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ROE v. WADE….I don’t want to spend a ton of time rehashing last night’s debate, but what did John McCain mean in this exchange about Supreme Court nominees?

Schieffer: But even if it was someone — even someone who had a history of being for abortion rights, you would consider them?

McCain: I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those qualifications. But I certainly would not impose any litmus test.

First, he’d consider anyone “in their qualifications.” Then he says that support for Roe v. Wade would be a qualification that would cause him to reject a candidate. But then he says there’s no litmus test.

What did that mean? Just random incoherence? Or is there some subtlety I’m missing?

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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