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Biden campaign squares up with ‘MAGA extremist’ Nikki Haley over abortion

November 18, 2023 | | Print Article

One GOP presidential hopeful’s remarks on abortion landed them with the “MAGA extremist” treatment from the White House as the Biden campaign pushed “…fear, anxiety, and dread…”

Friday in Iowa, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley joined President and CEO of The FAMiLY Leader Bob Vander Plaats for the 2023 Presidential Thanksgiving FAMiLY Forum. There, each candidate was confronted with what was considered their “highest hurdle,” and for the one-time governor of South Carolina that was her stated stance on abortion.

Not long after the event concluded, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa focused on Haley’s answer as he asserted, “Nikki Haley is no moderate — she’s an anti-abortion MAGA extremist who wants to rip away women’s freedoms just like she did when she was South Carolina governor.”

“Now Haley is promising to bring that same fear, anxiety, and dread she forced on South Carolina women to every woman in the country,” the director added. “Whether it’s Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, or any other MAGA extremist — the entire field is running on a dangerous anti-freedom agenda that the American people have made clear they do not want.”

The statement specifically highlighted five seconds out of more than six minutes of dialogue where Vander Plaats asked, “If you were governor of South Carolina and that came to your desk, would you sign the heartbeat bill?”

“Yes,” began Haley’s answer as the clip cut short.

As it happened, the ambassador went on to say, “Whatever the people decide you should go — I think it’s right to be in the hands of the people.”

“I think that the people decided, this was put in the states, that’s where it should be, everybody can give their voice to it and if that’s where — and I can tell you, that’s where the people of South Carolina decided. They decided to be at six weeks as well,” contended Haley.

The entire exchange had been triggered by comments made during the third GOP debate held in Miami after which viewers had expressed the opinion that the presidential wannabe had come across in favor of abortion.

“Can you assure them why that’s not a pro-choice answer?” Vander Plaats asked regarding her statements on how to message the issue.

Haley’s response, which came after DeSantis and Ramaswamy had disclosed the tragic miscarriages their wives experienced before the birth of their first children, took heat from conservatives as well when she declared, “What you heard me say at the debate was very much my truth.”

“I am unapologetically pro-life…but it is important that we remember, what’s our overall goal,” she continued before suggesting, “Our overall goal is, how do we save as many babies as possible and support as many moms as we can?”

Among those most vocally critical of Haley’s “truth” were supporters of DeSantis’ campaign like BlazeTV host Steve Deace who said, “Nikki Haley dropping a ‘my truth’ to a room of Iowa evangelicals is, um, something,” and the governor’s own rapid response director Christina Pushaw who added, “There is no such thing as ‘my truth,’ ‘your truth’ or ‘Nikki Haley’s truth.’ There is only THE truth.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the day at an Iowa town hall, Haley made the case that she would be the last candidate standing in a head-to-head with former President Donald Trump when it came time for voters in her home state to hit the polls and she would be the victor.

However, with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott having dropped out of the running, support had shifted toward DeSantis and Trump remained the far and away frontrunner in many polls.

Kevin Haggerty
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