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April 03, 2014 01:55 PM UTC

Personhood USA Begs Gardner: "Come Back Before it's Too Late"

  • 30 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Personhood USA logo.
Personhood USA logo.

Despite his best efforts, Republican Senate candidate Cory Gardner just can't shake the Personhood issue; but it's not just Democrats who keep bringing it up. The following is an open letter, reprinted in its entirety, released via the Christian Newswire by Keith Mason of Personhood USA to Gardner, lamenting Gardner's recent reversal of support for the organization's namesake abortion ban initiatives:

Let's start by taking a deep breath–myself included. The life and death issues surrounding abortion and personhood elevate passionate responses of most Coloradans. In the midst of all the passions and political posturing ahead of the election, I want to extend my hand to Representative Cory Gardner and offer a return to the pro-life principles that many of his constituents hold so dear.

Representative Gardner, you've long said you stood in defense of unborn life from the moment of fertilization, including by co-sponsoring the federal "Life Begins at Conception Act." That act would guarantee the rights and protections of personhood for all unborn children, just like the personhood bills here in the state of Colorado.

Tarnishing that pro-life record by repudiating personhood now makes you untrustworthy–the worst kind of politician. I don't want to think the worst of you, but it's hard not to draw the conclusion that you jettisoned your core principles in a transparently desperate attempt to win a few extra votes. But Cory, this move isn't winning over any Democrats or Independents, it's just alienating to your base. [Pols emphasis]

This type of action prevents me and tens of thousands of Colorado voters from ever voting for you again, or voting for what you represent to us, because we're bound by conscience and completely sick and tired of politics-as-usual. We're weary of candidates who base their positions on polls rather than principles.

But Cory, it's not too late. Retract the false statement, instigated by Planned Parenthood and NARAL, that a personhood bill could ban contraception, when in fact it could not. Of course this is just a talking point, a scare tactic.

Mason's open letter continues after the jump.

Return to the legacy of President Ronald Reagan, who counseled in his 1988 Personhood Proclamation, that "the well-being and the future of our country, demand that protection of the innocents must be guaranteed and that the personhood of the unborn be declared and defended throughout our land."

Return to the Republican Party's pro-personhood platform, which reads, "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children."

By showing humility–that virtue so rare among politicians, yet indispensable to statesmanship–and admitting your brief reversal against personhood was profoundly misguided, you would demonstrate yourself worthy of our support. We would welcome you back to the fold with open arms.

Don't solidify your position within that pantheon of politicians who sold their souls for seats at the table. How can we trust that you will follow your campaign promises and count on you to help put an end to Obamacare when you are already changing your stance on key issues? We are seeking a principled, pro-life leader in the U.S. Senate. Please return to the values that got you into office, and to the values held by the Republican party, before it's too late.

As much as Republicans supporting Gardner would like for the entire issue of abortion to go away until November, it may well be that Gardner's flip-flop on Personhood guarantees he'll never be able to live it down. That's one of the reasons his decision to flip on the issue was so questionable: as Keith Mason says, Gardner isn't winning any support from Democrats or independents from his flip-flop, and he's alienated a significant portion of his Republican base. Gardner's decision to drop Personhood late on a Friday afternoon creates an appearance not of principle, but cowardice. It puts Gardner in a position where, regardless of how a voter may feel about the divisive issue of abortion, they can't trust Gardner either way.

For these reasons, we agree, as strange as that may sound, with Personhood USA: "repudiating personhood now makes [Gardner]…the worst kind of politician."

Comments

30 thoughts on “Personhood USA Begs Gardner: “Come Back Before it’s Too Late”

  1. Dear Keith Mason,

    As a pro-life Republican who supported and signed the Personhood petition three times, I call on Personhood USA to shut your fool mouths! Mark Udall is a pro-abortionist Democrat through and through. Everyone knows that despite what Gardner may have said about Personhood, he is still pro-life. Gardner made a wise decision to take this gotcha attack away from opponents, and Personhood USA is playing right into Democrats' hands. WHY DO YOU THINK COLORADO POLS, THE STATE'S LEADING DEMOCRAT BLOG, WOULD PRINT YOUR WHOLE LETTER if it doesn't help Democrats?

    I beg you, Personhood USA, please smarten up before it's too late. Get out of Cory's way so he can beat Udall. Don't help your enemies out of spite. This election is far too important to all of us.

    Sincerely,

    A conservative pro-life Republican and Personhood supporter

    1. Translation:

      Dear Keith Mason,

      We're out here attempting to perpetrate a massive, transparently false con job on an unprecendented scale, lying shameless to low information voters and other assorted easy marks in an attempt to appear to be all things to all people, and your constant pissing and moaning from the peanut gallery is not helping us manage this cheap ruse one little bit.

      Could you please STFU until the we've fleeced and conned as many simpletons and dunderheads as possible into thinking we're "moderates," as we've done in so many other parts of the country, so that we can then go back to genuflecting before you and carrying out your will in direct violation of the wishes of the majority of Colorado voters once the fools have bought our swill and put us in office?

      Amorally,

      An extremist right-wing, anti-choice hypocrite who believes lying is OK as long as it suits his narrow-minded purposes and achieves his duplicitous ends, and who doesn't give a flying f–k about anything Jesus ever taught.

       

        1. Not at all.

          I believe this is the same problem Democrats have with advocates for "single payer" health care reform. You want restrctive government run health care, but you can't quite bring yourselves to embrace full socialized medicine. As a result, the single payer people are pariahs in the Democrat Party.

          I am pro-life. So is Keith Mason. So is Cory Gardner. It's time to focus on what brings us together instead of playing the Democrat division game.

          That is the whole purpose of my message for Keith Mason, and I hope he heard me.

          1. Not at all.

            Single payer is less than 10 years away. But……..it will require getting the House back, no doubt. 

            The loon position on women's health is going to be the loon position for the duration. It will never be mainstream, will never be less than extreme and slimy.

            But that's another topic for another thread.

            What we're talking about here is simple intellectual dishonesty on the part of the gardneerian strain of the republican disease. gardner is either lying now re: his stance on the kooky eggster grift, or he was lying when he just had to throw the rotten meat out to the weld county loons.

            You have admitted you're fine with him lying as long as it gets him somewhere. It makes you a liar as well.

             

          2. Mod – as illustrated by the picture quoting the nun on the meaning of "pro-life" Michael Bowman has posted elsewhere, you hardly have the right to call yourself "pro-life". 

            Pro-forced-birth, for sure.  Nothing else as far as you have presented on this forum.

            Lie, cheat, steal, make up stuff and define words to mean whatever you want.  Just typical Repuglican crap.

    2. Alternate Translation:

      Dear Keith Mason,

      FOR GOD'S SAKE SHUT UP BEFORE REASONABLE PEOPLE FIGURE OUT HOW CRAZY WE ARE!! WE'LL NEVER WIN ANOTHER ELECTION IF OUR CANDIDATES HAVE TO ADMIT WHAT THEY REALLY BELIEVE!!!!

      Hypocritically,

      Guy who's willing to deny his own beliefs if he thinks it'll get a Republican elected.

      P.S. This is important. Sacrifices have to be made.

      We can always make more fetuses to "protect". 

    3. Moderatus, I enjoyed this way too much. Please give us more posts like these. I'm trying to help in the Cory Gardner fake-to-the-center cause, too…I've enlisted the Queer Borg to help him evolve on gay marriage. Gay people are already secretly working on his campaign, so the infiltration was quite easy.

       

  2. "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children." 

    This is actually a huge, huge thing for some in the Personhood movement.  Some prominent people, including Ken Buck, have said that they believe in a "right to life" provision (i.e. the 14th Amd.) that authorizes abortion to be prohibitted federally in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned. 

    1. @EF

      However, what I hear on talk radio and what was the position of chaput was that Roe should be overturned and the issue returned to the individual states and each state would decide what to decide about abortion.  

    2. It's a shame you "right to life" zealots aren't concerned about the future of children once they're born into this world.

      The callous position the right takes on a person outside the womb really undermines your bullshit holier than thou anti choice "concern" for the unborn.

      As well as the fact it's none of your business what a woman decides concerning her individual health.

      You "individual rights" loons never remember that.

       

  3. Here are some indisputable facts:

    1. Personhood USA has tried to advance their legislation in dozens of states and has never successfully implemented their legislation. It has failed everywhere it has been tried.  It failed in their home state twice by a nearly 3-1 margin.  It failed in Mississippi, which is reputed to be the most pro-life state in the nation.  It failed in North Dakota in 3 subsequent legislative sessions.  It failed in Oklahoma when a very pro-life House Speaker refused to bring the bill to the floor.  And the story goes on and on in many other states. 
    2. The reason that their legislation has failed everywhere it has been tried is because reasonable and well-informed pro-life people understand that the votes are not there at the present time on the SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade. 
    3. Personhood USA never attacks pro-choice candidates.  That is a strange strategy.  Instead, they attack pro-life candidates who have the backbone to oppose their foolhardy strategy to mount a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade at a time when the votes are indisputably not there on the SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade. 
    4. The political strategy that is being deployed by Personhood USA calls into question who is really supporting them.  If you are pro-choice and want to see a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade at a time when it is doomed to failure, Personhood USA has the perfect plan for you.  If you are pro-choice, by all means, you should send them your money!  They are working for you.  
    5.  Personhood USA has been heavily fined by the Colorado Secretary of State for repeated violations of Colorado law.  What do they have to hide?  Why are they not complying with the law?

    Read here:  http://operationrescue.org/pdfs/Bopp%20Memo%20re%20State%20HLA.pdf
    Here are the qualifications of the author:  James Bopp, Jr. has served as the general counsel for National Right to Life since 1978 and as the special counsel for Focus on the Family since 2004.  
    Read here:  http://www.thecatholicthing.org/content/view/2860/2/

    Personhood USA has caused enormous damage to, and discord in, the pro-life movement to prevent abortion.  They have convinced some good-hearted, well-intentioned pro-life peope that they have the silver bullet to overturn Roe v. Wade.  They don't.  Read the memo from James Bopp, Jr. linked above.  If you are pro-life, it ought to scare you.  The strategy being advanced by Personhood USA has the potential to end in a SCOTUS ruling that could forever cement, and worse yet, significantly expand, abortion rights and render the Roe v. Wade ruling irreversible.  Congressman Gardner is to be commended for having the backbone to stand up and oppose a group that is preying on the hearts and the pocketbooks of good-hearted people who oppose the horror of abortion.  Congressman Gardner is deserving of support from the pro-life community.      

    1. One more indisputable fact. Personhood gets defeated by huge margins even in red states like Mississippi because the overwhelming majority don't support it. Period. It doesn't lose 2 and 3 to one because anti-choicers are cleverly withholding support, 

      The overwhelming majority of Americans simply do not support a blanket ban on abortion with no exceptions. Nor do they support investigations of miscarriages as possible murders or the result of criminal negligence on the mother's part or the banning of all forms of birth control that could possibly interfere with the implantation of a fertilized egg or the end of fertility clinics, all of which would be the natural result of declaring a fertilized egg a person with full rights.

      Also I've never met an anti-choicer who was any more or pro-life than average.  It's not as if they're all death penalty opposing, anti-war, anti-torture, vegetarians or anything.

      1. Bluecat, correct as usual.  Truthlike: Nice attempt to insinuate that "Personhood" must not be really pro-life , but some vague, probably pro-choice  (the horror!) conspiracy.

         Colorado voters always reject Personhood because Colorado voters have sense. Gardner's sudden acquisition of this sense, and support for contraception, is suspect in its timing. 

        Who controls the propaganda which the "pro-birth" true believers receive? It will be entertaining to watch the messaging war play out, twisting into logic knots as Truthlike has tried to do above. 

        1. mamajama55:
          First paragraph:  How else to do you explain their modus operandi?  The best and most reliable pro-life constitutional scholars in the country are issuing stern warnings to the pro-life community that it would be foolhardy to try a direct challenge of Roe v. Wade under the current court.  So why is PUSA hellbent on doing it anway?  And, why does PUSA never go on the attack against pro-choice candidates?  It makes no sense. 

          Third paragraph:  Who controls the propaganda?  PUSA does in part, but thankfully, most of the pro-life community understands their agenda is inadvisable at this time.  "It will be entertaining to watch the messaging war play out….."  If by that you are referring to this blog and you were predicting a huge debate, there doesn't seem to be one, at least for now, in response to the last three comments.  If you are surprised at that, I am as well. There is an old saying in talk radio.  "The phone rings when people disagree with you.  If they agree, the phones are silent."  

          1. We explain it via rational analysis, something with which the tinfoil hat crowd is completely unfamaliar.Please see my comment for the explanation you seek.

            1. BlueCat:  "Please see my comment for the explanation you seek."  With all due respect sir or madam, I already know the explanation.  The old saying commonly used by lawyers and politicians applies here: "Don't ask a question unless you already know the answer."  The questions I was asking were posed in the hopes that mamajama would ponder and answer them.  

              Please see my comment for the explanation you seek. – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/56385/personhood-usa-begs-gardner-come-back-before-its-too-late#comment-545449

              Please see my comment for the explanation you seek. – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/56385/personhood-usa-begs-gardner-come-back-before-its-too-late#comment-545449

              1. Oh, I pondered it, all right. I'm trying to write a diary on today's immigration rallies, so a thoughtful reply to your bizarre supposition that pro-choice activists are somehow responsible for Gardner's "personhood" quandary will have to wait.

                1. You are completely misunderstanding what I said.  I am in no way suggesting that Gardner's change in his position on personhood has anything whatsoever to do with pro-choice activists.  The congressman is perfectly capable of explaining the reasons for his decision.  My comments are directed at the nationwide tactics of PUSA.  Gardner is just one of many pro-life elected officials who have been targeted for defeat by PUSA.  My question for you to ponder is, why don't they target pro-choice candidates if they truly are pro-life?  

                  1. Probably the same reason ideological purists always target each other – it's easier to hit those standing nearby.

                    I say, turn the fans on high, and let the shit fly. Cory Gardner is essentially an oil and gas man , who has demonstrated little or no care for the well-being of  his constituents, including actual, breathing kids.

                    Por ejemplo, Gardner's  voting record shows:

                    • He sponsored the "Life at Conception" Act. He worked to change the federal definition of rape to be "forcible rape". 
                    • He does weigh in occasionally on abortion, birth and children’s issues – For example, in June last year, he voted for HR1797,  essentially an abortion ban bill, and AGAINST HR176, which would have restored 20 billion in funding for SNAP benefits to  feed those hungry children, whom he wanted so badly to be born.

                    You can probably tell I don't respect Cory Gardner at all, and could really care less if Personhood is out to get him. More power to them, say I.

    2. There is a simpler explanation that has nothing to do with politics or policy:

      It drains money and effort from the pro-choice movement.  Rather than building free STD clinics or hiring sex-ed counsellors, Planned Parenthood, et al are raising money ad nauseum to fight this crap, rseulting in empty pockets and donor fatigue.

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