Beliefs
Senator Smith is generally regarded as a political moderate and has traditionally taken stances more conservative than the average Democrat. For example, he has received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Still, during the first televised debate of the 2006 Democratic primary, Smith stated that he had "no problem with a carefully defined assault weapons ban. We want to make sure we don't have weapons in the hands of people who aren't supposed to have them and we have tough laws to prevent that." Smith has stated that he supports, and is a principal architect of, legislation requiring parental notification for minors seeking an abortion but would "leave an exception for the health and life of the mother." Smith describes himself as pro-choice and his official website promised to, "veto any legislation that would allow the government more influence over a woman's personal and private decisions regarding her own body."
Over the course of the 2006 gubernatorial primary, both Smith and his Democratic primary opponent took many positions not generally associated with the Democratic Party. The latter (Davis) voted for the Iraq War and "also voted to ban flag-burning." Both men agreed on capital punishment and both agreed on having only, as Davis put it, "some restrictions on assault weapons."
Read more about this topic: Rod Smith (politician)
Famous quotes containing the word beliefs:
“Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“It’s an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip.”
—Lillian Hellman (1907–1984)
“If we cannot find a way to interpret the utterances and other behavior of a creature as revealing a set of beliefs largely consistent and true by our standards, we have no reason to count that creature as rational, as having beliefs, or as saying anything.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)