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NRL News Voices from NRLC 2008 NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz According to conventional wisdom, elections are always about the voters’ pocketbooks. That, of course doesn’t exclude the other, actual issues from being of much greater consequence. Yes, oil prices are high; but oil prices come and go. And taxes go up and down. But this election is foremost about the United States Supreme Court. Whoever wins the presidential election will determine the character of the Court for decades, yes decades! Should the next president make bad decisions about economic policy, the voters will ultimately express their displeasure, and the policies will change accordingly. Mistakes in appointing Supreme Court justices are a different matter altogether. It can take decades to correct such mistakes, as we all found out. That is why we still have to work in the pro-life vineyard, 35 years after Roe and Doe. Former Senator Fred Thompson I don’t know how to put it any plainer: If Senator Obama is elected, he will, through Supreme Court and federal court nominations, cause this trend to accelerate. And that will bring about harmful changes in this country that no one in this room will want to see and no one in this room will live long enough to see rectified. During his brief time in the U.S. Senate, the senator strongly opposed the nomination of Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. And without a doubt—despite what he may say—he would continue to follow the agenda of those who have enabled his meteoric rise: MoveOn.org, the NEA, NARAL, and the remnants of the 1960s radical left that failed then, but sees the opportunity for one last gasp. From President George W. Bush’s video message Our nation’s Declaration of Independence promises that all people have an unalienable right to life. It states that this right comes from our creator. And that government exists to secure the rights of its citizens. For the past eight years my administration has proudly stood with you to ensure that our nation lives up to this noble promise. ... For eight years we have stood together to defend the principle that every human life has value. I thank all of you for your support, and I join you in looking forward to the day when every child is welcomed in life, and protected in law. Former Bush White House Senior Advisor Karl Rove Now this is a man [Sen. Barack Obama] who stands up and says he is going to bring Republicans and Democrats together, conservatives and liberals together, to achieve great things for the country. If you want to bring the nation together, how can you claim to do that, if you are at the same time supporting the indefensible practice of using taxpayers’ dollars to fund abortion? You can’t! You can not square that circle. You can not do that and live up to the promise that you made to bring the country together. ... If we believe in a culture of life ... we must use the power that we have as individuals, with people who depend on us for advice and counsel, to make the quiet and persuasive case that every child ought to be welcomed in life and protected in law. Thank you for all that you do for our cause. May God bless the United States of America. Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell It is the solemn duty of us in elected office to protect those enumerated, fundamental rights [found in the Declaration of Independence] that pre-existed our entry into society, but that—as Jefferson noted—government is designed to protect. And first and foremost among those is the right to life. Jefferson didn’t parse words and say that was only for people that are born. He said that this is a right that we all have as a God-given right. From Senator John McCain’s video message It was no accident that [the Founding Fathers] cited life as the first and most basic right. For without recognition of the right to life, we are not guaranteed any other rights. Sometimes all wisdom asks of us is that we recognize common sense. But sometimes wisdom, as to all other virtues, requires courage. Wisdom suggests that we should be willing to give an unborn child the same chance that our parents gave us. But it takes courage in this political climate to insist on the protection of unborn children, who can’t vote, have no voice, and can’t reward you with support and donations. Wisdom suggests that when federal judges impose their social views on the citizens of every state, the result is going to distort our politics in harmful ways. But it takes courage to insist that the courts have to return to their proper role. Congressman Chris Smith Unborn children, like their older brothers and sisters, have inherent worth, value, and dignity. They are children too. They are not disposable commodities, nor are they junk. American jurisprudence—and public officials in all three branches of our government—too often treat them that way. In like manner we need to more effectively help and protect expectant mothers—all mothers—many of whom are under enormous pressure to abort. Our love for them must be sacrificial and real. They too need advocates. We have a responsibility to help meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs—via pregnancy care centers, for example. In opposing abortion, we must also be radically pro-woman. NRL Federal Legislative Director Douglas Johnson Obama is advocating a policy, the predictable and inevitable result of which would be many more abortions. I’m talking about at least many tens of thousands more a year, probably ultimately even hundreds of thousands of additional abortions per year. [Under Obama’s health care proposals] laws requiring waiting periods, laws requiring that women be allowed to view their ultrasounds—all of these things would be deemed to be state restrictions on a federally guaranteed benefit and would be struck down by the federal courts and deemed inconsistent with federal statute and regulation. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief, First Things We contend, and we contend relentlessly, for the dignity of the human person, of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, destined from eternity for eternity—every human person, no matter how weak or how strong, no matter how young or how old, no matter how productive or how burdensome, no matter how welcome or how inconvenient. Nobody is a nobody; nobody is unwanted. All are wanted by God, and therefore to be respected, protected, and cherished by us. |