America Needs Mitt

The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) organization, a pro-life lobbying group, had already endorsed Michelle Bachmann when it decided to set a trap for Mitt Romney, the candidate that most threatened their favored candidate’s chances to capture the GOP nomination. (By the way, this sexist organization, according to their own by-laws, will only endorse a male if he is running against a pro-abortion woman!)  They would issue a challenge to the candidates to sign a pledge to prove their commitment to the pro-life cause, fully expecting “Romney the flip flopper” to hedge or refuse to sign it, a development they could then exploit to the maximum extent possible with the most conservative members of the GOP.  They even went so far as to give “tips” to the other candidates, explaining what the pledge’s verbiage “was supposed to mean,” as opposed to what it really said.  That sort of assistance that was never offered to the Romney campaign, according to what an SBA spokesperson told the Washington Post.

All went according to plan until the two businessmen candidates, Romney and Cain, private sector entrepreneurs who have learned to read the small print before signing anything, realized that there were a number of serious flaws in the pledge.  Romney realized that the pledge would force anyone who took it to end all federal funding for thousands of hospitals across the country.  It would also forbid having anyone in high positions of government who was personally pro-life, even if his or her duties had absolutely nothing to do with the abortion issue. Cain, on the other hand, had serious issues with the fourth requirement of the pledge, which exceeds the authority of the President by requiring him to ‘advance’ the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Cain said, “As president, I would sign it, but Congress must advance the legislation.”

The end result was, the SBA had hoped to catch one candidate in their trap, and now they had two! What to do?   Their plan anticipated that only Romney would refuse to sign the pledge. They simply had not figured on snaring Cain, a Tea Party favorite, as part of the deal.  Their only option at that point was to pretend that Cain hadn’t stepped into their trap, and loudly denounce Romney.  And so they did just that.  They issued a statement that read, “Five candidates took the pledge, and the pro-life grass roots know where they stand. Governor Romney refused to take the pledge, and his explanation raises more questions than answers. In good conscience, we cannot let this rest.” Amazingly, most people didn’t do the simple math and figure out that Cain has somehow slipped into candidate limbo.

It didn’t take long before people began to realize that five plus one didn’t equal seven.  That’s when questions began to be asked, and the SBA List began stonewalling.  It became readily apparent to most people by the very next day that the trap the SBA had set for Romney had snapped shut on their own fingers.

Romney, a brilliant businessman and a candidate who learned much about being the target of political dirty tricks in 2008,  then issued his own Pro-Life Pledge the next day, without the flaws and loopholes that were in the original SBA pledge.  Romney’s pledge was published at National Review Online on 6/17/2011, and reprinted here at America Needs Mitt.   How many candidates will sign this one?  We’re betting none.  So, does that mean they’re all pro-choice, now? Hardly.  Can we say double standard?

The bottom line is, Romney is the only GOP candidate who has actually vetoed pro-choice legislation as governor (the MA “Emergency Contraception Bill,” July 2005).   Also in 2005, he vetoed a MA bill to fund stem-cell research because the legislation allowed for the cloning of human embryos. At the time, he said, “To say that it is not life at one month or two months or four months or full term, just because it had never been in a uterus, would be absurd.”  If it is true that actions speak louder than words, then Romney’s actions have spoken volumes, but few are listening, and that is their loss.

The Susan B. Anthony List hatchet job is just one more example of the sort of political dirty tricks that have targeted Romney for years.  We expect this from the left… but it’s profoundly sad when it comes from the people who are supposed to be on our side.  Even sadder, these are the same people who’ll be asking for Romney’s help when he is President.  The SBA not only shot themselves in the foot this weekend, they hurt the entire pro-life movement by resorting to dirty tricks, and should be ashamed of themselves.

Read the article at Washington Times:  “An Abortion Pledge Mess.”

Read the article at TownHall.com:  “A Follow-up on the SBA Pledge, Romney vs Cain”

UPDATE:

The SBA List has begun damage control operations by claiming that they never set out to “get” Mitt Romney, and that Romney has always been a great ally of the organization.  Also, several major media reported on 7/22/2011 that Huntsman was the “second” GOP candidate to refuse to sign the pledge, again failing to mention Cain.