John McCain: Just Another Right-Wing Asshole

Behold my mighty neck wattle!

John McCain, the "maverick" Republican who makes his own way and values "straight talk," is now bending over backward for the All-Your-Uterus-Are-Belong-To-Us crowd.

That's right. He now thinks that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record), looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."

The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited.

Social conservatives are a critical voting bloc in the GOP presidential primaries.

McCain's campaign also announced early Sunday that he had been endorsed by former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who had been considering his own bid for the White House, and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who failed in his bid for the Republican nomination in 1996.

Keating told the crowd that McCain is the "only candidate who is a true-blue, Ronald Reagan conservative."

McCain later attended an evening rally promoting an abstinence program. He told the crowd of more than 1,000 teens and parents that young people have pressures far different from the ones he faced while growing up. "Sometimes I've made the wrong choice," McCain said.

I like that he also made time for an absitenence-only "education" rally. In for a penny, in for a pound, huh?

I wonder if anyone will accuse McCain of "flip-flopping" on this issue. I mean, he said this in 1999:

"I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary," McCain told the Chronicle in an article published Friday. "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."

Wow. What a calculating, say-anything-to-get-elected panderer! I mean, does this guy actually have any moral center, or does he focus-group every speech before he gives it?

It took me about 20 seconds and this thing the kids call "Google" to find that eight-year-old statement of McCain's. I wonder how many reporters will bother to dig it up.

Here's today's question: If McCain didn't support a repeal of Roe v. Wade "in the short term, or even the long term," then what is eight years? A medium term?

At any rate, you've got your dueling McCain quotes right there, Democrats. Oh hell, you Republican primary contenders can use 'em too. I'm feeling generous.

McCain 1999: "[I]n the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade."

McCain 2007: "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."

'Nuff said.