Today on Meet the Press, Sen. Fred Thompson ensured that he would not receive the support of the religious right during the Republican primary season.  Said Thompson:

No. I have always—and that’s been my position the entire time I’ve been in politics. I thought Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided. I think this platform originally came out as a response to particularly Roe v. Wade because of that. Before Roe v. Wade, states made those decisions. I think people ought to be free at state and local levels to make decisions that even Fred Thompson disagrees with. That’s what freedom is all about. And I think the diversity we have among the states, the system of federalism we have where power is divided between the state and the federal government is, is, is—serves us very, very well. I think that’s true of abortion. I think Roe v. Wade hopefully one day will be overturned, and we can go back to the pre-Roe v. Wade days.

He did Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee huge favors with that statement.  While the religious right has its reservations with all of the top tier candidates, Giuliani was the non-starter, McCain, for many, was the same, and the jury was out on Thomspon.  While not quite putting him in the Giuliani/McCain grouping, that statement comes pretty close to doing so.

What could be even more troubling is that this may make yet another candidate unacceptable to a critical part of the GOP coalition in the general election.  It will be interesting to see whether religious leaders would consider his personal position and support for overturning Roeenough to warrant their support in the general.  If Thomspon gets blacklisted, that means that only Huckabee and Romney would be acceptable to religious conservatives, though Phyllis Schlafly recently stated her distaste for Huckabee, and Romney has his Kerry problem.

Personally, I’m not thrilled with Thompson’s statement.  While I generally support states’ rights, I consider abortion so egregious that it warrants its own Amendment, as slavery did.  That said, we’re not even close to the point where we could get it, and overturning Roe is the critical first step toward getting there.  As such, I’d have no problem with supporting Thompson in the general election.

CALGARY, AB—A typical Canadian seeking surgical or other therapeutic treatment had to wait 18.3 weeks in 2007, an all-time high, according to new research published today by independent research organization The Fraser Institute.

“Despite government promises and the billions of dollars funneled into the Canadian health care system, the average patient waited more than 18 weeks in 2007 between seeing their family doctor and receiving the surgery or treatment they required,” said Nadeem Esmail, Director of Health System Performance Studies at The Fraser Institute and co-author of the 17th annual edition of Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada.

The survey measures median waiting times to document the extent to which queues for visits to specialists and for diagnostic and surgical procedures are used to control health care expenditures.

“It’s becoming clearer that Canada’s current health care system can not meet the needs of Canadians in a timely and efficient manner, unless you consider access to a waiting list timely and efficient,” Esmail added.

The 2007 survey found the total median waiting time for patients between referral from a general practitioner and treatment, averaged across all 12 specialties and 10 provinces surveyed, increased to 18.3 weeks from 17.8 weeks observed in 2006. This is primarily due to an increase in the first wait, between seeing the general practitioner and attending a consultation with a specialist.

The Fraser Institute

If you need surgery here in the U.S. you get it within a matter of days or quicker depending on the urgency. There is no five month wait, like in the Socialist system, and yet Democrats want to bring this here.

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson holds a thin lead among likely Republican voters in South Carolina, a new poll says.

That potentially sets up the Palmetto State’s January GOP presidential primary as a fire wall against Mitt Romney’s nomination should the former governor of Massachusetts win in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The State

I knew Rudy’s longevity here would eventually start to fade down here and that now seems to be the case.  That’s not to say that Giuliani can’t still win South Carolina, but my money is on Thompson.  When the choice is a fellow southerner or a northeasterner, most folks down here aren’t going to trust a guy from New York nearly as much.

John McCain spent months earlier this year arguing that the United States must combine border security efforts with a temporary worker program and an eventual path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants.

Now, the Republican presidential candidate emphasizes securing the borders first. The rest, he says, is still needed but will have to come later.

I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift,” McCain told reporters Saturday after voters questioned him on his position during back-to-back appearances in this early voting state.

“I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people’s priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders.”

Aiken Standard

I have been a big criticizer of John McCain for a long time, but I do give him credit for not being someone that tends to beat a dead horse. I saw him on TV not that long ago and someone asked him about this immigration “switch” and his answer was honest. He was like look, I still think we need to have a path to citizenship for these people at some point down the road, but the American people aren’t ready for that yet, so I will not pursue any further. I thought that was a reasonable explanation.

Strangely, I have been warming up to McCain over the last month or so. Very strange indeed.