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Politics : THE WHITE HOUSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (5660)	6/15/2007 3:36:49 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

CORRECTED: Romney pledges loyalty to anti-abortion agenda By Carey Gillam KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, sought to solidify support among social conservatives on Friday, pledging to work against abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research if he is elected. "You can be sure that I'll be bringing ... my veto pen with me to Washington," Romney told hundreds of anti-abortion activists attending the National Right to Life convention in Kansas City. Flanked by American flags and red, white and blue balloons, Romney got a standing ovation as he told the crowd their work had helped convert him to their cause. "I proudly follow a long line of converts," Romney said. "When I first ran for office, while I was always personally opposed to abortion ... I concluded that I would support the law ... the pro-choice position. I was wrong." Romney, the top Republican fund-raiser in the first quarter of 2007, has been accused of adopting the anti-abortion stance as a matter of political convenience. Campaign aides to Republican rival John McCain (news, bio, voting record) this week released a video of a May 2005 news conference where then-Gov. Romney said he was "absolutely committed" to maintaining Massachusetts's abortion rights laws. On Friday, he said the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion "continues to work its destructive logic throughout our society. This cannot continue." Romney insisted he had a "common dedication" to work with anti-abortion activists on a range of issues, including embryonic stem cell research, another issue where Romney has been accused of expressing conflicting views. "What some see as just a clump of cells is actually a human life," he told the crowd. He also called for passage of a federal marriage amendment that would block same-sex marriages, and criticized judges that he said have "taken it upon themselves to be the final arbiters of our lives." Ronda Putman, a California mother who traveled to the convention because she considers "issues of life" more important to the country than the war in Iraq, said she was unimpressed with Romney. "Mitt Romney can stand up there and say everything he thinks we want to hear, but I don't think he is sincere," said Putman, who said she has not yet decided who to back among the presidential contenders. Romney was followed to the podium by Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), a favored son of U.S. conservatives but considered a longshot for the Republican presidential nomination. Brownback was cheered wildly by the crowd, which ranged from infants to the elderly, as he largely focused his remarks on his devotion to "life, whole life" and pledged to work to overturn Roe V. Wade. "We are winning the fight for life. We are going to win the fight for life," Brownback said.