By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, August 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fox News had many American moral conservatives very pleased yesterday with a report from unnamed Republican National Committee officials that “senior McCain advisers and aides have told GOP officials that McCain ‘got the message’ last week that choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights would not be helpful.” The news came in reaction to an uproar from the Republican base after Senator John McCain floated the possibility of pro-abortion Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as a potential running mate last week.
The message from the conservative base of the Party was voiced plainly by famed radio pundit Rush Limbaugh in his signature commentary yesterday. In a blast titled, “Choose Wisely, Senator McCain”, Limbaugh pointed out that leftist pundits were promoting a pro-abortion pick for McCain knowing that it would lead to certain defeat as McCain would be abandoned by his base.
“They’re just hoping for it because they know it’s not just a few loudmouths in the base. They know the base will totally turn on McCain if this is the case,” said Limbaugh. “It’s about finding a way to persuade McCain to make a decision that will guarantee his defeat.”
Getting right to the point, Limbaugh suggested that “if the McCain camp” selects a “liberal Republican on this, particularly pro-choice . . . they will have effectively destroyed the Republican Party and pushed the conservative movement into the bleachers.”
Coming off the Saddleback debate, where it has been acknowledged that McCain trounced Obama, polls are now showing McCain in the lead. A Reuters/Zogby poll released Saturday shows McCain in a 5-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama. “McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama’s solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll,” Reuters reported today.
But that lead, suggest conservative commentators, would evaporate were a pro-abortion pick selected to run with McCain. Speculation has grown in the last 24 hours about the possibility of pro-abortion Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman as a potential McCain running mate.