Link-of-the-Day

A brief but troubling interview with the Republican nominee, posted by the Weekly Standard . “John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned,” says his campaign website , “and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.”

Apparently, he feels strongly about this. Or maybe not.

“I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party,” McCain said. “And I also feel that—and I’m not trying to equivocate here—that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don’t think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out [as a runningmate].” . . .

Of the four individuals most frequently mentioned as potential McCain runningmates—Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty—Lieberman and Ridge are pro-choice and Romney, by his own account, was pro-choice until at least November 2004. (During the primary, McCain’s campaign challenged this claim by highlighting a May 2005 press conference in which Romney said he was committed to the “status quo” on “abortion and choice.”) . . .

“I think it’s a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life, but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a—albeit strong—but just it’s a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that.”

Excluding, from membership and cooperation, people who do not share a fundamental party tenet is one thing. Excluding them from executive power and leadership is quite another. Some disagreements are too strong.