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The Washington Times notes that several conservative leaders are still surprised by the National Right to Life Committee's endorsement of Fred Thompson:
Mr. Thompson, who favors returning to state legislatures the power to declare abortion legal or illegal, also said parents of underage girls seeking abortions could be charged with aiding and abetting in a crime when defining his stance during a "Meet the Press" interview with NBC's Tim Russert on Nov. 4.
"That's insulting" to the pro-life movement, Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women of America, told The Washington Times.
"I have never heard anybody [in the pro-life movement] say that," Mrs. Wright said. "I found that more egregious than his opposing the Human Life Amendment [the proposed constitutional amendment to ban abortions], which everybody understands is a long-range goal, given the political climate." A few points of interest ...
1. Clearly, the insinuation that girls could be charged with a crime for having an abortion has ruffled more feathers than Thompson's comments about the GOP platform. This surprised me, as the moment I heard Thompson say he wouldn't support the platform, my ears perked up. Clearly, I was out-of-touch with the zeitgeist.
But I think this is also telling ...
Many pro-Lifer's are obviously sensitive to having "one of their own" use an argument which has been successfully employed by their opponents. Sure, it's pure sophistry, meant to muddy the waters and preserve the status quo, but the argument has worked, nonetheless. So it's no surprise ardent pro-Life activists resent having a Republican -- much less the fellow who was endorsed by the NRLC -- bolster the argument.
Second, the fact that folks weren't nearly as concerned about the platform as they used to be, implies that a lot of conservatives are much less concerned with keeping the GOP pro-Life than they were in the past. There seems to be a "render unto Caesar" attitude that has developed recently among conservatives (possibly because so many conservatives have given up hope), and that my be part of the reason Rudy Giuliani is doing so well ...
2. Jennifer Rubin speculates that the Romney team is crying foul every time one of these endorsements goes to another candidate. A week or so ago, I thought Romney had the social conservative endorsements essentially in his pocket. Could it be that Romney's team also believed that?
Second, it is ironic that may of Mitt Romney's supporters appear to believe they are entitled to these conservative endorsements. I've often wrote that Sam Brownback's team resented Romney because they believed they should "own" the Catholic and pro-Life vote. Now, it seems, Romney's team is displaying a bit of this moxie, as well ...
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