Brief frame from The NYTimes:
Republican candidates, facing a stark reality check from Kansas voters, are softening their once-uncompromising stands against abortion as they move toward the general election, recognizing that strict bans are unpopular and that the issue may be a major driver in the fall campaigns.
In swing states and even conservative corners of the country, several Republicans have shifted their talk on abortion bans, newly emphasizing support for exceptions. Some have noticeably stopped discussing details at all. Pitched battles in Republican-dominated state legislatures have broken out now that the Supreme Court has made what has long been a theoretical argument a reality.
In Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, the Republicans’ ardently anti-abortion candidate for governor, has lately taken to saying “the people of Pennsylvania” will “decide what abortion looks like” in the state, not the governor.
Look! State Senator (and now GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano is in the third paragraph!
If you search for the quotation, you'll land here at the Philadelphia Inquirer:
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor who this spring called abortion his “No. 1 issue,” seemingly tempered his tone in a pair of interviews this week, saying governors can’t dictate abortion policy.
Mastriano, in interviews with Fox News and a local radio station, quoted the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and said, “The authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
“The people of Pennsylvania, you decide what abortion looks like,” Mastriano said in a Monday interview on 1210 WPHT-AM. “You decide on exceptions. You decide on how early. And that’s in the hands of the people. That’s a fact. That’s not a dodge. That’s exactly how it works.”
This is something of a SOP:
Once they are elected the party nominee, the candidate mellows their stance. So in the general election, the campaigns trackback to the middle. This is to draw in the casual and swing voters who would not support any candidate who is highly partisan.
And there's no one more highly partisan than our pal Doug, the forced birther.
So let's remind casual or swing voters exactly what Doug Mastriano said about a woman's right to choose:
He opens with:
There is no greater issue in our generation than a right to life.
And a few moments later he says:
You know “my body my choice” is ridiculous nonsense.
And then later:
So it all begins with preserving life and I will do everything in my power here to protect babies so that everyone can live their lives as they see fit and not be struck down by somebody's random decision.
So let's not kid ourselves about Doug Mastriano on choice.
We'll be revisiting this video again soon.
