Two Catholic Pro-Life Advocates Endorse John McCain's GOP Presidential Bid

From LifeNews.com:

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- John McCain hasn't racked up as many endorsements from pro-life groups or leaders as other candidates seeking the Republican nomination, but he picked up the support of two respected pro-life advocates on Monday. Husband and wife team Austin and Cathy Ruse say they support the Arizona senator for president.

Austin Ruse is the current president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, a pro-life group that lobbies at the United Nation and Cathy is the former chief pro-life spokeswoman for the nation's Catholic bishops.

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"John McCain's character, courage, record, and life experience make him the best candidate of either party to meet today's challenges," the Ruses say.

The couple says McCain has the "true grit" to bring home both the nomination and a victory in the general election. In fact, his ability to beat either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, both of whom take strong pro-abortion positions, played a key role in their endorsement.

"Senator John McCain has a long-standing pro-life record. What’s more, he has the ability to secure the Republican nomination and to prevail against any Democrat nominee, each of which is strongly pro-abortion," the couple told LifeNews.com.

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Asked about McCain's support for making taxpayers fund embryonic stem cell research, the Ruses said they don't agree with the senator's votes.

Austin and Cathy Ruse said that while McCain has backed the immoral research he has also endorsed a federal ban on human cloning.

"Banning human cloning would seriously undermine the plans of embryonic stem cell researchers who want many more embryos than IVF clinics can provide," the couple told LifeNews.com.

"But more importantly, we believe the recent discovery of a means to create induced pluripotent stem cells without embryos will make embryo-destructive research obsolete," they added.

The Ruse family joins pro-life Sen. Sam Brownback, pro-life former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, and other Catholic leaders on McCain's national steering committee and will help the senator attract the support of more Catholic voters.

My Comments:
I'm not sure what to think of this endorsement of Sen. McCain by 2 very high profile Catholics in the pro-life movement (one of whom used to be the USCCB's chief spokesperson on pro-life matters).

There are certainly other candidates with a stronger pro-life posture than Sen. McCain. And I don't think it has yet been established this early on that Sen. McCain is the only GOP candidate with a chance to beat whoever the Democrat nominee turns out to be.


UPDATE
Austin Ruse was kind enough to comment and provide additional reasoning behind his endorsement of McCain's candidacy.