Weighing consequences (long and short)

Joe Carter puts forth his position on what he will do if Giuliani is nominated.

Anyone who thinks that Giuliani would disregard his deeply held commitment to abortion rights to placate a constituency who he despises doesn't know the former Mayor of New York. He will relish sticking it to social conservatives, a group that will have done nothing to help him get elected. He will reason that his socially liberal positions will help win over enough Democrats to help him during his reelection efforts. And besides, if conservatives were willing to compromise and vote him in as the "lesser evil" in 2008, why would they do otherwise in 2012?....

I can only speak for myself but I want to make the message clear: If Republicans choose to spurn the field of pro-life candidates, chooses to spit on the values of social conservatives, and chooses to remake the GOP into the "party of death", they will do so without me. This isn't a bluff; it's a statement of principle. I'm a pro-life conservative who will never cast a ballot for a pro-abortion liberal.

I don't agree with Carter's assessment that "there will not be a shred of difference between Clinton and Giuliani." There will be differences but are those differences, and their consequences, enough to justify the consequences of accepting and supporting a pro-choice Republican for president and the possibility of 8 years of both parties have pro-choice nominees?

Let's try to come up with list of consequences for each:

Consequences of 4 years of a Hillary presidency:
-Strong possibility of Hillary nominating two justices for the U.S. Supreme Court (assuming Stevens and Ginsburg retire)
-Immediate reversal of the Mexico City policy
-Expansion of the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
-Possible attempts to overturn the Hyde Amendment
-Complete unwillingness to sign any type of prolife legislation (ultrasound, fetal pain, etc.) which is unlikely to make it to the president's desk considering the current make up of Congress
-Willingness to sign fake human cloning ban which would explicitly allow human cloning for research and willingness to allow federal funds to be spent on embryonic stem cell research involving cells from cloned human embryos.

Consequences of 4 years of a Giuliani presidency:
-Virtual guarantee of 8 years of having a pro-choice president
-Strong possibility of Giuliani (who doesn't have the best record with judges) nominating at least one justice to the Supreme Court (to replace Stevens)
-Expansion of the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
-Giving notice that Republicans can win national elections with pro-choice candidates
-No solid guarantees on what Giuliani would do regarding the Mexico City policy and attempts to overturn the Hyde Amendment
-No solid guarantees on whether he would sign any type of prolife legislation (ultrasound, fetal pain, etc.) which is unlikely to make it to the president's desk considering the current make up of Congress
-Giuliani appears to be at least opposed to the federal funding of human cloning research

Tags: giuliani, clinton, abortion