Pro-Life Rita, Part 3
The Pennsylvania Republican Primary was very interesting in 2004, especially for pro-lifers. Arlen Specter, the incumbent U.S. Senator and a "Ted Kennedy Republican", ran against a conservative congressman, Pat Toomey. Pat was wined and dined by all of the "pro-life" organizations in the state. Unfortunately Toomey is for abortion with exceptions. He did not hide this. He voted for the abortion pill - twice. And the Catholic newspaper in Philadelphia carried his questionnaire, complete with the approval for abortion in certain cases. Pat even met with our PAC's representatives and filled out our questionnaire. The questionnaire was posted on this website.
Was Pat pro-life? Well, no. In spite of what most of the "pro-life" organizations reported. Was he the lesser of two evils? Perhaps. And here of course is the perennial pro-life dilemma. Should we support the lesser of two evils? And we at the PAC say NO! It is an utter failure to do so, as over thirty years of experience has shown us.
By the way, to make things even more interesting, two darlings of "pro-life" organizations, President Bush and Senator Santorum, backed Specter! This caused much hand-wringing for quite a few pro-lifers. It should not have. Neither of them, as shown by the Republicans they support, is pro-life. Hurts…doesn't it! They both regularly back pro-abortion Republicans.
In conversations with many pro-life friends, I predicted that Toomey would lose soundly. I was wrong. He lost by less than 2% of the vote. But the question I always added in these conversations was who would Toomey back for senator from Pennsylvania when he lost?
Well, the night of the primary after the vote was counted, Toomey gave a gentlemanly concession speech during which he endorsed Arlen Specter for senator. Specter with one of the most consistently pro-death voting records in the Senate! Now, is Toomey pro-life? No! Are Bush and Santorum pro-life? No! Wake up! They are Republicans first and pro-life when convenient. And unfortunately many of the "pro-lifers" reading this are the same. Right now some of you are making all sorts of excuses for these people. If you are new to the fight to end the baby killing I can understand. But if you have been around for a while, I surely do not understand. Are you satisfied with a little election year rhetoric or do you want abortion ended? And we wonder why abortion is a non-issue.
After the primary, some people emailed the PAC and wrote that we were responsible for Toomey's loss. And I admit that a "Pro-Life Rita" vote could have contributed to his loss. That is exactly why the "Pro-Life Rita" concept is such a threat to politicians that are not 100% pro-life. But we at the PAC said nothing officially before the primary about Toomey. I, at least, thought he would lose badly. We even posted his questionnaire. No, we did not defeat Toomey. President Bush and Senator Santorum defeated Toomey!
Judie Brown, the outspoken founder of the American Life League and a valuable member of the PAC Advisory Board, published an excellent article about the PAC in her official magazine, Celebrate Life. She even gave a "face" to Pro Life Rita!
The article caused another stir. Which is exactly why we started the PAC - to make abortion a real issue again. I am convinced that many of our attackers do not read much, if any, of our materials. Of course most sincere pro-lifers do read the materials. Maybe that is too harsh. I know there are many sincere pro-lifers that do read our materials and just do not agree. But the attackers almost always use what I call "the pro-life clichés". There are many and I am sure that you have heard at least some of them. Here are a couple of my favorites. Republican appointed judges, especially Supreme Court Judges, will hand down pro-life decisions. Wrong (with two noted exceptions)! Lesser of two evils candidates, when elected, will produce or vote for pro-life legislation. Wrong! The clichés go on and on.
We got a call from a Texas reporter soon after the Celebrate Life article appeared. I assume he was "pro-life". One of his criticisms was that we identified a third party presidential candidate as 100% pro-life and posted his questionnaire! Hey, Dummy, that is what we do! Party affiliation means absolutely nothing to us. We are not receiving funds from the Republican National Committee like some well known "pro-life" organizations. We identify and sometimes endorse 100% pro-life candidates. Period. This Texas fellow was so intense that we forgot to tell him to have President Bush fill out our questionnaire. We would be honored to receive it. Well - sort of honored.
Oh, the reporter also contacted several of our Advisory Board members to report what the Executive Committee was doing. He obviously did not read the articles written by many of our Advisory Board members. Remember these advisors signed on with the 100% Pro Life PAC, not the Lesser Of Two Evils Federation!
By the way, some have left the Advisory Board. Two I believe. One was asked to leave for publicly supporting a lesser of two evils national candidate. Something Advisory Board members agree not to do. Another left because she changed her mind. You should also know that new board members are added from time to time.
Advisory Board members do not review questionnaires from candidates. These are reviewed by the Executive Committee. You do not have to be St. Thomas Aquinas to review our questionnaire. Read it yourself. Any of you who have picketed an abortion mill or said a rosary there would be quite capable. Our Advisory Board does what? Well, it advises. As the position and influence of the 100% Pro Life PAC and the "Pro Life Rita" idea continue to grow, some of our advisors report increased attempts to pressure them to quit the PAC. Not likely to happen.
You can help with the questionnaires, too. Just download one and make as many copies as you need. Then give or send them to candidates to fill out. More and more candidates are doing so enthusiastically. Some of our supporters are very surprised when candidates that they have supported for years refuse to do so. I speak from personal experience. And sometimes candidates that thought they were pro-life contact us when they fail to be recognized as 100% pro-life. It is a perfect opportunity to do a little educating. So pass out those questionnaires. We look forward to the time when we will have to post the questionnaires by state!
As you can see we are growing and growing. We do not intend to go away. We are a one issue group that intends to put an end to the legal recognition of the greatest moral evil mankind has ever seen. Every year millions more are put to death with the tacit approval or cooperation of our fellow citizens and the politicians they elect. This must end - and sooner not later!
Our most effective educational tool is, of course, our website. And in dollars it is relatively cheap. Our mailings, on the other hand, are very expensive. If you have not made a contribution recently, please do so. We hope, with your help, to do much more, especially in election years.