How idiotic can these Trump challengers be? Don’t they get that the candidate who catches fire is one, who, well, seems more like a human being? That articulates clear policy points, that is authentic, that doesn’t seem overly calculated and consultant driven? Well, Nervous Nikki didn’t get the message. No surprise that a Morning Consult poll has her at just 3% nationally, losing traction with each poll (it also had Trump at 58% and DeSantis at 21%). And she had a bad week as she was caught inflating her fundraising numbers. She double counted a chunk of change by two million, shining light on a much less impressive fundraising haul.
Well, when addressing abortion, things went from bad to worse. On Monday she hyped up a “major policy speech”. Voters were waiting for Haley to get real, to distinguish herself from the rest of the pack. This was her moment. And abortion was the topic.
The Susan B. Anthony list hosted the shindig. They’ve been big on the pro life stance. She opened strong. “My topic today is abortion. It’s a sensitive topic that deserves our attention. It’s one that too many politicians either demagogue or hide from. I won’t demagogue or hide from it. I’m here to speak about directly and openly.”
Sounds good so far, but then get a load of this; “I won’t address every single question or angle, rather I aim to start a constructive conversation about where we go from here in our divided country.” And that’s the sentence that allows her to just totally sidestep the issue and not at all give her actual viewpoint on it.
“I am pro life, I am unapologetic about it.” She then goes on a long ramble about her husband being adopted and his entire life story. Still not addressing abortion directly, she spoke about her husband for a solid six minutes.
She almost hits some substance. “I want to save as many lives and help as many moms as possible.” But doesn’t say how she’ll do it. Instead she tells us what we already know, that the Supreme Court overturned Roe V Wade.
She said as a pro-life candidate, she will use consensus on the abortion issue when in the White House, as it had fallen by the wayside post Roe V Wade. Okay.
She then says the goal is saving as many lives as possible. But doesn’t offer any ideas as to how she’d do that. In fact, if you’re pro choice, you could argue she wants to save the lives of mothers who could die should they be required to birth their kid, or on a broader level, saving the life of a young mom who can’t afford to raise a kid. Her vague statements could be interpreted a million different ways.
You get the idea. She went on and on like this. She offered no specifics. Would she support a national abortion ban? Didn’t say. Would she support allowing abortion when the mother’s life is in jeopardy? Didn’t say. Would she support, maybe a six week abortion ban over a 2 week one? Didn’t say. Hell, she was so vague, all of her remarks could be interpreted as someone who could be completely pro choice. Here’s the full speech if you’re looking for some word salad to fall asleep to:
And most fascinatingly of all, her double microphones on her lectern looked like a coat hanger. Smart optics. A noted pro life activist, Lila Rose, told Politico, said the speech was disappointing and was not was pro life activists were looking for. Haley did this entire speech just to strengthen her support of the GOP pro-life base. She did anything but.
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