This is good news.

Now, let’s just hope that Senator McCain is smart enough not to blow it by choosing a proabortion running mate.

And all the people said . . . “Amen!”

(LvDonald)

An interesting take on the McCain calls re a pro-abortion running mate:

Oh, I have no doubt McCain is considering a pro-choicer, but that person isn’t Ridge. (Just a ploy to gauge activist reaction.) I think it’s actually former eBay CEO Meg Whitman , the person McCain mentioned at the Saddleback forum—in response to a question he apparently had in advance—as one of the wise persons he would consult with as president. Superstar CEO, technology/Internet leader, globalization expert, woman, a different kind of Republican, fly fisherman (!), young (just turned 52)–Margaret Cushing Whitman ticks a lot of boxes, folks. Plus, the Romney people inside the McCain campaign like her, though perhaps not as much as their old boss. But it would be a risky move for a candidate just a few points back in the polls. Yet if Obama chooses Joe Biden , as insiders expect, that would present an interesting opportunity for McCain to make a historic pick. 

So saith our fearless leader at RedState.

I hope and pray that he is right about this.

David Limbaugh says what so many of us are thinking:

We don’t need exit polling data — only the powers of observation, experience and common sense — to know that many pro-lifers are either single-issue voters or consider abortion to be by far the most important issue.

You can be sure that they won’t vote for McCain if he picks a pro-abortionist running mate. They will not have that blood on their hands; and you can bank on that.

Damn right. If McCain picks a proabort running mate, then I am done with him. The only thing worse than an Obama presidency is sending a signal to the GOP that having proabortion politicians as leaders of our party will be tolerated by the prolife community. And if it takes four years in the wilderness to teach the GOP elite this hard lesson, then so be it. They tried to screw us with Rudy, and now they’re pushing to have Ridge on the ticket.  These New York and D.C. folks need to understand that while they may run the party, we control it. And we’re perfectly willing to burn the ship on principle.

Over at the Corner at National Review Online there is this post, which is not good news

NR has learned that the McCain campaign has been calling key state GOP officials around the country the last couple of days and sounding them out about the consequences of a pro-choice VP pick. The campaign is asking about the reaction of conservative grass-roots activists to such a pick and whether a pro-choicer can be sold to them. This is an indication that the McCain campaign is serious about the possibility of a pro-choice VP nominee and that McCain leaving the door open to Tom Ridge last week may not have been merely a friendly nod to a longtime supporter. In this scenario, McCain’s emphatic pro-life statements Saturday night and his pledge that he’ll run a “pro-life administration” would have been partly an attempt to reassure conservatives in the event of a pro-choice pick. Here is NR’s take today on why going with a pro-choicer would be a mistake for McCain.

My only hope is that the fact that the calls are even being made is a recognition of the problems that this will cause and that the calls will result in Senator McCain not going down this road.

Courtesy of Media Monitoring Suite: 

REV. WARREN: let’s go into the tough ones. that was just a gimme. 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 different decisions. 40 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?
 
SEN. McCAIN: at the moment of conception. 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.

Update: Ed Morrissey rips into Obama’s non-answer to Warren’s question of when life begins.

Much is being made of Senator McCain’s comment that Tom Ridge’s proabortion views do not necessarily rule him out as a potential running mate. And in many respects, I can appreciate Policraticus’s reaction. It goes without saying that Senator McCain was not my first choice, and his pro-life record is certainly far from perfect (albeit light years ahead of Senator “Born Alive” Obama’s abysmal record on culture-of-life issues). That having been said, I have been repeatedly assured by the McCain folks that the good senator will choose a pro-life veep.

So fedster, you might ask, then why is McCain saying that Ridge’s proabortion views aren’t necessarily a disqualifier to serve as his vice president? Well, my guess is that Senator McCain is holding out this remote possibility to appeal to socially liberal Republicans and independents (i.e., throwing them a bone without actually giving them one). A politician acting political? Yes, I know. It’s quite shocking.

But hey, it’s certainly possible that Senator McCain will choose a proabort like Ridge as his running mate, and, in turn, hand the election to Senator Obama on a silver platter. If he does, then so be it. I’ll roast marshmallows while Rome burns.

Oh, and for the record, I will not support any presidential ticket that includes a candidate with proabortion views. Indeed, I will actively oppose same. My loyalty to the Republican Party has its limits. I strongly suggest that Senator McCain refrain from testing those limits any further.

There is a great article by Fred Thompson about the recent crisis in Georgia and the response of the 2 candidates for President at the Townhall website.  I love the last line:

This crisis half a world away confirms what I’ve been saying for a while: This election cycle, the traffic in the world is very heavy …and dangerous; it’s no time to give a kid with barely a learner’s permit the keys to the car.

You can view it here.

And Morning’s Minion (right on cue), explains why this ad–just like every other McCain ad–is “racist” and demonstrates that the McCain campaign is sinking even further “into depravity.”

If only Morning’s Minion got this exercised about the denial of basic medical care to children who survive abortions. Alas, we shouldn’t hold our collective breath waiting for that to happen. Consider this response by Mr. Minion when one of his own co-bloggers presents him with evidence that his dearly beloved Obamamessiah is not only a radical proabort, but a liar to boot:

The National Right to Life Committee? Give me a break. Since when did they have an ounce of credibility? I remember once seeing pro-nuclear bombing Phyllis Schlafly at one of their events. These are the people who oppose universal health insurance, on the grounds that it promotes euthanasia (huh?). These are the people who invite Karl Rove– the man who opened the doors to those who supported forced abortion and sex slavery–in Washington. So please, if you want to oppose Obama for his stance on abortion, do not shoot yourself in the foot by appealing this this bunch of horrendous hypocrites. 

But he’s not partisan, folks. No, not partisan at all.

LifeSite News has the details.

And so it begins.

It’s not pretty, folks.

Is it any wonder that Senator Obama is afraid of debating Senator McCain in a town-hall format?

(LvEE)

If only this fear were grounded in reality.

My fear is, of course, the exact opposite.

That having been said, I do believe that Senator McCain is a man of honor, and that he will do everything in his power to keep the promises he has made to conservatives about the type of men and women he will appoint to the federal bench.

Just saw this on Lucieanne.com:

Barack Obama’s campaign responded sharply to a new McCain webad depicting Obama as a parody of a biblical prophet. “It’s downright sad that on a day when we learned that 51,000 Americans lost their jobs, a candidate for the presidency is spending all of his time and the powerful platform he has on these sorts of juvenile antics,” said spokesman Hari Sevugan. (Snip) The ad, released only on the Internet, is the latest in a series mocking the Democratic nominee.

C’mon, you don’t fight humor by sounding like the Church Chat Lady or Aunt Esther. You fight humor with humor. Here are some lines that I thought of on the way home from the gym today:

(more…)

Rod Dreher has penned some good observations on the latest dust-up in the race contest for the presidency. You can read it here. I published these comments in the combox:

(more…)

A smart move, I think.

Things are finally starting to gel for Team McCain. And just in the nick of time.

My co-blogger at RedState, Dan McLaughlin (aka The Baseball Crank), emailed me the following thoughts on the righting of the U.S.S. McCain, which he has kindly agreed to allow me to publish here at SA:

Damn the torpedoes!
 
I agree that at this point, McCain’s best argument is simplicity.  If McCain talks about national security and energy 7 days a week, it becomes very hard to change the subject on him.  And that’s where McCain’s 25 years in Congress help - he can talk about just a few issues without people thinking he’s unfamiliar with the others.  He can play defense on lots of fronts, but these are Obama’s most poorly defended terrain, and that’s where our forces should swarm, overwhelm his defenses, bayonet the survivors and run up our standard over their rotting corpses.

Amen to that, brother! You could say that ten thousand times, and it still wouldn’t be enough. Shake and bake, baby!

Wow. If Minnesota really is in play, then I think Gov. Pawlenty gets the Veep nod.

I am with K-Lo: Gov. Ridge had better not be on McCain’s shortlist for VP.

He damn well better be.

Hysterical satire of the 2008 presidential race by the folks at JibJab:

(h/t RedState)

More of this, please:

“Sen Obama voted against, as a member of the Illinois state legislature, a ban on partial-birth abortion,” McCain noted, calling the procedure “one of the most odious things I’ve ever heard of.”

Courtesy of Reasoned Audacity.

David Brody (as usual) has the scoop. Here’s the gist of Burress’s endorsement of McCain:

For me this election is primarily about the next Supreme Court appointments, even though McCain is with us on many other issues as well. Watching him, looking at his broken body and thinking about the price he paid as a POW was overwhelming. When he reached to scratch his eyebrow he had to take his right hand to lift his left to do so. I understand the difference between respecting this man as a war veteran, and working for him as candidate for president of the United States.

But I must say that it is men like this that guarantee us our freedom. I also understand those who say they will not vote for him and I respect their principled position.

Yesterday, though, I saw and listened to a man who likewise is principled. John McCain, unlike most politicians, will not be bullied, threatened, paid off or pressured into changing his position. That was refreshing. I was once one of those people who said “no way” to Senator John McCain as President. No longer. The stakes are too high. And if Obama wins I need to able to get up on November 5th, look at myself in the mirror, and when I pray, say, “Lord, I did all that I could.”