Abortion: Warren's question was: At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?
McCain's Answer: At the moment of conception. I have a 25-year Pro-life record in the Congress and 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.
Keep that in mind as you read the rest.....
Yesterday The Politico announced an exclusive about how John McCain would be announcing his VP choice on his birthday, which we discussed here, and they floated the names of the choices.
Choices: Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Tom Ridge and Joseph I. Lieberman.
Today we see The Corner report which states that John McCain's 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."
This is where the Mind Games come in.
Lieberman has given up quite a bit to back John McCain and that type of loyalty doesn't come often but given McCain's clear and concise answer to the question of abortion in his interview with warren at the Saddleback Church, I do not think that McCain who has worked hard to unite his base, would choose Lieberman as VP.
He can show Lieberman the same type of loyalty by putting him in the administration or giving him a key cabinet position.
Floating a pro-choice candidate idea is nothing more than a mind game if McCain meant what he said in his interview, float it, then listen to the collective sigh of relief when he picks someone more in line with the conservative base, thereby uniting the remaining part of the party behind him by election day.
Face it, those "feeler" calls would not have went out if it wasn't expected and dare I say, desired, that word would spread and news would leak.
McCain has been in the game long enough to know that if not The Corner, then some other outlet would make it clear that he was putting out "feelers" about a pro-choice candidate.
The obvious choice here should be between Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, Romney more recent in pro-life stance, but with Romney comes a good shot at taking Michigan in the November elections.
Tim Pawlenty, on the other hand has had his name floated about for a while now, but many simply do not recognize him or his name as visibly as Romney because of the primaries between him and McCain.
If McCain is smart, he will keep the speculation alive until he announces, keep hardcore conservatives on the edge of their seat, then he will choose Mitt Romney, knowing full well that the collective sigh of relief over his not choosing Lieberman or Ridge, will overtake the concerns of those not 100 percent in favor of Romney.
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