the campaign season switching between an extreme anti-choice position, even in cases of rape or incest, and a “softer” stance where he says he wouldn’t introduce a ban on abortion, though he’d support one.

According to the Washington Post, referring to his position on reproductive rights, he has said he “doesn’t believe in the exceptions of rape or incest. I believe that the only exception, I guess, is life of the mother. And that is only if it’s truly the life of the mother.” (Huh? We all know how well we women can “fake” our own death).

Ken Buck initially threw his support behind the Personhood Amendment in Colorado (Amendment 62), only to retract his support soon after saying, “This isn’t how I looked at the personhood amendment. I’m not in favor of banning common forms of birth control.”

But, most recently, Buck made a truly horrific turn for the worse when he refused to prosecute a rape case in his state, despite a confession from the attacker. He called it a case of “buyer’s remorse” and blamed the victim in the attack.

The National Right to Life does not endorse the Personhood Amendment but endorses Ken Buck while the American Right to Life does not endorse Ken Buck.

Sen. Bennet has run this ad against Ken Buck’s “extreme ideas.”

Read more about Rand Paul on Rewire…

Carly Fiorina (R) – Running for Senate in California

Fiorina is running against incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Fiorina is anti-choice and has the backing of the Susan B. Anthony List and Sarah Palin. Emily’s List is actively campaigning against Fiorina in California.

The Susan B. Anthony List attempted a voter education campaign to reach out to Latino voters in the state to advocate for Fiorina but, says Emily’s List, “Somehow we doubt this effort, which will include a bus tour and online ads, will actually tell the real story of Carly Fiorina, who was fired from HP after a disastrous tenure (but still with a $21 million golden parachute!); who happily shipped American jobs overseas and laid off thousands of workers; and who supports letting people on the no-fly list purchase guns. This all adds up to a candidate who would not advocate on behalf of California’s families, women, or economy.”

The Los Angeles Times endorsed Boxer over Fiorina because “on too many issues she reflects the doctrinaire conservatism that is ascendant in the Republican Party. By contrast, Boxer has been a voice — if sometimes a strident one — for values promoted by this editorial page: individual rights, equality, environmental protection and constructive engagement by the federal government with national economic problems, including the crisis in healthcare.”

Marco Rubio (R) – Running for Senate in Florida

Running against Governor Charlie Crist (I) and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D), Marco Rubio is backed by the Tea Party.

Back in June of this year, the Florida legislature, led by rabidly anti-choice House Speaker Rubio, passed an anti-choice bill forcing women to pay for an ultrasound prior to an abortion (unless they could prove they were pregnant as the result of rape). The bill also would have prohibited women who received government subsidies through the yet to be created state health exchanges from purchasing private insurance coverage of abortion (ie with their own money!). Governor Charlie Crist vetoed the bill and Marco Rubio promptly pulled out the false message perpetuated during this campaign season by anti-choice organizations that “Governor Crist’s veto…clears the way for taxpayer funded abortion.” Despite the St. Petersburg’s Times’ PolitiFact conclusively ruling Rubio’s statement wholly false, Rubio has continued to make the claim.

Rubio is endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee.

Rubio has consistently attacked Crist because Crist takes a moderate view on reproductive rights issues. He vetoed the ultrasound bill because he thought it would place an undue burden on women’s access to care. He supports maintaining Roe v. Wade as well. Crist was quoted on abortion legislation as saying that, “Personal views should not result in laws that unwisely expand the role of government and coerce people to obtain medical tests or procedures that are not medically necessary.”

As Robin Marty has written, Rubio is closely aligned with the Palin Tea Partiers. He’s got a solid lead, ahead of both Crist and Democrat Meeks.

Kendrick Meeks has a solidly pro-choice record and position on reproductive rights.

Read more about Marco Rubio on Rewire…

Joe Miller (R) – Running for Senate in Alaska

Running against write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski (R) and Scott McAdams (D), Miller is backed by the Tea Party.

Joe Miller states his unequivocal anti-choice stance in his platform: “I am unequivocally pro-life and life must be protected from the moment of conception to the time of natural death.”

The anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List, which has endorsed Miller, is running commercials now targeting Miller’s primary foe, Murkowski, on her reproductive rights stance. In advertising which uses similar statements found to be false in other states, SBA List is paying for ads in Alaska which say that Joe Miller supports rescinding “taxpayer funded abortion” in federal health care reform, despite the fact that the health care reform law does not include any measure which allows taxpayer funded abortion.

Miller opposes a woman’s right to choose in nearly all cases, believing that an abortion should be legal only when a woman’s life is endangered. He does not support exceptions for rape or incest and is a staunch supporter of parental consent laws.

Miller also opposes comprehensive sexuality education, stem cell research and supports the Global Gag Rule.

Joe Miller is endorsed by NRLC, Concerned Women for America, Alaska Right to Life and the Alaska Family Research Council, the first time the organization has endorsed a candidate.

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