Connie Dean – 10/20/04

This page was last updated on October 20, 2004.

Bush is not pro-life; Connie Dean; Beaver County Times; October 20, 2004.

This is the fourth anti-Bush rant by Ms. Dean since September 19^th.

Along with Grant Farr, Jan Ross, and John Todorich, it appears Ms. Dean drew the assignment to write a letter intended to make it sound like President Bush has done nothing with regard to the pro-life issue.

As with the previous letters, the easily disproved premise is you have no reason to vote for President Bush if you are pro-life. As with Mr. Farr, Ms. Ross, and Mr. Todorich, Ms. Dean provides no reason to vote for anyone else.

I also have my doubts as to Ms. Dean’s true stand on abortion. Why? Most pro-life supporters refer to the opposition as being “pro-abortion.” The pro-abortion crowd tends to refer to themselves as “pro-choice”. Ms. Dean refers to the pro-abortion crowd as pro-choice.

See the Todorich letter for my overall critique of the topic.

“The last presidential debate is over, and what a sad night it was for pro-life advocates.

“President Bush, while trying to sidestep the abortion issue, finally admitted what some of us have known for a long time - that he is not a pro-life candidate.

“He said all he would do is promote adoption, which he thanked Teresa Heinz Kerry for doing and promote group homes for pregnant teens as we have done since the 1930s, in order to ‘reduce’ the number of abortions.

“Reduce the number of abortions? This is not a pro-life stance. He even said he would not pick Supreme Court justices (his litmus test babble) on grounds that they were pro-life.”

[RWC] Huh? Reducing the number of abortions is not a pro-life stance? Below is President Bush’s full response.

“I think it’s important to promote a culture of life. I think a hospitable society is a society where every being counts and every person matters. I believe the ideal world is one in which every child is protected in law and welcomed to life. I understand there’s great differences on this issue of abortion, but I believe reasonable people can come together and put good law in place that will help reduce the number of abortions.

“Take, for example, the ban on partial birth abortion. It’s a brutal practice. People from both political parties came together in the halls of Congress and voted overwhelmingly to ban that practice. It made a lot of sense. My opponent, in that he’s out of the mainstream, voted against that law.

“What I’m saying is, is that as we promote life and promote a culture of life, surely there are ways we can work together to reduce the number of abortions: continue to promote adoption laws -- it’s a great alternative to abortion -- continue to fund and promote maternity group homes; I will continue to promote abstinence programs.

“The last debate, my opponent said his wife was involved with those programs. That’s great. I appreciate that very much. All of us ought to be involved with programs that provide a viable alternative to abortion.”

Here’s what President Bush said regarding the “litmus test.”

“What he’s [Kerry] asking me is, will I have a litmus test for my judges? And the answer is, no, I will not have a litmus test. I will pick judges who will interpret the Constitution, but I’ll have no litmus test.”

It would be irresponsible to appoint a judge based on how he/she would vote on a single issue. Indeed, historically it has been considered improper to ask nominated judges how they would vote on specific issues. That changed with Democrats when it comes to abortion. That said, justices who believe in strict interpretation of the Constitution agree there is no “abortion right” in the Constitution.

Ms. Dean wants us to forget Senate Democrats have been filibustering several prominent nominations by President Bush because these men and women didn’t pass the Democrat pro-abortion litmus test.

“The president’s mother is a card-carrying member of Planned Parenthood and has given speeches about her pro-choice stance. Also, the president’s wife refuses to say if she is pro-choice or pro-life. Laura Bush only stated in 2000 that ‘now is not the time to overturn Roe v. Wade.’ This was my first clue of how he really felt four years ago because you know how he feels about ‘strong’ women in his life.

[RWC] We vote for the candidates, not their mothers or wives. Despite every action to the contrary, Ms. Dean wants us to believe President Bush is not pro-life because his mother and wife have different opinions. What Ms. Dean didn’t tell us about the views of Barbara and Laura Bush is that both agree abortion law as we know it is being abused and that there should be some limits on the practice, though they apparently don’t go as far as President Bush.

“We have some Catholic organizations and other Christian groups telling us not to vote for John Kerry because his pro-choice stance is evil, and Bush is portrayed as being pro-life.

“Now that we know that both presidential candidates are pro-choice, what would they have Christians do? Are good Christians not supposed to vote at all?”

[RWC] If President Bush is pro-abortion, perhaps Ms. Dean can explain why Senate Democrats have been filibustering President Bush’s judge nominations because they don’t pass the Democrat pro-abortion litmus test.

“This is one of the biggest deceptions that Bush has ever perpetrated - and there have been many. Why are we not hearing outrage by pro-life advocates and pro-life organizations?”

[RWC] The only deception here is that perpetrated by Ms. Dean et al.