Reversal: Rudy and Romney on Terri
by Ryan Sager
Tue, 10 Apr 2007 at 9:40 AM
updated Tue, 10 Apr 2007 at 9:44 AM
Here's a bit of a surprising story from LifeNews.com. Apparently, on a campaign swing through Florida, Rudy Giuliani said he supported the efforts of the Florida legislature and governor (that would be one Jeb Bush) to keep Terri Schiavo on life support.
"I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive," LifeNews.com quotes him as saying at the campaign stop.
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, said last month that he disagreed with the state's actions. "I think it's probably best to leave these kinds of matters in the hands of the courts," Mr. Romney said.
Of course, this is something of a reversal of the normal order of things. It is usually the formerly pro-choice Mr. Romney pandering aggressively to pro-life groups. Mr. Giuliani, on the other hand, has been pursuing a take-me-or-leave me approach, which has so far included reaffirming his longstanding support for taxpayer-funded abortion.
Now, there are certainly distinctions between abortion and the Schiavo incident — one's position on one hardly dictates one's position on the other. But this seems like an odd position for the former mayor to take.
It's also a bad move if it's pure pandering. It's not going to gain him an inch with pro-lifers. At the same time, the Schiavo intervention marked a low point for the Bush administration, and was tremendously unpopular with swing voters and libertarian types.
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