Choice of Sarah Palin Prompts Praise and Protest

Choice of Sarah Palin Prompts Praise and Protest


Wednesday, September 03, 2008
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer




Republican presidential candidate John McCain after introducing his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, during a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)St. Paul (CNSNews.com) – Pro-life activists did not waver in their support of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one day after the Republican vice presidential candidate announced that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant and would have the baby.

In fact, based on the crowd’s reaction at a gathering of the Republican National Coalition for Life, the news might have helped Palin.

Twice during the gathering, anti-war protesters stormed the stage, denouncing political candidates who say they are pro-life and support the war in Iraq.

The pro-life Republican group planned to honor Palin with its 2008 “Life of the Party Award” even before GOP presidential candidate John McCain picked her as a running mate. Palin, however, canceled her scheduled speech to the group. (The McCain campaign said she was writing her speech, which she will deliver to the convention Wednesday night.)

Conservative talk radio show host Laura Ingraham drew roars from the crowd of about 700 in praising Palin, who chose to give birth to a son with Down syndrome in April.

“Sarah Palin does not just talk about life, she is a woman who lives that principle,” Ingraham said. “There is no bigger threat to elites in this country than a woman who is strong and knows her conservative credentials.”

Ingraham accused the news media, specifically MSNBC and The New York Times, of attacking Palin and her family over her daughter’s pregnancy.

Ingraham said that if a vice presidential candidate’s daughter had “made the choice to abort the baby, she would have been hailed by the same elites.”

“Why do they treat this woman like dirt?” Ingraham said. “One reason: life.”

Before Ingraham spoke, Phyllis Schlafly, president of the conservative Eagle Forum, had similar high praise for Palin.

“I am so excited about how Sarah Palin has invigorated the Republican Party,” Schlafly told the crowd. “All of the Republicans that were holding back are ready to electe McCain-Palin.”

It was after the Schlafly speech that a member of Code Pink stormed the stage, waiving a sign, shouting, “Peaceful protesters for pro-life…” until Schlafly snatched her sign and the protester was led away from the podium.

Shortly after Ingraham spoke, two other protesters rushed the stage, shouting. While they were being escorted out of the hotel, they continued to tell security officials that Iraq is an “illegal war” and “no one can be pro-life and be pro-war.”

“I am pro-life, a mother of four children, all of whom are draft age, and I want my kids and those kids and the children of Iraq to be safe,” Sue Eleuterio of Indiana, a member of Code Pink Women for Peace, told CNSNews.com.

“The people who claim to be pro-life seem to think that life ends at birth instead of continues until we pass away. I think when someone makes a choice about life in terms of contraception or abortion, it’s a personal choice. If you were a woman, you would not want someone coming to tell you what to do with your body.”

Aside from the protesters, not all Republicans at this convention support pro-life policies. A group called Republican Majority for Choice released a poll in late August showing that 80 percent of Republicans believed the platform language on abortion should be changed.

“These numbers conclusively demonstrate that a strong majority of Republicans support the ‘big tent’ philosophy and our party’s core belief in individual freedom,” said Jennifer Blei Stockman, National Chair of Republican Majority for Choice in a statement last week urging McCain to pick a pro-abortion running mate.

“Sen. McCain and the Republican Party have two major opportunities next week, with the release of the GOP platform and the announcement of our vice presidential nominee, to reach out to the broad spectrum of voters needed to deliver victory in November.”

Palin, who will accept her party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night, has an 80 percent approval rating in Alaska. She was elected after defeating incumbent Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski in a primary, and she is known as a party maverick in her state. She is the first Republican woman vice presidential candidate and only the second female vice presidential candidate in history of either party

Gary Bauer, who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2000 running on a strong pro-life platform, believes the attacks on Palin could backfire.

“Sen. McCain hit a grand slam homerun and Democrats know he hit a grand slam homerun,” Bauer told CNSNews.com. “That’s why in the last 72 hours there has been an effort to destroy her, even using Gov. Palin’s 17-year-old daughter as a club to attack Gov. Palin’s conservative Christian values.

“I commend Sen. McCain for picking her, even though he knew ahead of time about the out-of-wedlock pregnancy of her daughter,” Bauer said.