Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is reportedly now near at the top of Mitt Romney’s VP selection list, according to a report billed as an exclusive from Drudge Report.
Not gonna happen, say pro-life advocates — and they cite Romney himself to prove it.
Rice is pro-choice, a fact that immediately disqualifies her from Romney’s list, according to Romney’s own words.
The Susan B. Anthony List — a pro-life advocacy group — sent TPM this clip of Romney at a September 2011 South Carolina candidate forum, where he said:
Moderator: Gov. Romney, will the person you chose as your vice presidential running mate be someone who shares your pro-life and pro-marriage convictions?
Romney: I certainly imagine so, I haven’t made and selections in that regard … [as I look around at the people I would consider] I would expect that they would all be pro-life and pro-traditional marriage … but this is an important enough issue that the person that I would select in that position would share my views on those important issues.
Host: So more than just expectation — would share those views?
Romney: Yes … that person would share my views, yeah.
The SBA List views considers the exchange a promise from Romney not to select a VP who supports abortion rights. Here’s the video (exchange comes at 13:14):