Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Sen. Sam Brownback pronounced himself “much more comfortable” with Rudy Giuliani’s position on abortion after the one-time rivals for the Republican presidential nomination discussed the issue Thursday.
Giuliani flew to Washington for a meeting he requested with Brownback in the Kansas senator’s Capitol Hill office. Brownback dropped out of the race last week, citing poor fundraising, and his former rivals have been seeking his endorsement.
The two men spoke briefly to reporters afterward.
“I’m much more comfortable,” Brownback said. “Justices are key. He’s stated publicly many times about his support for strict constructionists like, I believe he said Roberts. John Roberts is a personal friend.”
He was referring to Chief Justice John Roberts, whom President Bush nominated to the Supreme Court in 2005. Brownback said he was reassured that Giuliani would appoint Supreme Court justices who, like Roberts, take a conservative and more limited view of abortion.
Even so, it’s unlikely that an ardent abortion foe like Brownback would endorse a candidate like Giuliani, a longtime supporter of abortion rights, especially considering Brownback may run for governor of conservative Kansas in 2010.
Asked whether he could support such a candidate, Brownback said: “I don’t know that he would – I’ll let the mayor describe himself – whether he’d describe himself as a pro-choice mayor, or a pro-choice candidate.”
Giuliani, pressed on whether he would describe himself that way, said: “You know what I am.”
“I’ve described it in the past,” Giuliani said. “I’ve opposed abortion. I’d like to see a society in which there is no abortion. I think you have to get there by changing people’s minds and hearts. I’m not in favor of changing the law and the right that presently exists.
“But I do think I’m in favor of everything else that would limit the number of abortions, that would increase the number of adoptions and that would move us in the direction of many fewer abortions,” Giuliani said. “And if we could get to no abortions based on people’s decision-making, I’d be in favor of that.”
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