The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 4)

James Bopp has been posting on conservative websites attempting to clarify his attacks on Sen. Sam Brownback after Brownback held a courtesy meeting with pro-choice Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani . /p>

Giuliani had requested the meeting and Brownback agreed, according to Brownback sources.

Bopp, however, attacked Brownback for betraying his pro-life values for taking the meeting and then saying nice things about Giuliani. "Part of what may be driving some of the Romney guys nuts is that they know Senator Brownback simply would not endorse Romney because of his pro-choice history," says a long-time pro-life activist in Washington. "Romney expected guys like Bopp to make things easier for him with social conservatives and it hasn't worked out."

Bopp attacked Brownback with the support of the Romney campaign, even though the campaign had already requested a similar meeting between their candidate and Brownback last week. The meeting was canceled after Bopp's comments to a left-wing blog were spread across the Internet. Further, Bopp's remarks were repudiated by the National Right to Life Committee in a letter sent to Brownback late last week. "We reject most emphatically anyone's suggestion that you have sacrificed or would sacrifice the interests of the unborn in order to garner some 'personal political benefit," the letter emphasized.

Bopp has disputed that the NRLC repudiated the remarks, but the letter is clearly a distancing of the organization from its longtime legal adviser. "Mr. Bopp has served as NRLC's general counsel for many years, but he is not an in-house general counsel; he has many other clients," the letter, signed by NRLC's president, executive director, and legislative director, noted. "Mr. Bopp is also involved in political activities in his personal capacity. It is in his personal capacity that he has endorsed Mr. Romney's candidacy, and it is in his personal capacity that he gives interviews on such matters...."

In the wake of Bopp's public criticism of Brownback, some other Romney supporters inside the social conservative movement are now taking heat and backing away from Romney. Romney supporters inside the Family Research Council, who for months have been exerting pressure on FRC head Tony Perkins to endorse the long time pro-abortion candidate, yesterday were distancing themselves from Bopp and the Romney campaign, saying they respected Brownback too much to get into the ugly political spat.

"If it were a one-time thing, you could understand, but Romney's people have been attacking Brownback for months," says the longtime pro-lifer. "And we kept hearing over the weekend that Jim [Bopp] and Brownback people were still going at it in private email exchanges. He should have just apologized to Brownback and moved on."

Bopp's blowup may also have the effect of putting an unpleasant spotlight on another Romney supporter, Prof. Mary Ann Glendon, who is expected to be nominated by President Bush as the next U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

Glendon, who is currently the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University, serves as a legal adviser to Romney. She has long been considered one of the nation's most impressive legal minds on life and scientific and medical ethics issues, as well as a high-profile pro-life feminist. She was appointed head of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for the Sciences in 2004, a post she might have to step away from if she were confirmed.

topics:
Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Abortion, Law, NATO