Blake Masters Edited Campaign Website’s Pro-Life Stances Because GOP Position on Abortion is ‘Absolutely Indefensible,’ Declares MSNBC Guest

Nicolle Wallace spoke with Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, on Thursday about whether or not the end of federal abortion rights will hurt Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections.

Richards pointed to reporting from NBC from earlier in the day that showed Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters is “trying to strip his website from all of the comments he’s made about supporting these kinds of extreme positions” as evidence the GOP is now concerned about the issue.

The conversation began with Wallace noting, “I think the coalition of people who are energized by this is vast.” She then listed off some statistics to underpin her point:

63% of all Americans wanted Roe left alone. 93% of all Americans oppose bans that eliminate the exception for life of the mother. And 85% oppose any ban that eliminates exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

Wallace then turned to her panel to discuss where the GOP is headed on the issue and Richards chimed in, arguing, “But I mean, what’s fascinating to me right now, Nicolle is seeing that at least some people in the Republican Party are figuring out this is not going to work.”

“So I know today it’s been reported that in one of the most competitive races in the country, in Arizona, a United States Senate seat, the Republican nominee, Blake Masters, is now trying to strip his website from all of the comments he’s made about supporting these kinds of extreme positions,” she continued, adding:

The Republicans have nominated people all across the country who not only don’t have the right language, they literally, they believe that women should not have the ability to make decisions about their own pregnancy. I don’t even think it’s, there isn’t a way you can message your way out of the extremism of the Republican Party right now.

Richards was referring to a report from NBC News’s Allan Smith and Marc Caputo that noted Master had edited five of six positions related to abortion from his website.

“Masters’ campaign published an overhaul of his website and softened his rhetoric, re-writing or erasing five of his six positions. NBC News took screenshots of the website before and after it was changed. Masters’ website appeared to be refreshed after NBC News reached out for clarification on his abortion stances,” the report read, adding:

“I am 100% pro-life,” Masters’ website read as of Thursday morning.
That language is now gone.

Another notable deletion: A line that detailed his support for “a federal personhood law (ideally a Constitutional amendment) that recognizes that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed.”

“Well, they’re not running away from it. I mean, I think Mitch McConnell just sent some rescue funds to J.D. Vance, who said not in an adversarial interview, not on this show or anything like it, but in a friendly interview that he thinks women should stay in a violent marriage,” Wallace then added.

“I mean, in some ways, Dobbs has fleshed out a worldview on the right that none of the Republican leaders are running away from,” Wallace added.

Richards agreed, adding, “We looked at all these primary races where sometimes there were options between more moderate candidates by the Republican Party. But that’s not who got nominated. I mean, look at you know, when you look at Pennsylvania, Michigan, all the most competitive races in the country, the Republicans have nominated statewide candidates who are extreme on the issue of abortion.”

“And I think it’s interesting, I know you opened with Beto’s ad here is one of the most highly watched races in the country, the first paid advertising in that campaign about Greg Abbott’s extreme abortion ban,” Richards continued, mentioning the Texas governor’s race.

“We’ve seen the same in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, Republican nominees there. Their positions are absolutely indefensible,” she concluded.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC