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 | A QUESTION OF TOLERANCE
AUGUST 7, 1996TRANSCRIPT |
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The 107 member GOP Platform Committee is in San Diego trying to forge a compromise on the abortion issue. Jeffrey Kaye reports from the convention center, where Bob Dole's "tolerance" language was today scratched out of the party platform.
Margaret Warner leads a discussion on the differing GOP views of the tolerance issue.
Browse NewsHour coverage of abortion politics:June 6, 1996
David Gergen and Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed talk about the abortion issue.
April 11, 1996
The aftermath of Clinton's veto of the late term abortion ban.
April 10, 1996
President Clinton's comments following his veto of the partial birth abortion bill
February 21, 1996
A panel of Republicans discuss the issues that are dividing the party.
February 9, 1996
The effect of the religious right and the abortion issue on the Iowa Caucus.
JEFFREY KAYE: Last night the 107 member Platform Committee voted to reject some two dozen amendments to the plank which seeks to have abortions outlawed. Before the debate, Delegate Olene Walker, Lt. Governor of Utah, read the section containing the anti-abortion language.
LT. GOV. OLENE WALKER, Utah Delegate: We are the party of the open door. While our party remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing its historic principles and ideals, we also recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views.
The unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment's protection apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortion.
JEFFREY KAYE: The defeated amendments asked the GOP to either drop the anti-abortion language altogether or to express tolerance for those with differing views. The word tolerance was pushed by Bob Dole but rejected by the committee. The debate was passionate but collegial.
KAY JAMES, Virginia Delegate: Mr. Chairman, I am a Republican today because of the plank that's in this platform that says we stand for and will fight for the right of unborn children to have the right to life. This is, in fact, the party that stands fundamentally for the sanctity, the value, and the dignity of human life. Having said that, Mr. Chairman, this is also the party that recognizes that there is a diversity of views on this issue.
REP. BILL McCOLLUM, Florida Delegate: We are a party of open doors. We do recognize there is a distinct difference of opinion among many Republicans, as there are among many Democrats and many independents in this country over this issue, and we are saying we are respectful of those other views but we are at the same time stating our own.
It's a very well thought out, heartily crafted provision, and I urge that we protect it, and that we do get somebody out there to recognize that this is a tolerance plank that's here.
BECKY CONSTANTINO, Wyoming Delegate: This is my third national convention. Once again, I come hoping for acceptance as a conservative, pro-choice Republican, and once again, I am saddened and disappointed.
I do not want to be 'tolerated.' I've been a loyal Republican for far too long and worked far too hard to be treated--(applause)--to be treated like a petulant, disobedient child. I believe like hundreds of thousands of others, pro-choice and pro-life Republicans, that this issue does not belong in politics. (applause)
MARY SUMO, North Carolina Delegate: I went back and looked at the 1860 Convention of the Republican Party before I came here and I looked at the resolutions that the Republican Party adopted on slavery. We took a strong moral stand on slavery. We condemned it as a moral evil. We did not include language saying tolerating slavery is a virtue.
REP. J.C. WATTS, Oklahoma Delegate: You don't have to agree with me on the life issue to be a good Republican, I don't believe that. You don't have to agree with me on the death penalty to be a good Republican. You don't have to agree with me on taxes to be a good Republican. Now, you're not a good Republican if you don't agree with me on beating Bill Clinton. (applause) Friends, it's time to go forward and beat Bill Clinton on November 5th. (applause)
JEFFREY KAYE: The spirit of unity was echoed today by House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich addressed the Platform Committee and lashed out at the news media for, in his view, overblowing the party's divisions over abortion.
REP. NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the House: We've broadened our willingness to say to all Republicans there is room for you in this party even if you have a disagreement about this particular plank, and this particular platform is the broadest bringing together of this party ever written, and we can be proud that we're spending the hours, and we're spending the time, and we're spending the passion to find a way to be both principled and inclusive, and we should smile at the press and say, yes, we know it drives you nuts but, in fact, we're getting it done, and we're going to be one unified team this fall. (applause)
JEFFREY KAYE: Gingrich's comments stood in contrast to the message delivered yesterday by Gov. Pete Wilson of California, an advocate of abortion rights. Wilson, together with Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe offered one of the defeated amendments on tolerance. Wilson came close to threatening a floor fight at next week's convention.
GOV. PETE WILSON, California: Nobody who is pro-choice is urging that we have a floor fight. To the contrary, they are urging that we avoid a floor fight. But that, unhappily, may be the only option if the Platform Committee does not seek to accommodate this view.
JEFFREY KAYE: Staging a floor fight among the nearly 2,000 delegates to the convention would not be an easy matter. Under the rules, it would be triggered if 25 percent of the Platform Committee agrees to issue a minority report. There could also be a floor debate if the majority of delegates from six states make a motion to suspend the rules and 2/3 of the convention delegates go along with that.
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