Walsh Really Pro-Life

They're telling lies about my friend Joe Walsh, whom I've endorsed for Congress in the Illinois 8th District. They're saying he's not pro-life. As evidence, they're citing his position when he first ran for office thirteen years ago!

Well, back in 1990, I was pro-choice, too. Read this blog and tell me I'm not pro-life now.

Converts to the pro-life cause are desperately needed, and should be welcomed for their conversion, not punished.

I have no doubt that Joe Walsh is pro-life; there's just no faking the passion that Joe brings to this campaign and these issues.

This video is from my friend Michael Brown; you've probably seen some of his other work without knowing it.



from Joe Walsh:

You may have heard some rumor and innuendo over the past few days, written and spoken, trying to distort my position on the life issue. I would like to set the record straight.

For seven years, I have been pro-life without exception. I believe in the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. There is no candidate in this race who is more pro-life than I am.

I grew up pro-life in a conservative Catholic family of nine children in North Barrington. When I first got involved in politics and policy as an adult in my 20s and early 30s, my beliefs on certain issues were different than they are today and in many ways I was a different person than I am today. In 1996, I ran for the United States Congress and in 1998 I ran for the Illinois State House. At the time, I ran as a pro-choice Republican with support for all the reasonable restrictions -- waiting period, parental notification, and ban on partial birth abortions. My position at the time was due to my antipathy toward government intrusion and involvement in both economic and private affairs and reflected my staunch limited-government views.

I began a five-year religious, intellectual, and scientific journey on the life issue after my race in 1998. It was an incredibly deep, long, personal journey of the heart which returned me to my pro-life roots. From that moment in 2003, when I knew in my head and my heart that life began at conception, the pro-life position without exception was where I wanted to be. It was where I had to be.

My conversion took place almost seven years ago.

It came to our attention a week or so ago that there was a whisper campaign going on regarding my political views on life back in 1996 and 1998. Only two days ago, we discovered that someone or some group -- either one of my Republican opponents or a pro-choice/Democrat organization -- sent out a mailing from a fictitious pro-life group with copies of articles from 1996 highlighting my past pro-choice views.

Setting the record straight, because my pro-life conversion took place so many years ago, I did not at all think that the views I held 14 years ago would be relevant in this race. Well, I should have known better and should have been better prepared for such a mean-spirited attack. Since entering this race, I've spoken in front of a number of different groups. I did not typically go into the history of my conversion to a pro-life position when speaking with these groups. I simply talked about where I am on the life issue now and where I’ve been for the past seven years.

Once again, I should have known better. I've discussed the story of my journey in numerous individual conversations since entering the race, and I actually find it to be the most rewarding thing I discuss. But as I stand before the voters of the eighth district today as an unabashed pro-life candidate in this race, I want to be completely candid about my position and the evolution in my mind and my heart that brought me here.

It's become clear from the voter response in the primary so far that I will be a strong general election candidate against Melissa Bean. That’s because it is clear that my passionate message of taking back our country is striking a chord among voters. We’ve certainly made clear as well that I would be a forceful, ardent candidate on life issues during the general election and that it is important that we have a candidate who can win with a pro-family agenda. Apparently, these facts don’t sit well with some.

Somebody doesn't want me to win this primary. They sent out a mailing using the name of a fictitious pro-life group with no return address to mischaracterize my positions and implicate the pro-life movement in this trick. It is tactics like these that keep many good people out of politics.

I've been clear from the start that I won't be at all like a typical politician which is why I want to set the record straight. I'm going to say what I mean and mean what I say and not worry about the political consequences. It's why I publicly criticize Republicans and Democrats alike for increasing the size of government. And it’s why I have not at all been bashful in my public speaking that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life regardless of how that life was begun. I will win or lose standing by this position.

The pro-life movement is about changing minds. They have been spectacularly successful in changing mine. But I have always been a believer in the "inalienable rights" that the founding fathers applied to human beings. The most important of these inalienable rights is the right to life. I believe that life begins at the moment of conception and my belief is based on personal and religious belief, and on the basis of scientific fact. I wish that I had always held these beliefs but I am grateful that I have fully embraced this fundamental issue.

It seems to me that whether it was one of my opponents (Republican or Democrat), whether it was some pro-choice interest group, or whether it was just a random hater behind this mailing, it’s clear that someone doesn't want there to be a strong pro-life candidate taking the fight to Melissa Bean next year.

Well, I'm not going to stop fighting.