Mitch Daniels Names Pro-Abortion Condi Rice as Potential VP

Politics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 13, 2011   |   6:00PM   |   Washington, DC

Just when it appears Mitch Daniels found a way to make up with pro-life voters after his “truce” talk on abortion by signing a bill to ban Planned Parenthood funding, the Indiana governor has done it again.

Following the major speech by his wife last night before hundreds of cheering Hoosiers, Governor Daniels talked with reporters and answered a variety of questions. He later accepted an invitation from dozens of college students to head down the street and share a drink. The students asked him who he might choose as a potential Vice-Presidential running mate and Daniels named former national security advisor to President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice.

Although her foreign policy views and expertise on defense and terrorism are unquestioned, she has upset pro-life voters with her views favoring legalized abortion.

John McCormack, a writer at the conservative Weekly Standard, picked up on the Daniels name dropping of Rice as his possible running mate.

“It’s far from a formal pronouncement, but that statement isn’t going to help Daniels allay the concerns that social conservatives … have about him,” he wrote. “Condoleezza Rice thinks that abortion should generally be legal, and a pro-choice vice president is a non-starter for many socially conservative Republicans.”

Rice has said that abortion should be “as rare a circumstance as possible,” but added that government should not interfere, according to a Washington Times interview.

“We should not have the federal government in a position where it is forcing its views on one side or the other,” she has said. “So, for instance, I’ve tended to agree with those who do not favor federal funding for abortion, because I believe that those who hold a strong moral view on the other side should not be forced to fund it.”

But she called pro-life people, “the other side,” and explained how she has a “mildly pro-choice” view that makes her essentially one who is “in effect kind of libertarian on this issue”

“I have been concerned about a government role,” she told the Times, “I am a strong proponent of parental notification. I am a strong proponent of a ban on late-term abortion. These are all things that I think unite people and I think that that’s where we should be. We ought to have a culture that says, ‘Who wants to have an abortion? Who wants to see a daughter or a friend or a sibling go through something like that?’”

Rob Wasinger, the former campaign manager for 2008 Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback, also noticed the Rice mention.

“I was concerned when I heard that he wanted to call a “truce” on our issues,” he said in an email to LifeNews.com. “What is more disturbing though, is that far from calling a “truce” on our issues, Daniels wants to hand a victory to those who are openly hostile to the life movement by naming a pro-abortion running mate.”

“The next Republican nominee needs to be someone who can not only talk the talk, but walk the walk — Daniels can’t do either,” he said.

UPDATE:  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council criticized Daniels in an email to LifeNews: “I’ve been asked a lot about the chances of Gov. Mitch “Truce” Daniels in 2012. On the heels of signing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, Daniels managed to poke pro-lifers in the eye again when he answered a question about a possible running mate with Condoleezza Rice. Although she has stellar credentials on national defense, the former Secretary of State has long held pro-abortion views, which makes her a non-starter with social conservatives. It is ironic, however, that Governor Daniels seeks a truce with liberals while he attacks the sensibilities of pro-family conservatives within his own party.”