The recent Wisconsin primary was a serious setback for the front-runners of both parties. Donald Trumps momentum toward the 1237 delegates needed for the Republican nomination was slowed by Ted Cruzs victory and Hillary Clinton lost yet again to Bernie Sanders whos won seven of the last eight contests.
Trumps loss is particularly striking because Wisconsin includes many of the white working-class voters who have flocked to him in earlier contests. But his inability to speak coherently or authoritatively on issues outside of his supposed areas of expertisethe economy and the Great Wall of Trumpmay finally be catching up to him.
Trumps infamous statements about abortion last week--when he told Chris Mathews that women who had abortions should be punished--are the most glaring examples of his shallow understanding of policy. To say that this is going rogue from the Pro-Life position would be an understatement so his campaign team quickly clarified that the candidate believes doctors who perform abortions should be punished. But by the end of the week Trump was saying that the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way"an effectively pro-choice position.
Not even Trump seems to know what he thinks about abortion so its no wonder that evangelical Christians seem to have grown disillusioned with his candidacy.CNNs exit polling from Wisconsin shows that that Cruz won 55 of this important demographic and Trump just 34. Thats a marked change since Februarys South Carolina primary when Trump won 33 of voters identifying as evangelical or born-again to Cruzs 27.
Meanwhile in the days before losing her own Wisconsin primary battle Clinton also caused controversy with remarks about abortion. When Chuck Todd asked whether or when an unborn child has constitutional rights" Clinton explained that under our laws currently that is not something that exists. The unborn person doesnt have constitutional rights."
Give Clinton credit for being right about this much: current law does not acknowledge the rights of the unborn which is why Trumps claim that he wouldnt change the laws should worry any of his remaining pro-life supporters. But Clinton unwittingly expressed a pro-life premise: abortion terminates an unborn person." Not a fetus. Not a clump of cells. An unborn person.
The same pro-choice groups that were up-in-arms over Trumps comments earlier in the week were suddenly attacking the presumptive Democratic nominee. A Planned Parenthood executive in Illinois criticized the candidate for further stigmatizing abortion."
No wonder Hillary lies so oftenwhen she tells the truth her own supporters turn on her.
The response to her accidental honesty makes clear that contrary to stereotypes the Democratic position on abortion is the extreme one. This is a conclusion confirmed by a recent poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and conducted by the widely respected Marist College (which conducts the NBC/Wall Street Journal and McClatchy surveys) about Americans attitudes toward abortion which found that 81 of Americans believe there should be significant restrictions and safeguards associated with the procedure including limits to within the first three months of pregnancy." Remarkably even two-thirds of pro-choice respondents agreed that in the first three months of a pregnancy abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape incest or to save the life of the mother or never permitted." Finally the poll found that 68 of Americans including 69 of women and 51 of pro-choice supporters oppose the use of public funds for abortion services."
Yet Democrats stand firm in their support for public-funding of Planned Parenthood which has performed 651652 abortions over the past two years and which harvests and traffics organs of its unborn victims. Democrats resist restrictions of even late-term abortions. And if a Democratic candidate says anythingor a Doritos commercial makes a jokethat implies the personhood of an unborn child Planned Parenthood calls them back into line.
Ultimately theres an important difference between what Trump and Clinton said about abortion. Trump showed his ignorance by endorsing a policy that pro-life leaders have never supported; Clinton said something most Americans believe but which the pro-choice absolutists of the Democratic party will never acknowledge.
Now you tell me who the extremists are.
Ken Blackwell a contributing editor at Townhall.com is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and the American Civil Rights Union and is on the board of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He is the co-author of the bestseller The Blueprint: Obamas Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency on sale in bookstores everywhere..
The recent Wisconsin primary was a serious setback for the front-runners of both parties. Donald Trumps momentum toward the 1237 delegates needed for the Republican nomination was slowed by Ted Cruzs victory and Hillary Clinton lost yet again to Bernie Sanders whos won seven of the last eight contests.
Trumps loss is particularly striking because Wisconsin includes many of the white working-class voters who have flocked to him in earlier contests. But his inability to speak coherently or authoritatively on issues outside of his supposed areas of expertisethe economy and the Great Wall of Trumpmay finally be catching up to him.
Trumps infamous statements about abortion last week--when he told Chris Mathews that women who had abortions should be punished--are the most glaring examples of his shallow understanding of policy. To say that this is going rogue from the Pro-Life position would be an understatement so his campaign team quickly clarified that the candidate believes doctors who perform abortions should be punished. But by the end of the week Trump was saying that the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way"an effectively pro-choice position.
Not even Trump seems to know what he thinks about abortion so its no wonder that evangelical Christians seem to have grown disillusioned with his candidacy.CNNs exit polling from Wisconsin shows that that Cruz won 55 of this important demographic and Trump just 34. Thats a marked change since Februarys South Carolina primary when Trump won 33 of voters identifying as evangelical or born-again to Cruzs 27.
Meanwhile in the days before losing her own Wisconsin primary battle Clinton also caused controversy with remarks about abortion. When Chuck Todd asked whether or when an unborn child has constitutional rights" Clinton explained that under our laws currently that is not something that exists. The unborn person doesnt have constitutional rights."
Give Clinton credit for being right about this much: current law does not acknowledge the rights of the unborn which is why Trumps claim that he wouldnt change the laws should worry any of his remaining pro-life supporters. But Clinton unwittingly expressed a pro-life premise: abortion terminates an unborn person." Not a fetus. Not a clump of cells. An unborn person.
The same pro-choice groups that were up-in-arms over Trumps comments earlier in the week were suddenly attacking the presumptive Democratic nominee. A Planned Parenthood executive in Illinois criticized the candidate for further stigmatizing abortion."
No wonder Hillary lies so oftenwhen she tells the truth her own supporters turn on her.
The response to her accidental honesty makes clear that contrary to stereotypes the Democratic position on abortion is the extreme one. This is a conclusion confirmed by a recent poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and conducted by the widely respected Marist College (which conducts the NBC/Wall Street Journal and McClatchy surveys) about Americans attitudes toward abortion which found that 81 of Americans believe there should be significant restrictions and safeguards associated with the procedure including limits to within the first three months of pregnancy." Remarkably even two-thirds of pro-choice respondents agreed that in the first three months of a pregnancy abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape incest or to save the life of the mother or never permitted." Finally the poll found that 68 of Americans including 69 of women and 51 of pro-choice supporters oppose the use of public funds for abortion services."
Yet Democrats stand firm in their support for public-funding of Planned Parenthood which has performed 651652 abortions over the past two years and which harvests and traffics organs of its unborn victims. Democrats resist restrictions of even late-term abortions. And if a Democratic candidate says anythingor a Doritos commercial makes a jokethat implies the personhood of an unborn child Planned Parenthood calls them back into line.
Ultimately theres an important difference between what Trump and Clinton said about abortion. Trump showed his ignorance by endorsing a policy that pro-life leaders have never supported; Clinton said something most Americans believe but which the pro-choice absolutists of the Democratic party will never acknowledge.
Now you tell me who the extremists are.
Ken Blackwell a contributing editor at Townhall.com is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and the American Civil Rights Union and is on the board of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He is the co-author of the bestseller The Blueprint: Obamas Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency on sale in bookstores everywhere..
