BUMPED to include a reply from Mr. Bopp, who says his answer was to a different question. See comments.
With questions swirling around his seemingly recent "conversion" to conservative positions on abortion and other social issues, Mitt Romney's campaign flooded the email inbox of anyone who would listen to promote respected pro-life attorney James Bopp's article at NRO praising Romney.
Bopp does indeed recommend Romney to social conservatives and has joined his campaign as an unpaid "special adviser on life issues," but that may not be the end of the story.
Interviewed about the article and Romney by The Politico's Jonathan Martin, Bopp appears to backtrack a bit:
Romney's conversion on the issue, Bopp added, was not "all that stark."
"It wasn't black and white, it was more gray."So was he, as then-Romney adviser Mike Murphy famously told National Review in 2005, "faking it" all along?
"There are observers who believe that," Bopp replied. "I have no idea."
Whether or not Romney was ever really pro-choice or McCain has really fought for the right to life in the Senate or if Giuliani's soundings about judges are sincere, what is being missed is that pro-life advocates have three choices in the top tier whose passions lay elsewhere. Will any of these candidates really advocate to end abortion, or are they just paying lip service on an important issue to the base?
"Giuliani's adamantly pro-choice and a social liberal," Bopp points out, "McCain's generally pro-life, but it's not a big issue for him."
And about his candidate?
"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."
Hardly a stunning endorsement. I'll bet the Romney campaign wished they'd been a bit slower on the "send" button today . . .
Hat-tip to Romney fan K-Lo at The Corner for pointing to this report.
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2008 Presidential Race, Romney
Tags: abortion, Bopp, Romney
Comments (3)
The last four paragraphs of... (Below threshold)1. Posted by James Bopp Jr | February 27, 2007 3:40 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
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 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).
1. Posted by James Bopp Jr | February 27, 2007 3:40 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 27, 2007 15:40
2. Posted by Glenn Koonsq | February 28, 2007 3:25 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Look, though so far I am a Rudy G man, Mitt has picked up some very good endorsements which means that much of his past, religion do not seem to be hurting him. Of course, Rudy G has picked up some interesting endorsements too. The largest endorsements seem to be on polls which show him leading both Mitt, St. John and Newt.
2. Posted by Glenn Koonsq | February 28, 2007 3:25 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 28, 2007 15:25
3. Posted by Jack | March 7, 2007 7:35 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Down with the killing of babies.
3. Posted by Jack | March 7, 2007 7:35 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 7, 2007 19:35