Monday, December 8, 2008
"The only thing I am certain of is that I am anti-abortion"
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 6:13 PM
So says Anh "Joseph" Cao, the newly elected Representative for Louisiana's Second District, in an interview with the Associated Press:
The first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress doesn't have a long list of policy beliefs. Aside from one major issue, Republican moderate Joe Cao says he's open on everything else."The only thing I am certain of is that I am anti-abortion," Cao said Sunday morning after defeating Democratic U.S. Rep. William Jefferson in a race that marked a major shift in New Orleans politics by ending a 30-year stand for Jefferson, dogged by corruption allegations.
During the campaign, there wasn't a word about abortion on Cao's Web site, nor did it even place on the candidate's "action agenda," which focused on promoting economic development, preserving the Louisiana wetlands, and reducing wasteful spending. Cao did, however, make his position on social issues more clear to writer Deal W. Hudson in an interview with the Web site Inside Catholic:
Few candidates for public office are as forthright as Cao when asked about their position on abortion. “I am very anti-abortion,” he told me without hesitation. Cao would like to overturn Roe, but in the meantime, “We have to find a way to defeat Roe without having to overturn it.”
And Human Events reports:
Cao also described himself as “strongly pro-life” and volunteered that “I don’t agree with any exceptions [to the right to life].”
Which makes Adam Nossiter's profile of Cao in Sunday's New York Times seem a bit strange:
He is only a recent convert to the Republican Party, having been a registered independent for most of his adult life, and has no position — at least not one he cares to share yet — on President-elect Barack Obama’s agenda. His politics seem less a matter of ideology than of low-key temperament and a Jesuit-inspired desire to “help and serve people,” as he put it....“I don’t want to conform to any ideology, to be put into a little corner,” Mr. Cao said....
Besides, he said, “I truly espouse Aristotle’s definition of virtue: To walk in the middle line.”
On this one issue, Cao's middle line squares exactly with that of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who told The Times-Picayune in 2003 that "I am 100 percent anti-abortion with no exceptions. I believe all life is precious" -- and not with the GOP's other rising star, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who seems willing to make an exception when the life of a woman is at risk: "I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor's determination that the mother's life would end if the pregnancy continued."
Comments (12)
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This also puts Cao pretty squarely in line with our Democratic ex-governor: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/us/07abort.html Backwards views on social issues are by no means exclusive to the right in Louisiana. Frankly, I've given up trying to base many votes on a candidate's social agenda.
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Yeah, well he's a devout catholic, what did you guys think? Still though, he seems to have many virtues including being hard-working, a nice guy, and not Bill Jefferson.
He could have been a toaster oven & would have garnered that sort of vote total because his name isn't Bill Jefferson. Now people find out about the toaster oven they just bought.
During the Presidential election much was made by the right as to the mystery of Barack Obama. In this case I think it is a viable question. If the only thing he is sure of is that he wants to control reproductive right then we have just elected a place holder.
"Cao also described himself as “strongly pro-life” and volunteered that “I don’t agree with any exceptions [to the right to life].”" I am glad I voted Rahim. No abortions no exceptions people disgust me.
Frolic: "This also puts Cao pretty squarely in line with our Democratic ex-governor:" Blanco supported exceptions for the life of the woman and for cases of rape.
Hmm, the goo-goos told us that Cao was a man of principle. Instead he's a tabula rasa; just what we needed.
Daniel Z: Good point, although the article says she signed a bill that only allowed for exception when the life of the mother was threatened. But still, if the range of option is no exception on the right and exception only for life of mother on the left--well, that's a pretty narrow range of options we have here in Louisiana, isn't it? Just curious, did Gambit ask Gao about his views on abortion?
Frolic wrote: "Just curious, did Gambit ask Gao about his views on abortion?" Yes; he was not as forthcoming with us as he has been with other media: "But in our conversation with Cao, he was too nuanced. On topics such as embryonic stem-cell research, he preferred to treat controversial social issues like abstract philosophical questions."
Interesting. I guess that editorial didn't raise any red flags, because it doesn't strike me as that odd that a philosopher would treat stem-cell research as a philosophical question. It is pretty abstract, isn't? As far as I know (and correct me if I'm wrong), it's a promising field that hasn't produced any concrete benefits. I wonder if he also opposes the death penalty. At least that would be principled.
Actually Frolic, there have been interesting breakthroughs -- not in embryonic stems cell research, but adult stem cell research -- and some of them have occurred in your own backyard http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A39694
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