Ron Paul writes the Pope

So today I wrote the Ron Paul campaign, because he is the Republican who most interests me. He's a states rights guy with a Libertarian background who is interested in some of the same issues I am (one of the major ones is Eminent Domain, I find the recent Supreme Court's decisions on it terrifying - also he is interested in privacy rights and was against the Iraq War from the get-go). Click here for the "issues" page on his website. My biggest issue is I didn't know where he stood on abortion and gay marriage. Well within 2 hours his campaign had written me back with the answers. I thought I would share it with you all.

Sir,

Thanks for your interest in my campaign!

As an OBGYN, I delivered over 4,000 babies, and I cherish the sanctity of life. A society's worth can be measured by how well it treats the dignity of human life. The right to life of an unborn child is consistent with American ideals of liberty. My record on abortion speaks to my commitment to pro-life principles.

In Congress, I voted to ban partial-birth abortion, and pro-abortion NARAL gave me a 0% rating. I also authored legislation, HR 1094, that seeks to define life as beginning at conception. Equally important to me is defending federalism. Abortion is a state issue, as there is no explicit mentioning of it in the Constitution. This is why I support overturning Roe v. Wade, which improperly gave the federal government oversight powers with regard to abortion. As dictated by the Constitution, the states should be free to set their own abortion policies without federal interference.

It is important that we as a society protect innocent human life, but if we undermine the federalist principles on which this nation was built, we threaten the very system built to safeguard life. I will always work to protect the liberty of every human life, but it is important to balance pro-life values within our system of federalism, which delegates very few specific responsibilities to the federal government, abortion not among them.

On marriage issues, I opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment even though I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. My opposition stemed from the fact that, again, the federal government should not be interfereing with the marriage licensing policies of the states.

Thanks for contacting us,
Ron Paul 2008 PCC

Even though we don't see eye-to-eye on these issues, I still think he is the best of the Republican pool.

I used to like McCain best back in 2000. He seemed to stand for integrity and "straight-talk". But over the last 8 years, he's buddied up with the christian right and his continued support of the War in Iraq doesn't speak well for him either.

All things considered, I believe I am supposed to like Rudy Giuliani. Hmmm... I just can't. He seems fake in some way. He's just riding 9/11 to the nomination. I just have not been impressed by him so far at all.