Ron Paul uses his medical history to win over social conservatives.
Before he was a rabble-rousing libertarian congressman, Ron Paul was a doctor. He was an OB/GYN to be exact. This past caring for women and their babies, says the presidential candidate, shaped his staunchly pro-life position, and is touted in a new Ron Paul campaign commercial.
The 60-second spot, called “Life,” opens with a female narrator speaking over pictures of the young Dr. Paul. “Dr. Ron Paul, more than 4,000 babies delivered. A man of faith committed to protecting life,” she says, before Paul explains his pro-life stance, including his oft-told story about witnessing a late-term abortion as doctors tried to save a premature baby. He says that incident made him realize definitively that all life is precious, and that the States need to realize that, too.
“Unless we resolve this and understand that life is precious and we must protect life, we can’t protect liberty,” insists the earnest candidate.
The commercial will air on radio in all the earliest voting states, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Iowa. Notably, “Life” will also air on the television in Iowa, where all the candidates are vying for a slice of the socially conservative voter. And Paul’s commercial, part of a series of five highlighting the candidate’s various positions, will definitely pull on some heart strings in the Hawkeye State.
But are those voters really worth an ad in which Paul capitalizes on the abortion he claims to find so repulsive? And what of the inherent ideological contradiction here? Ron Paul is using his medical background — science — to win over socially conservative voters who don’t believe in science like evolution, a concept in which only 32% of evangelicals, the social conservative base, believe?
Here’s video of the Paul video: