Barack Obama May Give Bob Casey Speaking Slot to Play Down Pro-Abortion Views
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 7, 2008
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) — Senator Barack Obama’s pro-abortion views are so extreme that he’s considering giving a prime time speaking slot to a colleague to play them down. He may bring out fellow senator Bob Casey, a pro-life Democrat from Pennsylvania, and give him a chance to win over pro-life and Catholic voters.
Obama lost the Catholic vote to Hillary Clinton during the primary election and stands to perform poorly among Catholics against McCain because he supports unlimited abortions financed with taxpayer dollars.
The Obama campaign wouldn’t confirm to the New York Times whether Casey would get a speaking slot, but Democratic Party chair Howard Dean said Obama makes the final decision.
Casey endorsed Obama during the primary and campaigned for him throughout Pennsylvania. He told the Times he believes he will get a prominent slot at the convention.
“I think we’ll get something worked out," he said.
But Leonard Leo, who directed Catholic outreach for President Bush during the 2004 campaign, told the newspaper that a Casey speech won’t alleviate pro-life voters’ concerns.
“When you look at his opposition to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in Illinois and the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, which many Mass-attending Catholics view as bans on infanticide, Obama’s more extreme than any other Democratic presidential candidate," he said.
Having Casey deliver a key speech to reach out to the majority of Americans who oppose legal abortions would be an ironic twist.
Casey’s father, the late former Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey, was denied a chance to speak at the Democratic convention in 1992 because he would not endorse Bill Clinton over his pro-abortion views.
But the younger Casey isn’t entirely like his father.
When Bob Casey defeated Rick Santorum for a Pennsylvania seat in the Senate, pro-life advocates hoped Casey would vote the same as his predecessor; but, Casey cast his first pro-abortion vote last September.
Casey voted for the Boxer amendment to a Senate bill that overturns President Bush’s Mexico City Policy protecting taxpayer from funding groups that promote or perform abortions overseas.
Casey spokesman Larry Smar tried to explain away the vote by saying the senator still opposes taxpayer funding of abortions.
Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for National Right to Life, told LifeNews.com at the time that Casey’s vote couldn’t be interpreted as anything other than pro-abortion.
"If the Boxer Amendment, which Sen. Casey regrettably supported, was enacted, it would force the removal of family planning funds from private organizations that stick to non-abortive methods, in order to give those funds to organizations that are committed to the promotion of abortion," Johnson explained.
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