Colonel Dennis Nielsen Speaks at BlueNC Blogger Bash

Like so many others who declare themselves to be "straight shooters," who insist that they don't play politics, who assure you that they will give a hard, clear answer to any given question, he isn't a straight shooter, he does play politics, and he wouldn't give a clear answer to a question asked three times.

And why not? Why not, Colonel? What would it have cost you?

The kind of appeal that Colonel Nielson made at the Blue Blogger Bash is almost irresistible, but as wonderful as it is to hear and as much as one wants to believe and say, "Finally, a REAL person~!" it's perhaps even more discouraging than is the case with the more conventional candidates to find that he's just not telling the truth.

I asked him his opinion about women's right to choose abortion.

He danced, and got cute, coy, evasive, and one of his friends, who had signed up minutes before for the purpose of running interference, kept trying to run interference for him. It was pretty obvious, and certainly a contradiction of the "straight shooting" persona he claimed at the blogger bash.

He wouldn't answer. Said it wasn't up to the governor to make the laws but that he would enforce current law. That wasn't the question. I asked again. This time he said that it was personal. I asked again. He said it was a shame that some people got fixated on just one issue.

Of course, I wouldn't have asked over and over and over again if he had simply answered the question. His attempts to play cute did him no favors.

The governor occupies a hell of a bully pulpit, and through a variety of mechanisms has influence on the direction the state takes in any given policy or law. It was a legitimate question and deserved a legitimate answer.

It seems by your profile that abortion is the most important issue to you, but is one occurrence really enough for this? It seems you are carrying this with you even though, as he said, he wouldn't be in a position to make this change.

Not asking you to change your opinions. Simply to consider his record as whole, rather than one question.

And I didn't get an answer from this supposed "Straight shooter."

I would gladly have moved on to other important issues had he not continued to dodge and dodge and dodge.

It was the dodging that I found offensive, much more than what I knew his opinion to be.

As fun as it is and always was to pick on Dan Quayle, I actually came to respect him for making one of those statements for which he was really raked over the coals.

I think this was when he was running as Bush's VP. Someone asked him whether, if a twelve year old girl were raped and became pregnant, he would support her getting an abortion. He said "No." Everybody jumped up and down on him for that, but I respected his consistency with the belief he had already stated in "sanctity of life." He gave an honest answer, and the only one that makes sense for someone who opposes abortion on the grounds that life begins at conception and is sacred.

I believe this is an important question. We are talking about half the freakin' population and we're talking about what government's role in our lives should be. I believe that a woman's right to choose supercedes the rights of a fetus. That's a hard line, I admit. But I do admit it, and I have no hesitation doing so.

As for Colonel Nielson's record as a whole -- he doesn't have one. But he did state that he was a straight shooter; if you click onto the speech he gave at the blue blogger bash, he gives the impression of being quite earnest and honest. He was anything but earnest or straightforward in the question/answer blog session here on this site.

I can respect someone who differs from me on this issue; I can't respect someone who says one thing and does another. Colonel Nielson really lost my respect that evening.