After the AP tried to nail Rand Paul on his abortion stance Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee seized upon the exchange in an attempt to fabricate an issue. When the press dutifully followed the DNC's lead at a presser in New Hampshire later that day, Paul was more than prepared for the gotcha question.
Here's the exchange (beginning around the 8' mark):
PAUL STEINHAUSER: Senator, the DNC’s picking up on your comments that you made to AP this morning on abortion. I just wanted to know where you stand on exceptions, should there be any exceptions for abortions?
PAUL: (shrugs) What’s the DNC say? (room laughs) Here’s the question. You know, we always seem to have the debate way over here on what are the exact details of exceptions or when it starts. Why don’t we ask the DNC is it okay to kill a 7-pound baby in the uterus? You go back and you ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz if she’s okay with killing a 7-pound baby that is just not yet born yet. Ask her when life begins and you ask Debbie when she’s willing to protect life. When you get an answer from Debbie, come back to me.
In a HotAir piece on Rand's remarks Wednesday, Allahpundit pointed out that the "vast majority, maybe a unanimous majority at this point" of Democratic leaders support abortion without any restriction, as the DNC made clear Wednesday:
All of the key Democratic leaders hold this extremist position. A recent YouGov poll shows that Democrats are once again on the wrong side of the issue, with only 20% of Americans believing abortion should be legal without restrictions, while a majority (56%) say it should not be legal on request. The same poll also found that 52% of Americans believe life starts at conception:
Most Americans (52%) believe that life starts at conception. A further 20% believe that life begins when a fetus is able to survive outside of the womb, while 18% think that it only begins at the moment of birth. Attitudes towards when, exactly, life begins differ greatly according to age. While 63% of over-65s and 61% of people aged 45 to 64 believe that life begins at conception, only 36% of under-30s agree with them. Just under half of under-30s either believe that life begins when a fetus can survive (25%) or at birth (22%).
Asked broadly about abortion rights, 56% of Americans think that abortion should not be legal on request, with 17% saying that it should never be allowed and 39% saying that it should only be allowed in certain special cases. 16% support abortion until the first trimester, while 9% support it until the point of survivability. 20% believe that abortion should always be legal.
As poll after poll shows, the extreme stances of Democrats on social issues often clash dramatically with the American public's beliefs. For this reason, as Allahpundit argues, Paul's response should be the model for GOP candidates when asked gotcha social issue questions:
Paul’s response should be a stock answer for any GOP candidate who gets a question on a third-rail social issue going forward: We’ll weigh in just as soon as Hillary Clinton does. Want to know what Marco Rubio thinks about abortion exceptions? No problem — just as soon as Hillary tells us when life begins. Want to hear Ted Cruz’s take on gay marriage? He’d be happy to provide it — just as soon as Hillary answers a simple question about how many genders she thinks there are. The wedge question should cut both ways this campaign, whether the media likes it or not.
