Barack Obama hosted a town-hall meeting in Johnstown, Pa., over the weekend, and was asked how his administration would address HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases among young girls. Obama emphasized education and prevention, including comprehensive sex ed and access to contraception.
“I’ve got two daughters; 9 years old and 6 years old,” Obama said. “I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at the age of 16. You know, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.”
For reasons that elude me, some conservatives — including Sean Hannity, a correspondent for Pat Robertson’s TV show, Hugh Hewitt, and some right-wing blogs — pounced on the “punished with a baby” line, suggesting that Obama somehow equates parenthood with punishment.
Word about this is apparently making the rounds in conservative circles, because the complaints are getting louder. In his Washington Post column, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson insisted that “Obama’s record on abortion is extreme,” and cited the weekend’s comment, among other things, as evidence.
And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be “punished with a baby” because of a crisis pregnancy — hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life.
And now the religious right is seizing on what it sees as a wedge opportunity.
The conservative Washington Times reported that “pro-life activists” are outraged.
Pro-life groups have long criticized the record of Mr. Obama, Illinois Democrat, who has voted against legal protection for babies who survive botched abortions and against prohibitions on taking a minor across state lines for an abortion.
His “punished with a baby” comment Saturday at a town hall in Johnstown, Pa., reignited the outrage. […]
Concerned Women for America (CAW) called on Mr. Obama to recant his comment, saying it stigmatizes babies conceived by teenagers and “provides an excuse for aborting them.”
If the right wants to complain about Obama being pro-choice, that makes sense. It may not be an effective electoral strategy in a country that tends to support abortion rights, but at least I understand where they’re coming from.
But this outrage over Obama’s comments from the weekend seems wildly excessive.
The campaign told reporters on Monday, “What Sen. Obama said and what he believes is clear — children are ‘miracles,’ but we have a problem when so many children are having children. As Sen. Obama said on Saturday — and on many other occasions — parents have a responsibility to teach their children about values and morals to help make sure they are not treating sex casually. And while he understands the passions on both sides of this difficult issue, Sen. Obama believes we can all agree that we should be taking steps to reduce the number of teen pregnancies and abortions in this country.”
Obama believes teenagers should be given as much accurate information as possible so they can make the right choices. If a teenage girl makes a mistake, and gets pregnant, Obama believes she should have a choice. Conservatives believe that girl can’t have comprehensive education on sexual health, can’t have access to contraception, can’t have access to the morning-after pill, and has to deliver a baby whether she wants to or not.
It’s hardly a stretch to call this “punishing” the teenage girl for her mistake. Contra Gerson, I don’t think this is an “extreme” position to take; I believe the opposite is.
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Election 08, Right Wing Stupidity, Wingnuts
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These right wing gangsters would be hilarious if they weren’t so deadly.
Anti Abortion
Anti Contraception
Anti Pre Natal Care
Anti Health Insurance for Kids
Anti Aid to Dependent Kids
Anti, anti, anti….
At least they are consistent in that regard.
Not to lead us off topic, but once, when I was drunk, a friend of mine thought it would be funny to hold a baby by its heels and kind of bludgeon me with it. So I was punished by a baby, and let me tell you, it’s not pleasant.
So I can stand by Barack on this one.
Meanwhile, I’d smack Hannity with a baby if given the chance. Oh, and just so no one freaks out, it was an American Girl “baby,” so that means I’m a patriot.
-DT
Taken out of context, Obama’s comment could be seen as anti-baby, but in the context of STDs and other consequences of unsafe sex, his comment is clearly NOT equating “baby” with “punishment.” Only idiots (thus, the religious right) would try to twist this around. As usual, the anti-choice folks care more about some possible future fetuses than for real, living people who are already here.
I don’t rush to defend Obama–I’m still pissed at his racist “typical white person” comment (I guess I’m just a typical white person…)–but this is yet another non-issue being conflated by the morons of the religious right. Don’t they have anything REAL to worry about?
For a teen aged girl caring for a baby and trying to continue her education would most likely feel like a kind of punishment. It would have been for me if I had become pregnant at that age and could not have gotten an abortion. My family was poor as hell and there would have been no way they could have helped me if that had happened.
The right wing tries to make mountains out of mole hills but they seldom succeed. At least they are listening to Obama’s speeches, maybe they will learn something of value.
Like when Strom Thermond was punished with a little black baby.
Won’t fly. The only people who will act like they are taking this seriously weren’t going to vote for him anyway.
this means clinton will soon follow her rethuglican friends on this bandwagon……
that’ll be good for a laugh….
so now clintons strongest arguments against obama will be that his pastor hates whites, and obama himself hates children.
FGFM @ 6:
when clinton starts parroting this attack, what will that say about her…..and her devoted sycophants.
Will we ever get to the point where pundits and media types can assess political comments IN CONTEXT?
I doubt it.
I understand what Obama meant, but he probably should have chosen his words a bit more carefully. It is impossible not to give teh mouth breathers ammunition - bowling, really? - but the dog whistle issues surrounding sexuality are automatic vocabulary checkers in my opinion.
“Punished with a baby” could be said “faced with responsibilities beyond their ability to meet”.
Paul B. @ 3:
Yep, their biggest worry is …… Everybody Else’s Business.
Most religious people seem so worried if others don’t believe what they believe,
maybe it’s because they are worried that if the others are right that means they
are wasting their lives preparing for something that will not come. They can’t seem
to see that life is the Journey, not a destination.
Anybody with a perfectly normal attitude gets short shrift with these nutcases. Of course it’s a punishment to be forced to do something you don’t want or are not ready to do. It’s not the child’s fault, but it’s still punishment–I think Obama went right to the heart of the matter, in fact; that’s exactly the attitude the religious right has towards unwanted pregnancy. They don’t want contraception rights or abortion rights because they want girls to “suffer the consequences” of sinful sexual activity as much as possible (never mind the boys). I’d like to drop some of these unwanted babies on their doorstep and say, “Here you go, have fun raising them–what? You don’t have a ‘welcoming attitude’ towards this new life? Shameful!”
FGFM @ 6:
I agree. They are trying to stir up something to justify their own ignorance.
14All @ 12:
Good point.
They’ve got nothing. The average person understands that an out-of-wedlock birth to a teenager is often a major hardship for all involved, and nobody wants that scenario to befall their own daughter. Let these lunatics rant. It just makes them look stupider and more extreme, if that’s even possible.
Maybe the same people who are so outraged would like to see Jamie Lynne Spears as our next Surgeon General.
pissed off patricia @ 13:
i hope you feel the same when we hear Clinton make this same attack……give her another day or two to jump in…
kablooie @ 16:
But..but…she’s gotten engaged, so she doesn’t count!!!
the morons will hear what they want to hear, as usual.
Wow…to me this signifies that the right is in panic mode…grasping at straws.
And yet the right has no qualms about punishing babies - after they’re born.
ohio progressive (typical non-typical white person) @ 17:
I would feel the same way no matter who tries to make the same attack. Clinton would be insane to jump on this bandwagon. But hell, who knows what she’ll do.
Aren’t these the same fuckwits who are always complaining about teenage, unwed mothers (especially “minorities”) being the pox on God’s (i.e. Rethugliconn) vision of a perfect white Christian Amerika? You know, the ones who are always sucking on the welfare teat, etc. You’d think they’d be happy with a few less little heathens running around…
Oh, I forgot. It’s an election year. Bash the parents with the Bible then…
See post #46 from last nights open thread.
Again I say: What arrogance!
momly @ 10:
BULLSHIT! He said it EXACTLY how he meant it and was 100% right.
This is another RETARDED non-story from the same-old same-old.
I can’t WAIT to see McCain TRY to debate Obama on EVERY issue.
No one can deny Obama will mop the floor with him especially on national security because McCain will be exposed just like Hillary with her 35 years experience bullsh*t.
She kept saying check my record….so we did.Now McCain is pretending he is somehow this war guru???Since WHEN?
You’re next McCain!
fastfeat @ 23:
Yes, but they’re not saying the girls shouldn’t be having babies, just that they should be getting married at age 15. That makes everything okay with God.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 20:
these guys have been in panic mode since bush was shitting his pants in the classroom on 911…..
they ignored all the warnings, took too many vacations, dismissed the threat of al qaeda……
it’s been one big panic coverup ever since….
Radically Moderate @ 24:
I never got a chance to thank the SITE MONITORS for their quickly trapping the troll (Sanity) and putting him in a box. Thanks for your work guys.
FGFM, I don’t think the mouth-breathers in the GOP really think this is their knock-out punch. At the risk of using a term that usually isn’t racist but might sound racist in this instance, they want the tap dance. Like in the Old West (or Goodfellas) when bad guys shot at people’s feet to male ‘em “dance” the GOP & their minions will hurl all sorts of crap at Obama’s feet to catch him off-guard & make him dance around his words: “th-th-that’s now what I…wh-wh-what I meant to say was…I-I-I-I…LOOK, I’m a good person! Stop picking on me!” Attack attack attack, keep him on the defensive…if he doesn’t crack his rep is still tarnished to anyone stupid enough to not pay close attention. And if cracks in public, on camera, that’s a bonus! And they can shrug with a What-ME-worry?- grin and say “If he couldn’t stand the heat…”
Obama and his campaign, to his/their credit, respond with a combination of class to the onlookers, and barely-concealed scorn to those who try to make every other sentence he utters a wedge issue. Not calling them morons, but making it clear that THEY know why the question’s being asked, and it’s not out of genuine concern about the controversy.
14All @ 12:
And have you noticed that the people who want the girls to suffer the consequences are the same ones who want to avoid the consequences of their own sinful sexual activity? They want 16-year-old girls to face the consequences of sex, but they blame their own perversions on alcohol, an abusive childhood, or media distortions.
They’re also the people who support abstinence-only education, which has been shown (repeatedly!) to be ineffective. And too often they use “God” and the Bible as their excuse. It all reminds me of the classic poolside warning: “Don’t pee in my pool, I won’t swim in your toilet.” Or in this case, “Keep your god out of my bedroom and I won’t screw in your church.”
ohio progressive (typical non-typical white person) @ 27:
True of course…but now it seems the tempo of their panic has picked up somewhat.
i guess all their daughters get knocked up out of wedlock during their early teenage years.
Alice Hussein @ 1:
Yet, they are Pro-War/Death for anyone who doesn’t believe what they themselves believe…or are told to believe, or else!
What do they truly believe, anyway?
The story isn’t really about the Right attacking Obama with a nonsense issue. The real story is that, while the Obama campaign continues to answer adroitly, the Democrats and the progressive movement as a whole continue to act as if the Right’s propaganda is a surprise, and the concepts of public relations and marketing are wholly new and will take a while to understand.
The first crime is that the media is a wholly-owned right-wing propaganda tool. The second crime is that the Left, with some notable Internet-based exceptions, continues to respond feebly.
Hannity looks cro-magnon but he knows better. It’s their job to keep their base misinformed and misguided.
This is OT, but a very interesting thought.
GHW Bush was a high ranking CIA official when Kennedy was shot.
He was Vice President to Reagan when an attempt was made on Reagan’s life (trying to usurp power)
When finally elected President himself, he select a complete nincompoop (Dan Quaile) a his Vice President to (knowing how people can be shot out of office)
The further back you go into this family the nastier the seem.
Anyway, ………… I’m just sayin’ ………………….
Some 14 year-olds with empty lives see a baby as a miracle, someone to love them. It isn’t a “mistake” or “punishment” when these girls become pregnant — it’s intentional. Others may not particularly want to become pregnant but make the “mistake” and end up pregnant and dead-ended, poverty-stricken, and uneducated for the rest of their lives.
Those girls who grow up in supportive families who want them to become educated, self-supporting, fulfilled, married or not, would far more likely to see that making a mistake and getting pregnant because of lack of information and guidance as a “punishment” visited on them by the rigidly moral ding-dongs of the world. Responsible parents and caretakers of daughters certainly see it this way, and they should be able to give their daughters the very best sex education, guidance, and information available if they want them to make important choices about the direction and substance of their lives. It’s as sensible as teaching a child street-crossing safety.
zugzug @ 32:
I knew a girl once whom I was very fond of, but could not date because I wasn’t ‘born again’as she and her family were.. She was sent to a Baptist University with stringent rules/regulations…she got knocked up by a boy there whom her parents approved of…if not for such tragedy, I would have thought the irony to be delicious.
The truly delicious irony, was that this girl’s Mother was the village bicycle in her youth before she “Found God” and became a nutbag “Christ-Crispie”.
yeah, it would be sinful if their $5000 adulterous trysts with teenage prostitutes in any way obstructed or sought to occlude the miracle of reproduction…..to do so, would make those virgin isle viagra-popping excursions something less than the divine and devout pilgrimages they are….
As a mom of three, I must point out that babies are not a punishment. But toddlers and teenagers sure the hell are!
Seriously, for a snapshot of what teenage pregnancy can do to weigh down an entire community, one has only to look at the statistics in my old hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. It does shape up to collective punishment, when immature minds are dealt something they simply cannot handle — raising children with no support, no educational opportunities, and no future in local job markets. Unless you count dead-end minimum wage jobs.
Obama is correct in his assessment.
The way the ‘religious’ right treats single mothers is the punishment Obama was talking about, not the baby as punishment. The way the right gives not one crap about life after birth - death penalty, no health care for kids (much less anyone else), cutting education, cutting job programs, borrowing against future generations, dead and wounded soldiers get an SOL from these bastards, dead and displaced Iraqis —– the list of judgments against their fellow human beings is long. I want to remind Sean Hannity of his bromance with Hal the Nazi. Pat Robertson, he who hates those that aren’t sheeple, he called for the assassination of someone. The hypocrisy goes on and on and on…
♣Bangkok Bob♠ @ 36:
If I had a “Way back machine” I would give GHW a vasectomy so he couldn’t contaminate the rest of the world. Maybe even a castration, just to make sure!
“Daddy, your grandchild!”
Barack: “Punishment!”
“But Dad, your own flesh and blood.
Barack: “Punishment!”
“Dad, he looks just like you though.”
Barack: “Punishment!”
Words matter, Barack. Yes they do.