McCain, Romney, and the pro-life, Catholic vote in Michigan
Update: Ugh!
More: Debbie Schlussel, based in Michigan, gives her analysis and predictions for the Michigan primary.
And in the interest of fair and balanced coverage, here’s video of Romney from 1994 on abortion, gays in the Boy Scouts, gun control, and other issues (and yes, I know, whoever posted it at YouTube is a Paulian):
***
Pro-life entrepreneur and Catholic philanthropist Tom Monaghan–who founded Domino’s Pizza in Michigan in 1960–endorsed Mitt Romney today:
Domino’s Pizza founder and Catholic philanthropist Tom Monaghan has endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president.
In a release from the Romney campaign, Monaghan praised Romney as a proven leader in business, the Olympics and politics. Monaghan in 1998 sold his majority interest in Domino’s Pizza to Bain Capital, a Boston investment fund that Romney founded.
“As someone who values the importance of faith in one’s life, I recognize in Mitt his deep religious convictions which will serve him well in facing the critical moral issues facing our society,” the release quotes Monaghan. “I believe he will stand firm on the pro-life issues and for the traditional family values that our country was founded on and which are so critical to the nation.”
As the GOP candidates move to Michigan, they’ll be attempting to out-pro-life each other. John McCain tried to pull it off today, but Lifenews.com points out Johnny Mac’s not-so-straight talk:
The presidential campaign now heads to Michigan with Iowa and New Hampshire in the rear view mirror and GOP hopeful John McCain criticized Mitt Romney on abortion. However, his comments ignored the fact that he has flip-flopped on whether or not the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling should be overturned. “For 24 years, I’ve been pro-life. I’ve never changed for any reason,” McCain told reporters on Wednesday, implicitly criticized Romney.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, ran as a pro-abortion candidate and only changed his position in recent years. According to the web site Politico, McCain told reporters aboard his plane that he would connect with conservative voters in upcoming states by pointing out that he has always been comfortable voting pro-life…
…However, while McCain has voted consistently against abortion as an Arizona senator, he has come under fire for switching his position on Roe.
As LifeNews.com previously reported, McCain has claimed he did not flip-flop when he told an audience that he favored reversing Roe v. Wade. Yet, eight years ago he told a newspaper he didn’t think the landmark abortion case should be overturned. “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” McCain said last February. “It is a false claim to say that I have changed my position,” McCain said in a press conference following the event.
However, McCain appeared then to be changing his position from a 1999 statement he gave to the San Francisco Chronicle in which he said he didn’t support repealing Roe. “I’d love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary,” McCain told the newspaper at the time. “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.”
McCain has also drawn jeers from the pro-life community for repeatedly voting to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.
If history is any guide, expect some nasty campaigning in the battle to win pro-life, Catholic votes in Michigan. Remember?
McCain Campaign Admits Calls to Catholics, NYT, February 23, 2000
Aides to Senator John McCain acknowledged tonight that the campaign placed thousands of phone calls to Roman Catholics in Michigan in which voters were told about Gov. George W. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University earlier this month and which described Mr. Jones as someone with a history of anti-Catholic statements.
”We simply pointed out a fact,” Rick Davis, manager of the McCain campaign, said.
Mr. Davis acknowledged that the campaign made the calls late in the day as polls were closing in the Michigan primary, which Mr. McCain won by six percentage points. Earlier in the day, after Mr. Bush had complained about the calls, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, Howard Opinsky, denied any involvement.
Asked about the Mr. Opinsky’s earlier denial, Mr. Davis said the spokesman had not been told of the calls.
Mr. Davis also said the phone calls did not conflict with Mr. McCain’s pledge to refrain from running negative advertisements. ”This I don’t believe to be outside the realm of a positive campaign,” he said.
Mr. Bush responded angrily to the disclosure. ”I’m not bitter at all,” he said tonight after arriving here from Michigan. ”I don’t like being called a bigot, and I don’t particularly care for a campaign that denies all day long that they did this, and all of a sudden now, as soon as they win, admits it.”
The call to Catholic voters prompted Governor Bush today to to try to assure the state’s Roman Catholics that he was a friend who deserved their support.
”I’m telling you,” he said, ”John McCain, he’s a man who’s called me an anti-Catholic bigot, and I don’t appreciate it. That’s shameful politics.”
And this:
The script provided by the Bush campaign reads: ”Gov. George Bush has campaigned against Senator John McCain by seeking the support of Southern fundamentalists who have expressed anti-Catholic views.”
”Bob Jones has made strong anti-Catholic statements, including calling the pope anti-Christ, the Catholic Church a satanic cult,” according to the script. ”Governor Bush has stayed silent.”
By releasing the script and the statements, the Bush campaign may have been diverting attention from reports that the evangelist Pat Robertson, a supporter of Mr. Bush, had recorded and sent a telephone message calling Mr. McCain a foe of conservative Christians.
Several political analysts said that the Robertson call, reminiscent of the tough politics that Mr. Bush’s allies on the religious right used to guarantee Mr. Bush’s victory in the South Carolina primary, could hurt Mr. Bush with moderate voters if he does not quickly establish some distance from Mr. Robertson.
Mr. Bush said today that Mr. Robertson had made the calls independently of his campaign, an assertion that Mr. Robertson confirmed.
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Good information Michelle. This race is beginning to take shape on the GOP side.
It is becoming very clear that Johnny McCain will say anything for a vote. Typical of someone who’s been in Washington DC too long.
And we should not forget that McCain has sided with Schumer in fillerbusting conservative judges.
I shun the Big God Pizza endorsement.
I forgot to add at least one source of my assertion, the ‘Gang of 14,’
As a member of Lutherans for Life-I am voting for a cndidate with the will of Abraham Lincoln—I want an EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION FOR THE UNBORN!
CANDIDATE
I still like Romney as prez with Thompson as VP…..!!!
I used to deliver pizza for Domino’s when they had the 30 min guarantee. I was the best driver we had (of course). But that was some kind of operation. We had a female manager and I’d say she’s probably the most competent and capable manager I’ve ever worked for. We’d have 200 pie hours during peak time (that’s 3 per minute, or 1 every 20 seconds for you home gamers). . . all making it to the destination within 30 mins of the phone call.
Dominos was a heck of an operation and I have a lot of respect for the man who brought it to life. I used that money to pay for my pilots license lessons when I was 18.
Hugh Hewitt has a post about Monoghan. He is rabidly pro-life and founded a Catholic university and law school. Hugh thinks it a key endorsement for Michigan voters.
Hewitt
I am naive. I had hoped we could get through this campaign without negativity
on the GOP side. Should have known better with McCain in it.
Are you saying that Romney hasn’t gone negative?
Bringing up McCain’s or Romney’s or Huckabee’s (etc.) record is going negative?
The only person I’ve not heard really whining about it much is Romney. Both McCain and Huckabee seem to be running away from their past as fast as they can (not that I’m happy about Romney either, but at least he does acknowledge much, if not all, of his past record.
McCain and Huckabee both have called people liars for bringing up their past positions and words.
Tom Monaghan is certifiably insane. He wanted to build an all-glass church in Naples, Florida. St. Greenhouse of HOLY CRAP MY FACE IS MELTING OFF!
My brother went to his Michigan-based Catholic college, which was subsequently closed down and relocated to Florida. It was mismanaged, and Monaghan had a lot of crazy unrealistic goals for it, including a competitive football dream. You know what they say — only poor people are crazy, rich people are eccentric. Nah, he’s just crazy. He had a vision for the school that just wasn’t feasible, and all the money he threw at it didn’t change reality. A lot of students and parents of students are furious at him for how he handled things. He seems like a good match for Mitt Romney. Mitt keeps on throwing money at his campaign, but he’s only sinking further in polls.
And Romney, of course, was for abortion before he was against it. He has no credibility on that issue. Take this for what it is: one billionaire endorsing his billionaire business buddy.
I suppose Romney having a mid-life conversion to pro-life counts for something. Even when the conversion takes place just prior to launching his presidential campaign, how convenient.
But, Mitt had several children by then which makes it look all the more opportunistic and genuine.
The same Tom Monaghan who is funding a legal clinic at his law school to help illegal aliens? Yup, same guy. Tells me a lot about Mitt Happens.
Right on target. And, FYI, he was previously supporting Sam Brownback, another nutjob (who wants to evacuate Iraq like the Dems and who endorsed the Baker Commission Report about negotiating with the Syrians and selling Israel down the river).
Alrighty, before we start Mitt-bashing again, let’s look at the record of his principal opponent, John McCain:
~He repeatedly opposed drilling in ANWR that might have reduced dependence on foreign oil.
~He voted against the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.
~He co-sponsored a bill that restricts political speech (McCain-Feingold).
~He opposes the Bush administration’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques, which have been important in deterring terrorist attacks.
~He co-sponsored legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants (AKA amnesty via McCain-Kennedy).
If this is your type of “conservatism,” by all means vote for John McCain!
I’ll stick with Mitt.
(And, no, this is not an “attack.” This is an examination of a candidate’s record. And, I have Kleenex available if that’s too much to stomach.)
I’d rather focus on actions. Mitt practices what he preaches about families. He has a good, strong family and has raised wonderful boys while most of the other candidate and/or their children were partying through college. The kind of people he and his family are is obvious, who cares which religion is the basis for it? That kind of character is much more to Catholic teachings than the multiple divorces of the other candidates.
As for illegals, I was raised Catholic in the 60s/70s in a liberal church although I’m not religious at all now. They always preached to the left and even took Jesus off of the cross and hung him on a yellow blob. It went well with the orange carpet. Ugh. I did like playing for “guitar Mass” on Sat evenings though.
The church has been losing membership for a long time and all of those illegal Catholics are a way to bump their numbers up.
Isn’t Monaghan the nutjob that’s trying to create the Catholic version of Wisteria Lane in Florida?
Or serving in the military. Something Mitt’s boys couldn’t be bothered doing.
Mookie, military service is a calling. Either you have an urge to serve or you don’t. The only time one can be “bashed” for not serving is if hey refuse to go when drafted.
The problem with McCain is that he is the epitome of a benevolent dictator.
We’re not supposed to worry about all the assaults on our rights and freedoms because he’s really doing it for our good to stop them dadburn evildoers from doing whatever it is that makes his goiter swell up. We peeons should just shut the F up, roll over and be grateful that he is on the job to keep this country on an even and bipartisan keel.
Bottomline, the ends justifies his means.
I think Mitt opened his boys up to criticism when he said they were serving their country by trying to get him elected.
Yes. It has already started, and people are living there. Google Maps link.
Yikes.
Romney got a deferrment so he could go on a Mormon missionary trip… to France. He says he would have served if drafted, but then why bother with the deferrment?
I don’t support the draft, and I think Vietnam was an unnecessary war, but Romney supported the war — he just took precautions to avoid having to be involved with it.
Better DEAD than fRed!!!
Remember he is the McCain butt buddy, and co-author and primary perpetrator without remorse of the McCain-Feingold-THOMPSON bill.
Romney and Duncan Hunter!!!
Don’t forget McCain-Kennedy, either!
And the McCain “anti-torture” bill he slapped our military boys with, while aidinghte Liberals in creating scandals of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo!
Boy, does he bleed for the terrorists.
History of yelling at and pushing family members of MIAS and POWS at Congress trying to get something done for their family members in Vietnam – and was the first to greet the Vietcong leader to Congress in late ’90’s, and did so with a humongous HUG.
Ombre Rose – sorry, not going to let your lie stand.
McCain is terrible on the border, has treated MIA terribly (in cahoots with Kerry!) and he is the one that hasn’t backed down in CFR. But like Romney he lies and tries to flip flop.
Contrary to your lie, Thompson HAS reconsidered his support of McCain Feingold, going os far as to say we should scrap all the laws, and just require strict reporting and full and immediate disclosre of all donations and contributors.
And FYI, that was in a radio interview back in APRIL. So why are you so stubbornly and stupidly ignorant? And the use of “butt buddy” tells us plenty about where your head is, low class and stupid.
So stop pushing Multiple Choice Mitt – king of the flip floppers. He is LYING to you again. He’s just another one of the big-biz crowd, the Country Club Republicans that will say anything to grab power. And he’s got rubes like you completely fooled. Congrats for setting the bar for gullibility.
Bottom line: Romney is a fake. Thats why he has yet to win a meaningful primary.
LOL John McCain trying to pass himself off as a pro-life candidate. What is he going to do next? Declare he was never for amnesty……Whoops never mind!
Am I just missing it or is gun control not actually addressed in the video?
All these lies and this backbiting coming from our ‘party of values’ is putting them on the same level as their liberal counterparts.
*sigh*
I know every Republican candidate out there wants to compare themselves to Ronal Reagan…BE the next Ronald Reagan, but NONE of these wanna’be’s could hold a candle to him. I’m only realizing now just how lucky we were to have him. He was truly a straight shooter with integrity. He seldom cared about the direction the wind was blowing, he stuck to his morals and principles. (the same characteristic that doesn’t work for Bush.)
He would roll over in his grave if he saw the candidates we have now. In his day most of these Republican candidate would have been Democrat candidates.
*double sigh*
National Right to Life has done their homework and they endorse Fred Thompson.
Flip Flopney supporters seem to support him for the most shallow, superficial reasons, and put blinders on to his horrible, liberal record.
Help me understand, do we want a leader who:
1. Matures and honestly changes positions and supports them based on time and experience like Rommney.
2. Has consistenly ignored the conservatives and needs of the people – against tax cuts, for invader amnesty and continues to oush those positions because ‘McCain knows best’
3. Wants us to forget his past and believe that he has changed by telling us that the past is a lie and didn’t really happen and we don’t understand – Huckster.
All things considered I like #1 best of that group and still hope Rudy has a shot because i will sleep safer and financially safer with either in the oval office.
LOL!! that’s freakin’hilarious!!
Concerning ‘Update: Ugh!’
Fr.McDonough ( http://www.fathermcdonough.org/ )
once said something like this, as concerns real compassion towards an enemy. ‘If a man breaks into your home & breaks your arm while robbing you, you are called to forgive & pray for him, BUT you are not called to ever ask him back into your house.’
As a devout Catholic, everything made sense after that.
reagan gave us amensty, and yes he campaigned and believed in conservative values both fiscally and socially. However, when serving as President, his record was not untarnished. I voted for Reagan. I enjoyed growing up in California when he was the governor.
but let’s not forget his record:
Supreme Court Judge – Sandra Day O’Conner (voted on liberal side was a fence straddler on most issues.)But she was the first woman judge!! wow..
Supreme Court Judge – Kennedy. another fence straddler.
he lowered taxes but not spending (blames dems, but income taxes still increased)National Debt was the buzz word remember? unemployement peaked at 9.7% in 82.. .wow.
we had the savings and loan crises
his war on drugs ??? just say no.. how about putting national guard on border to stop the flow??
and last but not least he gave us Amnesty in 1986 which is why we have the mess today.
I think Reagan was a great man and served his country well. But lets be realistic: I want a President that can accomplish conservative as well as talk conservative. Reagan tried but he was not always on the mark…
when a conservative has to deal with dem legislature their record does not always produce conservative results. i agree, but don’t tout Reagan’s words and he the greatest conservative cause his actions didn’t always produce conservative results, either.
not slamming just giving the record.
*meant payroll taxes still increased not income taxes increased
Debbie, my guess is that you consider anybody who doesn’t agree with you on the issues you care about a “nutjob”. Your demagoguery is pretty transparent…try a little intellectual honesty every once and again.
The pizza will make you say “Ugh!” too.
uhangtight,
On Reagan
My taxes went up $2800 a year under Reagan. He also redefined who was employed to mean anyone working two or more hours a week, since revised to “Employed” is anyone working one or more hours a week. Any mention of the unemployment rate is totally meaningless when you define employment is such terms.
Not trying to trash an otherwise great President.
Go Duncan or Fred, we need a true conservative.