This is a really good ad. I'm sorry an ad like this wasn't out immediately after the first debate:
Ahh, but -- according to Jeremy Peters of The New York Times -- the ad overlooks all the nuance:
The new advertisement uses a clip from a CNN debate in 2007, when Mr. Romney was running for the Republican nomination for the first time and answered a question about whether he would sign a bill to ban all abortions.So he said he'd be thrilled to sign a bill like this -- but because he also says he doesn't think he'd ever get to sign such a bill, we shouldn't worry about what he would do if given a chance?
"Let me say it: I’d be delighted to sign that bill," Mr. Romney is shown saying with a grin....
But the commercial notably leaves out the rest of Mr. Romney's response, in which he said that he did not believe the country was ready for a total ban on abortion.
His full response is more nuanced than the Obama ad suggests. "Let me say it: I’d be delighted to sign that bill. But that's not where we are. That's not where America is today. Where America is is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and return to the states that authority. But if the Congress got there, we had that kind of consensus in the country, terrific."
Imagine you've got a guy in prison for assaulting his wife. He's up for parole. He tells you flat out that if he ever sees his wife again, he'll kill her. But she's in hiding. Do you let him out on parole, on the assumption that, sure, he would kill her if he could find her, but right now he can't find her, so it's cool?
Peters goes on to write:
The ad also extrapolates something from Mr. Romney's answer that he did not say in the debate and was not asked: that he would ban abortion in cases of rape, incest and even to save a mother's life. In fact, Mr. Romney has long said that he believes abortion should be legal in those circumstances.In fact, Mr. Romney had every opportunity to respond to the question by saying, "No, I wouldn't sign such a bill because I believe abortion should be legal in cases of rape, incest, and to save a mother's life." Romney didn't say that. Silence is consent.
"Silence is consent."
ReplyDeleteExcept when it's when you can't remember what you're supposed to say that day, and who you think the audience is.
I never believed him when he said he was pro-choice.
And I don't believe him now that he says he's pro-life.
He's pro-Mitt.
Anything else is flexible.
I believe him when he says he's pro-life, because he's a Republican who'll be answerable to Republicans if he's elected president -- remember, they'll still control the House, and they control the Senate whenever they have more than 40 senators.
ReplyDeleteThis is not even remotely hard to figure out. Romney and Ryan have supported a personhood amendment, which inevitably bans all abortions and several common forms of contraception as well. It would also make IVF illegal.
ReplyDelete