Donny's Ramblings

Charles Gibson has an exclusive interview with Sarah Palin that will be airing on 20/20 tonight. I watched part of it on Nightline ABC last night. He asks her some very tough, very important questions. I look forward to watching the full interview this evening.

Here on the West Coast it airs at 10pm on ABC.  After watching it, let me know what you think.

On a related issue, John McCain was on The View just moments ago, so I watched it and took notes. MAN! These women were very hard on him for awhile. But he handled himself very well, I must say. They asked him a direct question about Roe v. Wade and whether or not he’d work hard to overturn it. He replied that he would nominate Supreme Court Justices who would interpret the law correctly.  He went on to voice his opinion that he thinks it was a very bad decision, but that he feels there are times when abortion is to be allowed (such as rape, for instance).  But he also made it clear that the decision on whether to overturn the issue will be up to the Justices of the Supreme Court.

In other words: nothing is going to change on the issue, as 7 out of our 9 current Justices were appointed by Republican Presidents who were arguably more conservative than John McCain.  If they were going to overturn Roe v. Wade, I’d think they’d already have done so.

That aside, if he’s elected, I do believe he’ll work very hard to be the best President he possibly can be.  That statement is not to be interpreted as an indication that I’ll personally be voting for McCain, because at the moment I’m still leaning the other way.

I am, however, attempting to listen to all sides with as open a mind as possible.  I am open to changing my decision between now and November.  A few posts back I stated that I planned to change my registration from the Republican Party to simply being labeled “Independent”.  I did so.  I’ve been a Republican for 17 years, but to change that to Independent just seems like the right thing to do.

TALK RADIO

I’ve been listening to a LOT of talk radio lately, streaming it through the Internet.  I make a habit of listening to both Conservative and Liberal opinions.  It’s been a very eye opening experience.

With the 35th anniversary of Roe-v-Wade coming January 22nd, I’m bringing it up again in relationship to the coming elections. It seems that so many decide which candidate they’ll vote for based on where that candidate stands on abortion.

Since only the Supreme Court can overturn Roe-Vs-Wade I figured I’d post an article as to the makeup of the Supreme Court, then vs now.

THEN:

Chief Justice:

Warren E. Burger – Appointed by Nixon (R)

Associate Justices:

William O. Douglas – Appointed by F.D. Roosevelt (D)
William J. Brennan, Jr. – Appointed by Eisenhower (R)
Potter Stewart – Appointed by Eisenhower (R)
Byron White – Appointed by Kennedy (D)
Thurgood Marshall – Appointed by L.B. Johnson (D)
Harry Blackmun – Appointed by Nixon (R)
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. – Appointed by Nixon (R)
William Rehnquist – Appointed by Nixon / Reagan (R)

When the Supreme Court ruled FOR abortion, 6 out of the 9 Justices who made that decision were appointed by Republicans.

NOW:

Of the 9 Justices currently serving:

1 was appointed by President Ford (R),
2 were appointed by President Reagan (R),
2 were appointed by President Clinton (D),
2 were appointed by George Bush Senior (R),
2 were appointed by George Bush Junior (R).

So with 7 out of 9 current Justices appointed by Republicans I ask you, has abortion gone away? Nope.

So, kids, will voting Republican in this coming election MAKE it go away? Highly unlikely (see the two examples above).

My point: vote for a candidate based on other issues besides their views on abortion. The candidate you elect can’t/won’t do much about that issue anyway.

———-

TO RECAP:

then:
VOTED FOR ABORTION IN 1973: 6 OUT OF 9 REPUBLICAN APPOINTED JUSTICES

now:
HAVEN’T DONE A DAMN THING TO OVER RULE IT: 7 OUT OF 9 REPUBLICAN APPOINTED JUSTICES

(For the record: I hate abortion, and I’ve been a registered Republican since I was old enough to register)