For someone to call Barack Obama "pro-life" seems terribly dishonest, given his 0% percent rating from every pro-life organization that has evaluated his voting record. In fact, Obama has said himself he is "pro-choice" (i.e., not pro-life) and has prioritized passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (and designation of child killing in the womb as a fundamental freedom).
There is also his record of voting against a ban on infanticide (see BornAliveTruth) for the details and his recent interview by Rick Warren in which he solidified his values and his public stand as not pro-life.
And yet, a Christian organization called Matthew 25 has created a website in which they claim (or at least strongly imply) that their candidate of choice, Barack Obama, is pro-life. Sad, very sad ...
Here's a round-up of others who are writing on this topic:
Prolifeblogs (my prior post): the Matthew 25 Network is attempting to hijack the term "pro-life" and apply a new meaning to it.
Voices Carry: Or, wait... maybe if we make a website that says Obama is "pro-life" people will forget that he supported infanticide and is actually more radically pro-abortion than anyone else in Congress.
LifeNews: A leading pro-life advocate says the new web site the Matthew 25 Network -- a Democratic activist group -- has put up claiming Barack Obama is pro-life doesn't square with the facts. Wendy Wright, the head of Concerned Women for America, says pro-life voters need to ask some serious questions in response.
Reviving Mothers: PRO LIFE OBAMA: an Oxymoron!
Choose Life: The group responsible for this heinous perversion of the truth is The Matthew 25 Network.
Jill Stanek: Think the attempt to persuade pro-lifers to vote for Obama will work?
To paraphrase Arthur Dent, "Ah! This is obviously some new usage of the word pro-life I'd previously been unaware of."
ROFL
Well I don't think Obama is or even ever pretended to be really pro-life. This is all just politics, he might just have "eased" his position, but he definitely is pro-choice.
And I damn sure hope he is, actually, and hope he'll be the next president of the USA.
I think the point that Matthew 25 is trying to make is that a VOTER can be both pro-life and pro-Obama. You are the ones who have hijacked the pro-life movement and made it all about right-wing fringe politics. I am not going to change my pro-life views for any politician. I am also not going to follow any organization that is so in the tank for the Republican party that they support politicians whose policies lead to more abortions, more poverty, more inequality, a lack of child healthcare, programs to help single mothers, and so on. Years ago, Bill Clinton showed his lack of compassion and tolerance for the pro-life movement when he refused to let the great Governor Casey speak at the DNC. This year, Senator Obama made a point of letting Senator Casey speak, as well as placing language in the Democratic agenda that is sympathetic to the pro-life position. We as pro-lifers will have a seat at the table in an Obama administration, we will have a voice. Is abortion going to be made illegal? Of course not, but that is true if McCain wins. What will be different with Obama is that there will be an environment more conducive to a pro-life message.
Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate in the history of the presidency. Casey was a gesture, his votes and actions speak volumes. I'm not sure what you mean by "environment", particularly given Obama's commitment as his "first priority" to pass FOCA. [The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is legislation Obama has co-sponsored along with 18 other senators that would annihilate every single state law limiting or regulating abortion, including the federal ban on partial birth abortion.]
There is so much more ...
Tiffany, this is remarkable. I wouldn't be surprised if the confusion you retain over what are the politics of those who spoke or didn't speak at what convention is precisely what the Democrats were counting on:
Clinton refused to let the great Governor Casey SENIOR speak at the DNC. VERY pro-life, that Casey. Very opposed to his son's politics.
Obama and the Democrats let his son speak, Bob Casey JUNIOR.
As in: the one who gets a 65% pro-abortion approval rating from NARAL ProChoice America, the major abortion lobbyist industry group.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODU2MTBmMWE3NGI0YTc2YTI4MzcwNjhhMzVhYzI0Yzc=
Casey JUNIOR votes with NARAL 2 out of every 3 times. He is clearly NOT a pro-life Democrat, despite his apparent membership in Democrats for LIfe.
"We as pro-lifers will have a seat at the table in an Obama administration, we will have a voice."
I'm sorry to say this, but you are so fooled. If you really believe that, you are swallowing the same crap that Hillary tried to sell us as soon as she started campaigning for President. I can give you the link to her quotes to prove it if you like.
Oh, the Democrats surely learned a lesson from Kerry's loss. The lesson they learned was not to really embrace prolife ideals and standards but merely to put on sheep's clothing. Read about that lesson they learned here, http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2008/10/obama_indirectl.php , and how the same person who helped Kerry (but botched that) helped many other Democratic, abortion-supporting winners in the past few years.
Nat Hentoff had a great point recently: http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74812
"During his speech at the Democratic convention, Bob Casey recalled: 'A long time ago, my father, Gov. Casey, used to say this. He said the ultimate question for those in public office is this, a very simple question – what did you do when you had the power?'
"We know what Obama did in the Illinois Legislature when he had the power to prevent the destruction of live-born babies... while in a senator in the Illinois Legislature, Obama voted several times against a bill with this language: 'A live child born as a result of an abortion (a botched abortion) shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law.'
"But Sen. Casey insists that, as president of the United States, Obama will bring us together on abortion by providing help to pregnant women."
Please, people, why won't you wake up?