-
SEQUESTER: The Horror!
March 1, 2013 | 4 comments
-
SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
February 12, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Hello, I Must Be Going
August 14, 2012 | 18 comments
-
Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
August 12, 2012 | 16 comments
-
Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
August 11, 2012 | 13 comments
The Spectacle Blog
Scott Brown didn’t run as a pro-life candidate, but like Mitt Romney in 2002 he positioned himself to the right of his Democratic opponent on abortion in order to win pro-life votes. (In Romney’s case, this positioning helped him pivot to an actual pro-life position when he decided to run for president.) Brown specifically opposed federal funding of abortion.
Now, Brown is not alone in saying he opposes federal moneys for abortion while supporting federal funding for Planned Parenthood. There are others who have argued that funding the country’s leading abortion provider and one of its leading advocacy groups on behalf of legal abortion is distinct from funding abortion itself. (Given the fungibility of the money, even that limited point is debatable.) There are even self-described pro-lifers who argue that Planned Parenthood’s support for contraception reduces abortions.
But Brown didn’t run as a full-blown Bill Weld/Rudy Giuliani social liberal during his Senate campaign, nor did he vote like one in the Massachusetts legislature. He’s always been a splitter on social issues, trying to give social liberals few reasons to fear him and social conservatives a few reasons to vote for him. With his Planned Parenthood stance, he has given social liberals one less reason to fear him and social conservatives one less reason to vote for him.
View all comments (12) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/03/22/re-scott-brown-and-palnned-par
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
CalMark| 3.22.11 @ 4:29PM
Once again, Scott Brown shows himself to be a sophomoric Leftist hair-splitter.
Everyone knows that the main mission of Planned Parenthood is abortions. Once again, Scott Brown breaks a campaign promise and shows himself to be an amoral opportunist and liar.
All else aside, Planned Parenthood is a private organization. Why should any private organization get federal funds? Another way in which Scott Brown, fails the "fiscal conservative" test.
A liberal is a liberal is a liberal, a liar is a liar is a liar. Scott Brown is both.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.23.11 @ 9:54AM
You're right.
Scott Brown is just another guilt free baby killer.
martin j smith| 3.22.11 @ 4:35PM
Eventually the RINO WAY will catch up with Brown and he will be a Democrat Socialist in the end. And this will be true of most if not all of the others. Better work with the Tea Party !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God Is Truth| 3.22.11 @ 5:38PM
Arlen Specter didn't leave The Stupid Party. He discovered "the fountain of youth" & moved to Massachusetts. A vote for Scott Brown just to keep a "Republican" in "the people's seat" is an endorsement of government funded abortion & a capitulation to the loony, blood thirsty left. Leave this man to the Democrat Party. It is where he truly belongs. Keeping his seat from the Democrats isn't worth one cent going to Planned Infanticide. Life is a gift from God & only God has the right to give life & take it back.
Floyd Looney | 3.22.11 @ 5:44PM
He lied. Pure and simple.
Are there any people who support abortion but doesn't want the government to pay for it?
Are condoms so expensive that only government can afford them? Are they not sold at 7 Eleven, CVS and Walgreens?
Women can get "healthcare" through their health insurance, so that argument is ridiculous.
The only reason they want money for PP is for abortion, there is NO other logical reason for it.
Michael L. Hauschild| 3.22.11 @ 6:29PM
Yes there are citizens who support a women’s right to determine her reproductive choices (abortion) and there are people who don’t want the government to pay for it. Me.
Dai Alanye | 3.23.11 @ 2:57PM
"...a women’s right to determine her reproductive choices..."
Why not support aneighbor's right to determine his financial choices---including his right to steal from others by force or fraud?
Do the child's rights ever come into Hauschild's cold-hearted economic calculation?
Clint| 3.22.11 @ 8:35PM
"Brown sided with Democrats on some very important pieces of legislations, like the New START Treaty, repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Financial Reform and the Jobs bill in 2010 — bills geared to increase America’s security and economic standing, but vastly different from the Teaparty’s ideas on where they wanted America to be.
Now, because of his stance on these and other issues, the Teaparty is trying to unseat Brown.
Scott Wheeler, a Republican activist whose Political Action Committee invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in Brown’s election campaign is livid! In a recent article Wheeler wrote called, “Why Scott Brown Must Be Defeated,” Mr. Wheeler said;
An organization I run, The National Republican Trust PAC, raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Scott Brown win the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat vacated upon the death of Ted Kennedy. That organization will now do everything possible to see that Brown is defeated by a primary opponent when he faces reelection in 2012. Why? Because there is no difference between him and a Democrat.
Brown is caught between a rock and a hard place. His party is turning against him, his Teaparty supporters are turning against him, and with his re-election coming up in 2012, Democrats will prefer seeing one of their own reclaim the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. Mr. Brown is feeling the uprising from all sides."
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.23.11 @ 7:45AM
He's from Massachusetts. That makes him a MASSHOLE. He's a LIB. He was MOLESTED, for God's sake. He's probably a closet Homosexual, for all we know. He sure VOTES like one.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.23.11 @ 9:55AM
That's funny!
Zbigniew Mazurak | 3.24.11 @ 2:34AM
Wow, now Antle is excusing even liberals like Mitt Romney and Scott Brown. Pathetic.
No, Mitt Romney never "pivoted to an actual pro-life position", he merely lied that he's pro-life, because he knew he would have to do that to be a feasible candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.
As for voting for planned parenthood - don't make me laugh. What do you think the money devoted to PP is spent on? Of course the answer is "abortions". Funding for abortion is immoral AND unconstitutional. But as strident liberals, Scott Brown and James Antle don't care about that.
Bob| 4.3.11 @ 9:46PM
I wonder just how much money Scott Brown has received from Planned Parenthood? Has anyone thought of investigating that?