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Fellow R4′08 writer HeavyM touts James Bopp Jr.’s endorsement of Romney below as a reason “why social conservatives should support Mitt Romney.”
Hmm. Well, perhaps next time the S.S. Romney could vet their people a little bit more so that they don’t go around telling a high profile political reporter this:
“I don’t know yet about Romney,” Bopp admits. “I’m not really sure where [abortion] will ultimately fit in his agenda. He’s still on a journey.”
Oh, Mitt!
Keep your chin up, there’s always next time!
UPDATE: James Bopp Jr. responds in the comments:
The last four paragraphs of Johathan Martin’s blog combines answers to several questions to me creating the erroneous impression that I am uncertain about Romney’s pro-life position. I am not. To the question: “will any of these candidates really advocate an end to abortion or were they just paying lip service to an important issue,” my view is that “Romney is sincere about advocating an end to abortion he is not paying lip service to it.” If I had been asked further about this, I would have said that he will promote and sign pro-life legislation, oppose and veto pro-choice legislation (as he had done as Governor) and appoint strict constructionist judges. My statement about Romney in the last sentence of the Martin’s blog (which is correctly viewed by commentators here as “strange,” “odd,” and “bizarre,” if made to the question “is he paying lip service” to it) was about where does the abortion issue fit in his agenda, in other words what priority would he give it, and I think that it is important now and is growing in importance to him (that is the “journey” I was referring to).
February 21st, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I love the stench of desperation in the morning.
February 21st, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Quite a strange quote, from a heavyweight leader of the pro-life movement who has also said of Mitt:
Personally, I’d like to know the context of the question Bopp was asked. I’ll bet a nice shiny nickle that would shed some light on this. It may be that Bopp is refusing to speculate or dictate policy to the Romney administration. But the most important fact is that even given the quote which tickled LJ pink, Bopp sides with Romney over McCain. And just for full equality in quoting Bopp:
February 21st, 2007 at 8:43 pm
murphy,
Wait, didn’t Mass Citizens for Life call Romney an abortion rights supporter?
But yes, I thought it was a very strange quote as well, which is actually why I posted it. He’s still on a journey? There are a million different ways to read into that statement, but it sounds like Bopp isn’t as convinced about Romney’s abortion position as the campaign would’ve liked.
Saying abortion isn’t a big issue for McCain, but admitting that he doesn’t know whether abortion will be big on Romney’s agenda either, and yet supporting him anyway is just bizarre.
And btw, I found the quote via K-Lo, if that means anything.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:18 pm
LJ,
No doubt Bopp was avoiding acting as the Romney spokesman on describing his abortion policy platform. That’s the only way to interpret this that I can see which doesn’t put Bopp in a bizarre light. Given Bopp’s tremendously competant work for the pro-life cause, I can’t conclude that Bopp is bizarre. The guy’s a rock star.
And there’s no way to twist this to make it sound as if Bopp is unsure of his preference of Romney over McCain. So as bad as this odd quote makes Romney sound, the silver lining is that it makes Rudy and McCain seem even worse.
I’m still holding out for the full context…the exact question Bopp was answering would be great to see.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Check out the article that James Bopp posted at National Review TODAY:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWYwMzg3MzZkNDBmYzJhMGY5OTY5MjI3YTYxYzFkNDE
He explains in light of Romney’s actions how he supports Romney for president. In this light the comment that Bopp made about Romney’s “journey” doesn’t sound all that impactful.
Read the whole article, but here is the last paragraph:
“Whatever one thinks about Romney’s conversion, and I believe it is sincere, the fact remains that Romney opposes public funds for embryo-destructive research that McCain and Giuliani support. Romney has fought for a federal marriage amendment and McCain and Giuliani oppose one. There is the simple question of whether social conservatives want someone who is currently on their side or someone who currently opposes them.”
February 21st, 2007 at 10:14 pm
In all honesty, wouldn’t a federal amendment to the constitution stating that marriage shall
only be between a man and a woman, be nothing but legalized discrimination? I think so, and I think that Rudy
and McCain do not support that for this reason. Once again, we have Mitt Romney doing a complete,
total flipflop, back flip, whatever you want to call it, reversal from his previous stance from his debate
with Teddy Kennedy that he would be the biggest supporter of gay rights. I am NOT a supporter
of gay marriage, by the way.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:43 pm
KT,
Gay marriage was neither here nor there back in 1994. The only pertinent issues were workplace discrimination, visitation rights, etc. The big drive for gay marriage/same-sex unions started around 2000. That’s when the first major ballot initiatives were being voted on to allow or disallow those types of marriages. Anyone remember Prop 22 in California. It was only 7 years ago when that became the issue, not 13.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:53 am
The last four paragraphs of Johathan Martin’s blog combines answers to several questions to me creating the erroneous impression that I am uncertain about Romney’s pro-life position. I am not. To the question: “will any of these candidates really advocate an end to abortion or were they just paying lip service to an important issue,” my view is that “Romney is sincere about advocating an end to abortion — he is not paying lip service to it.” If I had been asked further about this, I would have said that he will promote and sign pro-life legislation, oppose and veto pro-choice legislation (as he had done as Governor) and appoint strict constructionist judges. My statement about Romney in the last sentence of the Martin’s blog (which is correctly viewed by commentators here as “strange,” “odd,” and “bizarre,” if made to the question “is he paying lip service” to it) was about where does the abortion issue fit in his agenda, in other words what priority would he give it, and I think that it is important now and is growing in importance to him (that is the “journey” I was referring to).
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 am
Hey LJ-
How about doing the decent thing and adding an update to your front page post including Mr. Bopp’s repsonse?
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
Oh, and congrats on rating a response. ‘Attaboys go out to Kavon, LJ, Heavy and the R4′08 crew.
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Mr. Bopp,
First off, thanks for visiting the site. Second, your response makes a lot more sense now. I was confused because the last sentence on Martin’s blog seemed to contradict your previous statements of support for Romney. But as I’m sure you realize by now, given all the controversy over Romney the past few months, it’s perhaps easier to infer something more when you see the words “abortion” and “journey” in the same sentence.
Again, thanks for stopping by and feel free to look around.