With women voters becoming more open to supporting Mitt Romney, the Obama campaign has decided that the solution is to talk about all the job opportunities President Obama would provide women with, thanks to his plan to turn around the economy in his second term. Kidding! No, as usual, we’re back to the notion that women are single-issue voters who value nothing more than the right to have an abortion. From the transcript of the Obama campaign’s latest ad:
Anderson Cooper: “If Roe v. Wade was overturned, Congress passed a federal ban on all abortions, and it came to your desk – would you sign it? ‘Yes’, or ‘no?’”
Mitt Romney: “Let me say it: I’d be delighted to sign that bill.”
Narrator: “Banning all abortions?”
Mitt Romney: “I’d be delighted to sign that bill.”
Narrator: “Trying to mislead us? That’s wrong. But ban all abortions? Only…if you vote for him.”
The ad ends with this message: “Women need to know the real Mitt Romney.” Well, 44 percent of women are pro-life, per Gallup’s 2011 poll, so I’m not sure this will work as a negative for all of them.
So the Romney quote comes from a 2007 debate. In the full exchange, Romney says he’s willing to sign the bill, but also is dubious that the nation would be ready for such legislation, and so he favors letting the states decide if Roe v. Wade was overturned:
Cooper: If Roe v. Wade was overturned and Congress passed a federal ban on all abortions and it came to your desk, would you sign it, yes or no?
…
Romney: I agree with Senator Thompson, which is we should overturn Roe v. Wade and return these issues to the states.
I would welcome a circumstance where there was such a consensus in this country that we said, we don’t want to have abortion in this country at all, period. That would be wonderful. I’d be delighted.
Cooper: The question is: Would you sign that bill?
Romney: Let me say it. I’d be delighted to sign that bill. But that’s not where we are. That’s not where America is today. Where America is is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and return to the states that authority. But if the Congress got there, we had that kind of consensus in that country, terrific.
UPDATE: “President Obama’s campaign continues to mislead voters in a desperate attempt to distract from this President’s failed economic record,” Romney campaign spokesperson Amanda Henneberg e-mails. “Five and a half million women are struggling to find work in the Obama economy, and they are suffering from record unemployment under this president. No false, cheap political attacks from President Obama and his campaign can change the fact that women cannot afford another four years like the last four years. Mitt Romney will lead us to a real recovery so that women – and all Americans – can succeed, and he will ensure that the next four years are better than the last four.”
“This clip is a distortion,” a Romney aide adds, noting that Romney’s full quote in the debate was “I’d be delighted to sign that bill. But that’s not where we are. That’s not where America is today.”
“Their campaign is desperate,” the aide continues, “and they don’t want voters to know that Governor Romney’s position is that he is pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”