Some of you know that I run a wine bar with live jazz music in a certain western fishing village town in the west of Ireland. I'm there all the time as I like to keep a close connection with my customers and spend most of time bantering the usual suspects. Quite often I help tending the bar because that's where the fun is. We get a lot of American tourists and inevitably the conversation turns to weather, Guinness and politics, in that order. I make a point of asking where they're from (I lived in the States for five years, I know my American geography having criss-crossed it a few times) and who they have voted for. So far 98% have voted for Obama. Before I go on with my short story I have noted a resurgence of American pride, by this I mean they are no longer ashamed of their president and are quite vocal about it. I think you know why.
Anyway, last night I was wearing my Obama t-shirt and towards the end of the evening three young smiling Americans girls came to the bar and asked for pints of Guinness. Nothing unusual here. We don't serve tap beer, a silly law forbids us from competing with pubs so we sell bottled beer. The conversation quickly turns to the weather and sight-seeing. Then one girl asks me why I wore an Obama t-shirt.
I responded that I liked the man and such a good politician should be supported worldwide. Two of the girls said they voted for him in Iowa. The third one became visibly embarrassed and muttered that she voted for McCain. I asked her why (by the way, the other two were astounded that she voted for him) but she couldn't really give an answer. When prodded by her friends she said she voted for him because he's a well known hero and that he was a pilot, just like George Bush. Now her two friends became visibly shocked and righted the wrong with Bush's awol record as a would be pilot. Then, possibly as an afterthought, the McCain voter quickly added that she must have voted for him because he's pro-life although she wasn't sure (a slightly better answer than the one I got last year from another tourist, a woman from Omaha, who said of McCain: "he just looks good" - never mind the politics).
I told her that McCain was pro-life indeed and like most politicians, he has managed to cloud the issue with contradictory statements throughout the last decade. I blurted out his known and not so well known positions on this matter.
Some McCain positions on abortions:
On "Meet the Press," McCain said he had "come to the conclusion that the exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother are legitimate exceptions" to an outright ban on abortions. "I don’t claim to be a theologian, but I have my moral beliefs." If Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion outlawed, McCain said he believes doctors who performed abortions would be prosecuted. "But I would not prosecute a woman" who obtained an abortion. Source: Boston Globe, p. A9 Jan 31, 2000
McCain said, "I’d love to see a point where Roe vs. Wade is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." A spokesman said that McCain "has a 17-year voting record of supporting efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade. He does that currently, and will continue to do that as president."
Source: Ron Fournier, Associated Press Aug 24, 1999
KEYES [to McCain]: What you would say if your daughter was ever in a position where she might need an abortion? You answered [earlier today] that the choice would be up to her and then that you’d have a family conference. That displayed a profound lack of understanding of the basic issue of principle involved in abortion. After all, if your daughter said she was contemplating killing her grandmother for the inheritance, you wouldn’t say, "Let’s have a family conference." You’d look at her and say "Just Say No," because that is morally wrong. It is God’s choice that that child is in the womb. And for us to usurp that choice in contradiction of our declaration of principles is just as wrong.
McCAIN: I am proud of my pro-life record in public life, and I will continue to maintain it. I will not draw my children into this discussion. As a leader of a pro-life party with a pro-life position, I will persuade young Americans [to] understand the importance of the preservation of the rights of the unborn.
Source: (X-ref from Keyes) GOP Debate in Manchester NH Jan 26, 2000
I also seem to remember that John McCain openly embraced embryonic stem cell research, a good "libral" thing. In 2000, he boldly said he did not favor the overturn of Roe v. Wade. John McCain was a member of the infamous "Gang of 14" senators from both parties whose purpose was to oppose pro-life, strict constructionist judges. Additionally, during his disastrous presidential campaign McCain seemed distinctly uninterested when asked questions concerning abortion and gay rights. While campaigning in South Carolina, he told reporters riding with him on his bus that he was comfortable pledging to appoint judges who would strictly interpret the Constitution in part because it would reassure conservatives who might otherwise distrust him. My uncle, an astute man who breathed politics would say "then there's the politician who blows like the wind blows, in any direction." John McCain for wind power!
I visited his website today to see if the man had mellowed out and begun to recognize the error of his ways. Again I felt the chill wind of his tireless blathering:
"The President’s rhetoric is impressive, but his statement affirms we will continue to do business as usual in Washington regarding earmarks in appropriations legislation. The President could have resolved this issue in one statement – no more unauthorized pork barrel projects – and pledged to use his veto pen to stop them. This is an opportunity missed."
Yeah, right.
As for the American girls, they're coming back later to sample some of the wine. The McCain voter said, just before they left last night, that she would vote for Obama next time.