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Carson Comes Under Fire for Past Research on Aborted Fetuses

Dr. Ben Carson (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Dr. Ben Carson, in response to the first of many videos aiming to reveal Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal tissue, told Fox’s Megyn Kelly a few weeks ago that “there’s nothing that can’t be done without fetal tissue.” Now, Dr. Carson is under fire for research that he performed in 1992 on the tissue of two aborted fetuses, one terminated after only 9 weeks in the womb and the other after 17 weeks.

Medical research using fetal tissue harvested from abortions and funding for the nationwide abortion provider Planned Parenthood have recently become polarizing issues in the 2016 Republican primary, amidst a slew of videos alleging that Planned Parenthood has profited from the sale of fetal tissue. Dr. Carson has been at the forefront of the denouncement of Planned Parenthood. Concerning his views on life inside the womb, Carson has stated:

I spent my entire career as a pediatric neurosurgeon, frequently staying up all night, fighting, struggling to save the lives of little babies, even operating on babies inside the womb. So I don’t think it should be hard for anybody to understand that I am totally opposed to killing babies.

When confronted with the allegations, Carson defended his actions, calling the media frenzy “’desperate’ and ignorant of the way medical research was carried out”. “You have to look at the intent,” Carson said while campaigning in New Hampshire. “To willfully ignore evidence that you have for some ideological reason is wrong.  Continue Reading

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Top Three Reasons Foster Friess is Doubling Down on Rick Santorum

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Prolific political contributor Foster Friess will once again throw his support behind Rick Santorum’s bid for the Republican Presidential Nomination. When asked by Fox Business Network’s Cheryl Casone why he continues to support a candidate whose poll numbers currently stand near 2 percent, Friess replied with three important reasons that he believes make Santorum the best candidate for the GOP’s 2016 nomination:

1) Santorum’s understanding of the global jihad movement: “Rick Santorum is probably the only one of the 17 candidates on those stages on the cover of an ISIS magazine calling him ‘the enemy.’ The number one issue facing our country, I think he understands more than anyone.”

2) His connection with the middle class: “He is very plugged into the needs of the 74% of Americans who never graduated college. These are the core of our country and Santorum is championing their cause.” Friess also cited Santorum’s work with the welfare reform act, which “which required work requirements and also required a time limit at the time.”

3) His steadfast beliefs: “I think what the American people are craving for is authenticity. The difference between a politician and a leader is a politician puts his finger in the wind and says ‘what do my constituents want,’ and then takes them there. A leader is a person who can take people where they need to be, but don’t want to be. I believe Rick has demonstrated that. He sticks to his principles; he doesn’t waffle because it’s not politically unpopular. Continue Reading

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Perry’s Campaign Running on Empty

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (photo credit: iprimages via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign team in South Carolina is no longer being paid by his presidential campaign, according to a recent report by National Journal.

Perry, whose performance in this past week’s “happy hour” debate failed to excite prospective voters, raised only $1.1 million between April and June this year and seems to be feeling the effects of faltering contributions. As a source close to the Perry campaign told CBS News, “Jeff Miller, Perry’s national campaign manager, told campaign staff on Friday that the only expenses moving forward would be for travel.”

Many Perry supporters remain hopeful, however. Jeff Miller states: “As the campaign moves along, tough decisions have to be made in respect to both monetary- and time-related resources. Gov. Perry remains committed to competing in the early states and will continue to have a strong presence in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The governor is looking forward to his trips to South Carolina this Thursday and Iowa next week.” As Katon Dawson, Perry’s South Carolina sate director, told National Journal, “Pay is only one reason people do this. We’ll be able to live off the land for a while.”

While this ideal may seem romantic, and although Rick Santorum was able to secure the Iowa caucus last election despite lackluster funding, “Miller has given staffers the green light to look for jobs elsewhere.”

Nick Leaver works for American Principles in Action. Continue Reading

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Fiorina: Planned Parenthood Is Not About Women’s Health (VIDEO)

In a recent appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Carly Fiorina commented on the misuse of terminology that currently clouds the conflict over social issues that exists between conservatives and liberals:

DICKERSON: Let me ask you about something you said in your closing statement. You said that the Republican Party needed to nominate somebody who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring.

A lot of people assumed you were talking about Jeb Bush. Were you?

FIORINA: You know, I think it’s very frustrating to me and other conservatives when we have people on our side who play by the Democrats’ songbook.

So, for example, the Democrats have been trying to paint Republicans as waging a war on women for a long time. I spent last year, for example, raising money and helping great candidates like Cory Gardner and Joni Ernst push back against that war on women mythology. And so I think when Democrats say the Planned Parenthood videos have something to do with women’s health, when, demonstrably, they have nothing to do with women’s health — they have to do with the harvesting of human organs from what a Planned Parenthood employee called a baby — we shouldn’t be talking about women’s health.

Indeed, the conservative “war on women” is a myth.

Nick Leaver works for American Principles in Action. Continue Reading

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Rubio Talks Immigration, But Not Marriage or FADA, in Iowa

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

This past Saturday, Senator Marco Rubio spoke at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, where he began by explaining how he believes the United States should be handling the issue of immigration. With regards to border security, E-Verify, and those who overstay their work visas, Rubio’s comments largely reflect APIA’s 5-Point Conservative Immigration Plan:

There are two steps. The first is we have to secure our borders. And our border is not just our border with Mexico. We also have to secure our airports and seaports. 40% of people in this country illegally, come legally. We have no idea who they are, because we only log you in. We don’t log you out. . . And the other thing we need is an electronic verification system, E-Verify, for employers. We have to create a system where employers can reliably be expected and demanded to check and ensure that the people they are hiring are not illegally here.

When asked what to do concerning the 11 million immigrants already in the country, Sen. Rubio responded that a discussion couldn’t begin until we “secure the border” and “modernize immigration”:

Every year the United States permanently admits one million people, on the basis that they have a relative living here. It cannot be on the basis of a relative. It has to be on the basis of what you can contribute to the country. Are you coming to be an American or are you coming to live in America?

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Cruz: Defends Life, Fails to Defend FADA

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

This past Saturday, at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, Texas Senator Ted Cruz firmly spoke out against Planned Parenthood, over recent allegations that the organization profits from the sale of tissue taken from aborted fetuses:

The video that surfaced in the past week…was gruesome and disgusting, and every American should watch that video and simply say: ‘Are those my values?’

Cruz continued:

The U.S. Department of Justice should open an investigation and prosecute Planned Parenthood. Local prosecutors should investigate Planned Parenthood affiliates in their jurisdictions, and Congress should hold hearings, and we should cut off every penny of taxpayer funds.

When asked about the recent Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, Cruz responded:

The Supreme Court’s decision on marriage was naked judicial activism, lawless, and fundamentally illegitimate. It was sad to see…more than a few 2016 candidates publicly saying, ‘it’s the law of the land, settled, surrender and move on. There is something profoundly wrong when Republicans running for President are reading from Barack Obama’s talking points. I have been proud to defend traditional marriage my entire life.

Turning to religious liberty, Cruz affirmed his view that the 2016 election will be a key event in the fight for religious liberty:

Next up in the crosshairs is religious liberty. I’ve spent three decades fighting to defend religious liberty. I will never shy away from defending the religious liberty of every American.

Like many other conservatives, however, Ted Cruz is defending religious liberty in principle, but not saying what he would do that would make a difference. Continue Reading

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Santorum Needs a New Immigration Plan

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Byron York, in an interview with Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum at this past weekend’s Western Conservative Summit, asked, “In your view, should immigration be kept at its present level, increased, or decreased?” Santorum, citing an immigration rate of “1,050,000” per year, the “highest it has ever been in our country’s history,” vehemently denounced the visa lottery and chain immigration.  Santorum went on to assert “that we have an increasing supply of workers coming from overseas, and yet we do not have an expanding market of unskilled jobs to be able to bridge the gap.”

Santorum believes that we ought to reduce levels of immigration, whether it be legal or otherwise, and in doing so ignores the fact that people come here for jobs and that many would do so legally if given the opportunity.  Simply put, Santorum’s plan perpetuates the issue that plagues the current system: immigrants have no real pathway to the status of legal worker and thus are incentivized both to enter the country illegally and to remain here illegally.

The fact is that American markets require overseas workers in the extreme poles of the labor market: high-tech jobs that require advanced degrees on one end and labor-intensive manual jobs on the other.  In refusing to accept the fact that workers will come to the United States, whether we allow their entry or not, and will benefit American firms, Santorum has constructed a plan that is neither bi-partisan nor altogether coherent.   Continue Reading