Wednesday, October 03, 2012
A new video has surfaced and The Brody File has the exclusive. It shows Barack Obama talking about how the human fetus is a “potential life.” (As opposed to an actual life.)
He also goes on to say that the viability of that “potential life” is a “moving target.” He made these comments in 2004 at a small business event in Springfield, Ill.
Watch below along with a partial transcription.
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Here is a partial transcript from the three-minute clip:
BARACK OBAMA: My basic view is that abortion is an extraordinarily difficult moral issue. As a Christian, I think that a fetus is not just a collection of cells. It is a potential life. And I think that after viability it is legitimate for the state to prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is an exception for the mother’s life and health. Prior to viability, the problem is that this potential life is inside someone else’s body. It’s inside a woman’s body. And I don’t feel that it is appropriate for me to simply dictate to that person, to that woman what she should do with her body.
First of all, calling a fetus a “potential life” rather than an “actual life” could pose some problems for him with those socially conservative Reagan Democrat type voters who may now be reminded of Obama’s radical views on abortion, which simply do not comport with that crowd. It’s the type of remark that not only could turn these important swing voters away from Obama but toward Romney.
Remember, these Reagan Democrats might agree with Obama to a certain extent on his solutions for the economy so the Romney campaign may need to look to the cultural issues to motivate them in a different direction. That’s why remarks like this can be detrimental to Obama.
Second of all, in the video Obama says how “a fetus is not just a collection of cells.” Well, if that’s the case, then it raises the question of why Barack Obama would come out AGAINST the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that upheld partial birth abortion. If you think there is some “potential life” growing inside a woman, then wouldn’t you be against partial birth abortion?
The question is will Mitt Romney’s campaign see this as an opening or stay away from a hot button social issue like this? They could make some serious political hay with it especially in their attempt to motivate the “Cling to guns and religion” crowd (remember that line from Obama in 2008?) in key battleground states.
As Mitt Romney gets ready to take the stage in Denver tonight for his first presidential debate with President Obama, every pundit under the sun is chock full of advice. But here are the only lines of analysis he needs to read: To win the evening and change the trajectory of the race, Romney MUST be aggressive and knock the president down a peg or two.
For the last four years, the base has been clamoring for someone to stand up to Obama and FORCEFULLY (not passively and tactical) call him out on all his false promises and hypocrisy. They want him exposed but they don’t want Romney to do it in a clinical, methodical way. They want him to point out the facts with gusto, passion. In short, they want him to be something he’s not: a flamethrower.
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The mainstream media pundits will probably say the exact opposite. They will argue that Independents will be turned off if Romney trots out too much red meat for the base. I wholeheartedly disagree. Let’s remember that this is a “base election.” In other words, Romney needs the base to show up in droves. He can’t just have a normal regular base turnout. That’s not going to do it. Not against a very competent Obama campaign.
Therefore, he needs what I am now calling a “Doritos Moment.” He needs a moment tonight that will energize people who might otherwise sit on the sidelines and not vote but instead will hear Mitt Romney tonight, put down the Doritos chips, get off the couch and actually vote on Election Day.
You have to remember that there are millions of voters within the ‘conservative base” who might not like President Obama’s policies but just don’t show up to vote. You need to get them off the couch.
The danger for Romney will be that he might listen too much to mainstream media pundits. He may think he needs to be so calm and presidential sounding so as not to turn off more moderate Independent voters who are thinking of voting for him but I think that would be a mistake. His goal tonight is to increase base turnout rather than play to the middle.
Guess what? There are folks who are in the middle (Reagan Democrats) who are none too happy with President Obama’s policies, too. If Romney brings up cultural issues that will play well with that crowd. If he does all that, we will see a fired up Romney rather than a safe, boring one.
Remember, there is a great passion out there in conservative circles to replace this president. Romney has to match that passion to not just get the normal folks in the base out to the polls (that’s already a done deal) but rather expand the base.
Doritos anyone?