Alleged Hillary Supporter in McCain Ad Mistakenly Believes He Is Pro-Choice

According to McCain's Website, He Believes Roe v. Wade 'Must Be Overturned'

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Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

This sounds like a story you might read on the spoof site, womenforjohnmccain.com, which my colleague Trish at Pensito Review wrote about earlier today, but, sadly, this is no joke. Or at least it’s not meant to be.

Yesterday, just in time for the start of the Democratic National Convention, the McCain campaign released a new ad that features Debra Bartoshevich, a nurse from Washington, who claims to be a “proud Hillary Clinton Democrat” who now plans to vote for McCain.

But at news conference in Denver arranged for the Republican National Committee, Bartoshevich revealed what appears to be a shaky grasp on her candidate’s position on an issue that is fundamental to actual Hillary Clinton supporters:

Midway through the event, Bartoschevich was asked if she was concerned about McCain’s pro-life voting record. At a podium paid for by the Republican National Committee, with McCain aide Carly Fiorina standing nearby, Bartoschevich said this, “Going back to 1999, John McCain did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle saying that overturning Roe v. Wade would not make any sense, because then women would have to have illegal abortions.”

Bartoshevich must have missed McCain’s appearance at the Saddleback megachurch a couple of weeks ago, when he said this:

“PASTOR RICK” WARREN: Let’s deal with abortion. I, as a pastor, have to deal with this all the time, every different angle, every different pain, all of the decisions and all of that. Forty million abortions since Roe v. Wade. Some people, people who believe that life begins at conception, believe that’s a holocaust for many people. What point is a baby entitled to human rights?

MCCAIN: At the moment of conception. (APPLAUSE). I have a 25- year pro-life record in the Congress, in the Senate. And as president of the United States, I will be a pro-life president. And this presidency will have pro-life policies. That’s my commitment. That’s my commitment to you.

And Bartoshevich has apparently not bothered to look up McCain’s position on abortion, which is plainly stated on his website, under the heading “Overturning Roe v. Wade”:

John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.

Or there is another possibility: Maybe Debra Bartoshevich is a Republican plant and not really a “proud Hillary Clinton Democrat” at all.

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Alleged Hillary Supporter in McCain Ad Mistakenly Believes He Is Pro-Choice

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3 Responses

  1. 1)
    MsSwin said on 8/26/2008 @ 4:56pm PT: [Permalink]

    What real Democratic woman would vote for John McCain who will do away with our long fought and hard won battle for freedom of choice in the most personal decision a woman can make?

    What real Democratic woman would vote for John McCain whose own proposal for cutting VA expenses would exclude ‘non-combat related’ benefits for any PTSD or other emotional problems suffered by the 15% of female military combat troops who have been raped.

    What real Democratic woman would allow herself to be used by the Republican party?

    Yes, it’s disappointing to some that Hillary lost. Some even feel ‘robbed’, but there is no reason to cut off our noses to spite our face or to ‘rob’ our own daughters and grand daughters of the rights that took generations of women to secure.

  2. 2)
    Linda said on 8/27/2008 @ 10:32am PT: [Permalink]

    I can vouch that there are a LOT of pro-choice women voters who are unaware of McCain’s anti-Roe v. Wade position. I ran across them evey day when I was working for the Obama campaign in the Reno area, even intelligent women who, on the surface, appear to be relatively well-informed.

    I think that, for some reason, the corporate-controlled media is mostly staying away from this topic when they report on McCain.

    When Dubya was running, there were also a LOT of pro-choice men and women who firmly believed that sock puppet would never undermine reproductive rights. Never. I can’t tell you how many conversations I had with people who accused me of being a paranoid conspiracy theorist for recognizing ahead of the pitch what Dubya was going to do with the abortion issue.

    Americans’ ignorance of the facts surrounding their ballot choices is truly astonishing. Underscores how our misperceptions are resulting in collective conclusions that end up as policy-making that does not reflect the will of the people.

    How a McCain presidency would affect the US Supreme Court should be a front-and-center news topic.

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