Interesting exchange from Rand Paul’s first day on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. The topic is abortion, otherwise known as the “land of gotcha.” We begin with Paul’s response to his past support for a personhood amendment:
“The thing is about abortion — and about a lot of things — is that I think people get tied up in all these details of, sort of, you’re this or this or that, or you’re hard and fast (on) one thing or the other,” Paul told Elliott. “I’ve supported both bills with and without (exceptions), you know. In general, I am pro-life. So I will support legislation that advances and shows that life is special and deserves protection.”
The Democratic National Committee pushed that interview out to reporters, with no commentary, at 1 p.m. Minutes later, Paul happened to be taking questions after his speech to hundreds of people in Milford’s town hall.
He was asked if there he would support any exceptions on abortion. Usually, this causes a fumble. Paul did something much different:
“What’s the DNC say?” asked Paul. That landed like a joke — the room holding the press conference also contained some Paul supporters waiting for photos — but he was serious.
“Here’s the deal — we always seen to have the debate waaaaay over here on what are the exact details of exemptions, or when it starts,” said Paul, waving his hands to the left. “Why don’t we ask the DNC: Is it okay to kill a 7 pound baby in the uterus? You go back and you ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz if she’s okay with killing a seven pound baby that is not born yet. Ask her when life begins, and you ask Debbie when it’s okay to protect life. When you get an answer from Debbie, get back to me.”
As Dave Weigel notes:
It was the answer social conservatives would have preferred Paul give all along. Pro-life groups, especially the Susan B. Anthony List PAC, had been working for years to get Republicans to turn abortion questions back onto the reporters asking them. Instead of accepting the media’s framing, and asking what Republicans might accept, the SBA List advised conservative candidates to focus on what abortion actually was; who the unborn actually were.
I’m not a fan of abortion politics. But I am a big fan of a politician who is able to neatly turn a reporter’s question around, especially when that reporter is really just looking for a headline. Paul did that very well here. We’ll see if the rest of the field, when it shows up, can do the same.
