A Closer Look at Pro-Life Senator John McCain.

"John McCain boasts one of the most consistent pro-life voting records in the Senate, but he doesn't do much boasting about it." -- Newsweek, April 19, 2008

Although it seems as if the 2008 presidential campaign has gone on so long it might have begun in the last century, we are still six months out from the general election. At yet, odd as it may seem, the American people are all the better for this. How can that be?

For one thing, Mr. Smoothie, a.k.a. pro-abortion Sen. Barack Obama, no longer is the beneficiary of absolute press adulation. Although still erect, he has stumbled, bumbled, and come close to falling on his face.

We are learning that his considerable "quirks" are a designer flaw, not a bug in the system. If he goes on to defeat fellow pro-abortion celebrant Sen. Hillary Clintonby no means a sure thing at this pointthe press will return to its default position: ABRAnyone But a Republican. The "mainstream press" will operate like an echo chamber for the Abortion Establishment, which is already getting its own finely tuned propaganda engine up and running.

For another thing, that extended campaign season has also allowed for a fuller-orbed portrait of pro-life Senator John McCain to develop. Granted, there have been some areas where there has been disagreement with the Arizona senator. For example, while he opposes cloning and the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes, he has voted in favor of funding embryonic stem cell research. However, he has now said that he believes in adult stem cell research, and, in particular, skin stem cell research which may make embryonic stem cell research "academic." And we have had our disagreements over what was labeled campaign finance "reform," which a wide coalition of disparate groups, including NRLC, opposed on free speech grounds.

But it is critical that we remember all the many areas of pro-life concern where Sen. McCain has been with us 100%. Our benighted opposition surely understands the differences between Obama and Clinton, on the one hand, and McCain, on the other hand. Just check out NARAL's or Planned Parenthood's web pages.

For example, as the comparison piece on page 11 illustrates, McCain has voted to oppose Roe v. Wade, seeing it as the example par excellence of legislating from the bench. (More on this below.)