The Myth of the "Moderate Maverick"

NARAL Pro-Choice America won’t let McCain benefit

from misperception that moderate means pro-choice

Washington, DC – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, vowed today that her organization will not let stand the misperception that Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner for president, represents the moderate wing of his party.

Keenan said ongoing attacks on McCain from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other far-right radio personalities could give some voters, particularly pro-choice Independent and Republican women, the impression that he is not extreme in his opposition to a woman’s right to choose.

"John McCain has a 25-year record of voting against women’s freedom and privacy, and he has even gone so far as to call for the overturn of Roe v. Wade," Keenan said. "Despite McCain’s documented record of hostility toward a woman’s right to choose, the intense criticism he’s getting from Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing talking heads is fueling the myth that McCain is a ‘moderate maverick.’ When it comes to choice, McCain is neither a moderate nor a maverick. He’s just plain wrong. As we move toward the general election, NARAL Pro-Choice America will make sure that voters, especially pro-choice Independent and Republican women, know the truth about Sen. McCain."

One day after McCain’s victories in primaries and caucuses across the country, NARAL Pro-Choice America released an extensive summary of McCain’s voting record. The summary includes McCain’s votes against birth control, measures that would protect women and doctors from violence at health clinics, and funding for teen-pregnancy-prevention programs.

Please visit this section of NARAL Pro-Choice America's web site, http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/mccain.html, where you will find, among other things, a 14-page summary of McCain's anti-choice record, from 1983 to now.