PALIN FLASHBACK: GOP leaders assert anti-abortion stance

Excellent article by Thomas B. Langhorne at Evansville Courier & Press about Governor Palin’s speech at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet:

GOP leaders assert anti-abortion stance

Palin and Steele speak at Right to Life banquet

• By Thomas B. Langhorne
• Evansville Courier & Press
• Posted April 17, 2009 at 12:38 a.m.

She teared up over her baby son who was born with Down syndrome and spoke openly of her teenage daughter’s pregnancy. She poked fun at herself for her occasional verbal missteps during the 2008 presidential campaign.

And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrapped it all around an unequivocal anti-abortion message at Thursday night’s Vanderburgh County Right to Life Spring Banquet at The Centre, attended by an overflow crowd nearly 3,000 people.

Recalling the birth of her son, Trig, when she was 44, Palin mused it would have been very easy to obtain an abortion

“I had to ask myself, ‘Was I going to walk the walk or was I just going to talk the talk?'” she recalled.

Palin said she found out she was pregnant with Trig while out of state at an oil and gas conference.

“I knew, ‘Nobody knows me here. Nobody would ever know,'” she said. “It is easy to think maybe of trying to change the circumstances.

“… I clung to a faith that taught me that we could meet the challenges, that we won’t be given anything that we can’t handle and really, at times, that faith was all that I had.”

But when Trig was born, Palin said, “I felt a love that I had never felt before and compassion that I didn’t even know. Trig is a miracle, and he has brought amazing and surprising happiness.”

During a 34-minute speech frequently punctuated with applause and laughter, Palin also made jokes about the whirlwind of her life in 2008.

“I borrowed some clothes,” she said. “… Had a couple of sit-down interviews, and, oh, those went real well.”

Palin described the day her then-17-year-old daughter, Bristol, came to her with the difficult news she was unexpectedly pregnant.

“It seemed less than ideal; it seemed surreal,” Palin said. “But I got to hold on to my faith, my belief that everything has purpose.”

Rollicking banquet

The annual Right to Life banquet, billed as the nation’s largest such event, rollicked through nearly three hours of music, testimonials and exhortations to action before Palin spoke.

Keynote speaker Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, came to Evansville in the wake of Catholic Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger’s decision not to attend because of remarks Steele made to GQ magazine.

In an interview published in the magazine’s March issue, Steele was quoted as saying that women should have the right to choose abortion.

Steele went on to say that Roe v. Wade “was a wrongly decided matter,” and that individual states should have the choice whether to overturn the ruling.

Steele reassures audience

On Thursday night, Steele took pains to assure the sold-out banquet crowd of 2,180 and almost 800 more watching a satellite feed in The Centre’s auditorium of his anti-abortion bonafides. “Our nation’s founders proclaimed the first of our inalienable rights to be the right to life,” Steele said. “… Give the unborn child a fighting chance and overturn Roe vs. Wade.

“… Don’t let the noise (over the GQ interview) distract you from heeding the call to action.”

Palin was accompanied by her husband, Todd Palin, but the couple did not bring Trig as had been expected.

Palin to attend S.M.I.L.E. event

This morning, the Palins will attend a private breakfast event hosted by S.M.I.L.E on Down syndrome, a local group that provides resources and support for people with Down syndrome and their families.

Citing security concerns and Palin’s desire not to politicize the event, S.M.I.L.E on Down syndrome has declined to announce the breakfast event’s location.

Palin’s appearance in Evansville was her first major public event outside of Alaska since the 2008 presidential campaign, when she and her presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., were defeated. Palin attended a meeting of Republican governors in Miami and a National Governors Association meeting in Philadelphia after the election. She also traveled to Washington, D.C., in late January for the annual Alfalfa Club dinner featuring President Barack Obama.