Aaaaand...Now Cynthia Coffman's "Pro Life" Again!

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by: Colorado Pols

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman.

Joey Bunch of the former Colorado Statesman put the capstone on floundering GOP gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Coffman’s long series of flip-flops on the issue of abortion rights yesterday, and we wanted to be sure it got a mention. After repeatedly making it clear that she supports abortion rights, a novel (if risky) addition to the mix in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary, it would appear that Cynthia Coffman has belatedly realized that she is in…well, a GOP primary:

As a conservative Republican who represented the state’s case when it sought to withhold money from Planned Parenthood, Coffman create surprise and anxiety among would-be supporters when her campaign in November reportedly told CBS4’s Shaun Boyd that Coffman was pro-choice, That sent radio political talkers such as Corporon, Craig Silverman and Dan Caplis into orbit. Coffman’s spokeswoman at the time told Colorado Politics that Coffman has never said publicly how she feels personally on the wedge issue, but said the candidate would speak about it on the campaign trail.

“I am personally in favor of life,” Coffman said Saturday. “I would choose life.” [Pols emphasis]

It was Cynthia Coffman’s supposedly moderate views on social wedge issues that some Democratic strategists had worried might make her a formidable candidate in the event she survived the Republican primary. The biggest problem for Coffman, of course, is winning the primary with a public position on a critical issue that conservative primary voters find repellent. Thus before Coffman can put this angle to her advantage, she has to survive it being her greatest disadvantage.

But none of that matters now. With Coffman now backpedaling on an issue she has already backpedaled the other way, she has squandered her credibility on both sides. Nobody who opposes abortion is going to take seriously this obviously contrived flip back in the direction of GOP primary voters, and no one who supports abortion rights can trust Coffman either now. It’s like she is trying to take a page from Sen. Cory Gardner’s playbook, deliberately scrambling her image in hopes of confusing a winning coalition into either supporting her or disregarding abortion in this race entirely.

But in timing or the execution, Cynthia Coffman is no Cory Gardner.

10 thoughts on “Aaaaand…Now Cynthia Coffman’s “Pro Life” Again!”

JohnInDenver says:

March 14, 2018 at 4:07 pm

And I doubt Ms. Coffman can count on media confusion to carry her anywhere, as Cory did in 2014.

At least, I don't think I've heard her doing anything to make birth control more available (without a prescription) or cheaper. Cory could at least point to a promise to bring such legislation — but Coffman, constrained by the realities of her current position AND what she is running for, cannot make any such promise.

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davebarnes says:

March 14, 2018 at 8:03 pm

So, as a pro-life proponent, we can expect her to support a reduction of guns in the hands of civilians?

Just asking.

And, as Governor, she would commute all the death row sentences?

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1. RepealAndReplace says:
  
  March 14, 2018 at 9:43 pm
  
  She is really pro-birth, not pro-life. But I don't think we have to worry about her facing the dilemma of commuting death sentences as governor. She has about as much of a chance of that as Mitt Romney's nephew has.
  
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  1. Voyageur says:
    
    March 15, 2018 at 4:24 am
    
    Oh, come on. There is a difference between innocent life and Ted Bundy. Absolute opposition to the death penalty and utter devotion to abortion is rank hypocrisy.
    
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    1. davebarnes says:
      
      March 15, 2018 at 9:20 am
      
      Not, it is not.
      
      1. Abortions do not cost the taxpayers over $1M for each one.
      
      2. Elimination of the death penalty across the USA would allow us to claim a higher moral ground when dealing with China and Iran.
      
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      1. Voyageur says:
        
        March 15, 2018 at 11:37 am
        
        Oh my, what a high moral ground Ted Bundy, Jeffrey aDahmer and their ilk cleave for us.
        
        You go tell them what fine guys they are, Dave. My stomach isn't up to it.
        
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  2. Old Time Dem says:
    
    March 15, 2018 at 11:30 am
    
    The appropriate term is pro-forced birth.
    
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Voyageur says:

March 14, 2018 at 8:55 pm

Granted that pooping on Cynthia Coffman is this blog's favorite sport, second perhaps only to pooping on Mike Coffman. But isn't this just the old Ted kennedy personally oppsed to abortion but politically pro choice position that Rep. Elect Lamb ju st used in pennsylvsnia? One says what you personally would do, the second merely respects the rights of others to decide for themselves.

Abortion is a grim business. We faced it in our family and choose life. Politically we support pro Choice candidates. No contradiction, that's why it's called Pro – Choice not pro abortion. So How is Cynthia being a hypocrite here?

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  March 15, 2018 at 1:42 pm
  
  I'm going to wade in here and lock arms with you, V. Unfortunately we let Karl Rove define what 'life' meant in this context long ago and let him use this as a wedge issue, raising millions and dividing us. As a Catholic Democrat (I'm pretty sure I'd dig Athena, too. Let's grab a beer sometime) I rather we lived in a world where women didn't have to face this decision but we're handed the imperfect world we have, not the world we wish was. I have a pro-choice friend who chose life in her out-of-wedlock decision and a very conservative one who chose to exercise her right to end her pregnancy. A gut-wrenching decision, one I would be the last to cast judgment upon. As a male, I don't think I – or any other male – have any business making these decisions for women.
  
  I'll take the pro-birth, pro-war mongers in the world seriously when we've eliminated the need for foster care programs, childhood (and senior) hunger, and poverty here and abroad.
  
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Gray in Mountains says:

March 15, 2018 at 11:06 am

She appears to have very sharp teeth

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