McCain on abortion and marriage

Very important that he defined life as beginning as conception.

“I will be a pro-life President and my administration will have pro-life policies.” That is a very strong statement. He has supported embryonic stem-cell research in the past. That is not a pro-life position. With the advances in adult stem-cell research, one hope he will decide to change that position in a pro-life administration.

Now he is asked directly about this. He affirms his support for “stem-cell research” (with embryos too?). But hopes that adult stem-cell research will make the embryonic stem-cell approach “academic.” Well, this plays pretty well, but what does his insistence on supporting the destruction of embryos mean for his overall pro-life policy? This is significant and concerning, but his overall answer is very heartening for the pro-life community. Will it allow conservatives to rally around him? This took him a long way down the pike.

He affirms marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He continues to reject a federal marriage amendment until a federal court would rule against the definition of marriage. But doesn’t this just give those who support homosexual marriage a signal to get to federal court? It’s the equivalent of Obama’s call for a 16 month withdrawl of troops. It tells the enemy the timetable for action. And if the federal DOMA is overturned in federal court, will we truly have the ability to obtain a federal amendment out of the current Congress when we couldn’t obtain it in a Republican Congress? And if McCain gets a Republican Congress again, he has said he will take a pass. Very weak.