Aug

31

2010

Making Excuses For Mahoney

by Steve MacDonald

The Mahoney supporters seem unwilling to answer to the charge that Sean is playing games with his principles. 

Let me break down the problem as quickly as I can.

Mr. Mahoney is on the board of a foundation that has recently (as in since 2008) given upwards of $160,000.00 dollars to pro-abortion groups and abortion advocates.  But Mr. Mahoney is pro-life.  So to address this contradiction we shouldn’t really address it at all.

My favorite excuse so far is that Sean never inhaled.  That is to say that some supporters claim he may not have known or did not approve that spending personally.  Maybe, but he never approved the spending in the GOP that drove him to abandon his position as a committeeman on principle.  Why hold the GOP leadership to one standard, and the New Hampshire Charitable foundation (NHCF) leadership to another?  And more importantly, if Sean did not know about all that abortion money, despite his position on the board, how can we in good conscience send a guy to DC to look out for us when he can’t even smell the blood in the water at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation?

The most popular (and public) response by far has been to point to a series of votes by Mr. Guinta eight years ago as a reason to ignore anything Sean may or may not be culpable for recently.  Even if we ignore the fact that this is a classic left wing dodge, there are plenty of problems with this tack. 

At its core the Mahoney supporters are saying that what has been said or done recently (or over the intervening years) cannot in any way trump actions of the past no matter what the real circumstances may have been then.  So Frank Guinta, having been endorsed by The Family Research Council Action, or having dozens of New Hampshire pro-life people as backers or county co-captains on this campaign, according to this line of thinking, can have no meaning.  So they are willing to invalidate the vetting and current opinions of pro-life and pro-family activists in New Hampshire so they can conveniently ignore a contradiction about their own candidate.

This is a fascinating choice for someone with Mr. Mahoney’s history. I suppose we could accept the terms, but from now on Sean Mahoney will have to campaign as a democrat who supports left wingers—and is still serving on a foundation that spends hundreds of thousands to support abortions with or without his knowledge, no matter who supports him today or what he says about his record now.

So all that standing in the cold, arm and arm, with pro-life supporters has now been neutralized by four donations to a Massachusetts democrat?  Have it your way.

Finally, at no point should we expect anyone to actually admit that Sean’s ardent pro-life position runs contrary the reproductive rights or social justice support by the Foundation whose board he has not abandoned as a matter of principle.  If that is equally telling, a congressman Mahoney could not possibly be held to account for much of anything done in his company, by people with whom he associates, or even in the entirety of Washington DC.

But don’t I already have someone in congress like that named Comrade Carol Seiu-Porter?

 

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by Steve MacDonald

Steve is a New Hampshire resident, blogger and activist. He is a husband, Dad, homeowner, info junkie & dog lover who works a day job, and is also starting a small business. He is a member of the Coalition of New Hampshire taxpayers, is on the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, has done political radio, and currently helps to produce GrokTALK! and GrokTV!.

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Leave a Comment

  • Ed Holdgate

    Steve, I conclude you are obsessed with the thin NHCF thread only because you like Frank Guinta. Please indulge similar consternation over the GraniteGrok’s 2008 congressional primary endorsement of wholly “pro-abortion-death-choice” Jeb Bradley.
    Or Frank Guinta’s 2008 (not that long ago!) presidential primary endorsement of pro-abortion-death-choice Rudy Guiliani.

    Additionally, with all your talent and pro-life zeal, consider writing a Pulitzer grade expose’ on the many thin threads by which everyone (and I mean everyone) in America is indirectly supporting abortion on demand. I will give you some hints. You can easily find out that most all of our health insurance companies probably cover abortion and/or abortifacient drugs. The restaurants where we eat, say Olive Garden, donate some of their profits to the likes of Planned Parenthood. The products we use, like from Johnson & Johnson, indirectly finance similarly pro-abortion initiatives and organizations. With the end of (for example) the Mexico City Policy, our tax money is heading towards euphemistically named “Family Planning.” If you have helped the Girl Scouts, you have indirectly helped pro-abortion initiatives. I could go on and on ad nauseum. America is saturated in the blood money of abortion, so there is no shortage of threads to pull on.

    I cannot reconcile Romans 3:23 with the zealous purity you are trying to use against candidate Sean Mahoney (a fellow pro-life activist like you and me) and whom I endorse despite his few shortcomings, few oversights, or few past errors. Please see the Big Picture. Let’s follow Luke 6:41-42 and remove the plank in our own eyes so we can see clearly enough to help remove the speck you insist is in Sean’s eyes.

    Peace and harmony to you,

    Ed Holdgate
    Former NH Right to Life President
    http://www.nhrtl.org/projects/2010/index.htm

  • Timothy WIlliam

    Ed you are a great Pro-Life leader not a johnny come lately! Keep up the great work for our cause!

  • Steve Mac Donald

    Fair questions Ed. So I’ll answer them. I didn’t endorse Jeb Bradley, but the Grok did. How we arrive at endorsements is neither here nor there, and Jeb is not my State Senator. But seeing as I am (by my rules) and by association complicit, I will explain; I am pro-life. But I am not a one issue conservative. If given the choice between a guaranteed pro-abortion candidate and one who I might be able to persuade or guilt-in the absence of any other option into taking a more pro-life position I am willing to accept incrementalism as an alternative to ignoring the risk of letting a pro-abortion democrat waltz into the job.
    As to my greater history on the matter of Abortion, I have been blogging daily for over two years and have written thousands of essays. (Most of them until recently at NH Insider.com) If you searched every one you would find I am against abortion. I am against paying for it against my will. I am against taxpayer dollars paying for it. And I would gladly do business elsewhere to deter my dollars being used to in any way advance abortion. (I do the best I can until I can do better.) You will also find some of that zeal you are looking for in defense of life and against abortion outside the arena of primaries and endorsement.

    Now I can’t expect you to know that. You may not have read a single thing I’ve written until the subject ‘abortion’ and ‘Mahoney’ caught your attention. So you are entitled to base your judgement on what you do know. But then so am I so we might as well deal with this…

    I have it on good authority that you rejected, ignored, avoided or skipped an open invitation to participate in an opportunity, given to everyone in the NH pro-life community to question Frank at length about his positions on life and Family to perhaps reconcile any past issues. (If that is inaccurate please correct me). But that seems to punch a few holes in your analysis of me. And it makes you seem obsessed with Franks past votes because you don’t like Frank–or because you like Sean, whichever is more accurate.

    I know for a fact that people can change their position on abortion. I was not pro life in my youth and I have to beg God’s forgiveness every day for that, but it affords me an understanding not just that it is possible but that forgiveness and salvation are the goal and must be encouraged.
    Also,Shannon McGinley (and a few others) have assured me that Frank is good 100% on these issues. I take her at her word. I have also interviewed Frank a handful of times on the radio, and in person, and I feel quite comfortable with him on these issues. So I have no incentive to change my support given this context.

    And my problems with Sean have never hinged on his position on “Life,” my major issues with Sean have to do with a series of contradictions in his history–even recent history, of which the NHCF (pro abortion) funding is but another of many; Contradictions you seem willing to dismiss as short-comings.

    So summed up, at the end of the day you would like me to give to Sean that which you would not, could not, or did not give to Frank. I’m not using that as a measure of him or you, but trust me when I say I believe I have options on the pro-life issue and all things considered, I am happy where I am.

    As to being obsessed, I’ve written of it only twice. Once to bring it up, and a second time to discuss the comments made about the first. If that is excessive Zeal then I can’t help you there. It hardly makes sense to stake out a public position and then abandon it, particularly when the opposition had been doing such a lousy job of addressing my actual complaint. (The pervasiveness of contradictions).

    So as long as the contradictions remain unresolved or my position is challenged directly, or elsewhere, I will continue to explore where I see the contradictions and conflicts and respond accordingly. And if I see an opening in shoddy logic I will explore that as well.

    Ed I appreciate your time and your effort. I’m sure we’ll continue to disagree (on things other than life)but then that is what primaries are for. If Sean wins I will support him. If not,someone else. Anyone is better than Shea-Porter.
    Best wishes and blessings.

  • John DeFoe

    Steve,
    If you want to talk about contradictions look no further to Frank and FEC-Gate. By the way, for being a person who has “written thousands of essays” I’m shocked to not even see a mention about this story at all on the Grok!
    You guys endorsed a RINO early on, and now you regret it. It’s ok !
    Better luck next time!

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