U.S. Presidential Election 2008

Actually I thought more people would get that line. "Because why should she be punished for her mistake" That's what Obama said in regards to his own daughter's if they got pregnant young at a Planned Parenthood type gathering in support of abortion. Guess that flew right over some heads...or some supporters know this quote and just kept real quiet.

was that said here somewhere?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW_p6eBSKKE

huh?
was it?
huh?
huh?

he would even fire all of us for discussing this whole baby thing...

I can confirm that Obama did in fact say this.

boys- there's a difference between saying allowing a daughter to have an abortion is fine and saying discussing families during the campaign is a big no-no.

They are not mutual exclusive.

EDIT: nevermind...

i found a clip/voiceover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbZJYWjkAPo

however, i still do firmly believe that the more one says, the more likely one will step on one's dick.

in addition to that, Mark Twain once said, there are two kinds of public speakers:
1) Those that are nervous
2) Those who lie about not being nervous

i challenge anyone to speak candidly and open in public as he does and not say the wrong thing...

any takers?

And your point is? Is this a pro-life site here or does everyone have a right to their own opinions? I am neither pro nor anti abortion, but I do believe strongly that every woman has the right to decide what will happen to her body - is this different in the US?

yay Spatown!
as for in the US- depends.
my roommate's dad is severly anti-abortion. he know's i'm pro-choice. he loves to bring it up and my retort is always- if i were to have abortion or not would not influence him. since he will never be in the position to have an abortion how can he say what someone can/not do to themselves? Even if you go into all the blah blah about life starts at conception it still doesn't matter since if I were to have an abortion and he hadn't a clue i was preggers there'd never be any effect on him. Even if he did know I had a bun in the oven and decided to shut down the baking operation it wouldn't harm him (except for his own personal thoughts/opinions).

If the McCain posse gets into the White House, spatown, the answer is yes, it's different in the US.

They will work to undermine and eventually eliminate the, already increasingly tenuous, right for a woman to decide for herself whether to continue a pregnancy or not.

please make Campbell Brown interview people more.

Whether or not you believe life begins at conception is really irrelevant to the whole debate. History shows that making abortion illegal does not stop it. Women who need an abortion will get one. The rich girls will get it done by the family doctor who golfs with daddy at the club, and the poor girls will do it themselves, or get it done in a back room somewhere and die hemorrhaging in the emergency room.

thats how i feel as well...

no point in ignoring something that will happen regardless.

i remember hearing a story a while back (on Howard Stern, of all places) about indian siblings in who slept in the same bed as teenagers...

things happened and the girl got pregnant from the brother...

now, this family had to cross the state line to have an abortion and the anti-abortionists apparently made a big ruckus and tried to stop them...

seems like a perfectly reasonable time to have an abortion to me:

poor ignorant family
"accidental" incest

worst-case scenario really!

Well done Kat, you've hit the nail on the head. People can be as self-righteous as they like, but the bottom line is that there will always be some women for whom having a(nother) child is a catastrophe of the most immense proportions. And they will take whatever methods they can, as they used to before abortion was legalised, and they will quite likely die because of it. What really makes me mad are the men who pontificate about this subject. Unless it is their child, it is NOTHING to do with them.

hey, we finally agree!

happy to be of service...

Well, don't get over excited.

damn, you've gone ninja on me...

I guess life is cheap then, no point defending it unless it's your own life.

By the way, Minnesota Public Radio is reporting that downtown St. Paul is a military zone, now that the convention has actually started. Nobody but police and reporters walking the streets. The delegates ride their buses straight from their hotels to the Excel Energy Center, and are bussed back out again. Great for business - who wants to be the next city to host the RNC?

Almost 300 people were arrested yesterday, including 5 or so journalists and photographers.

More coverage here (MPR) and here (Salon.)

that really is a pity that it's gotten to that point (in St. Paul).

My point was...Drop the Bad parenting crap and discuss politics...It wasn't pro or anti abortion or pro or anti Palin or Obama...(You can make either look like a bad parent depending on which side you are coming from and what agenda you support) It also reminds me of that other topic on TT about why no one asks guys how they hold a job and have kids and keep it all together. Which one of you said they were going to hire a maid and go back to work as soon as their kid was born? Very interesting that your job is ok to rush back to but not a Governorship.

seth, I guess it's just too bad for the Republicans that they have made "family values" political and now they're having to deal with the practical fallout of their moralizing, isn't it?

It's not relevant to talk about whether a man would have been criticized by this in the same way Sarah Palin is, because nobody would have claimed they were nominating Super Dad to the VP post to begin with. If you wave around the super-mom-family-values flag, you make yourself a target for those who take exception to your claims.

If you sift back through the posts, I think you will find that nobody thinks Sarah Palin should resign her governorship. You know, unless she actually did commit a crime by having her ex-brother-in-law fired, and all.

Precisely. The point is that Sarah Palin, whom I believe not too many people had heard of before the other day, stood up, introduced herself as the all-time hockey mom, "mother of five" (would a man have introduced himself as "father of five"??), and basically held up her motherhood credentials as part of her qualifications for the post of VP. Ok slightly exaggerated, but not far off. The story started with the kids (PTA), introduced her admirable history of fighting the bad guys, re-introduced her children, son to Iraq, etc etc. So if she is getting some mud thrown because people think that she has been less than straightforward about the family situation, then I think, as they describe nicely in the lawyer whodunit books, she introduced the "family" as evidence of her apparently "perfect" life, so now it is open house and fair game.

What I find so irritating is the way she blankly says that her daughter and the father of the baby will marry. I wonder if either of the pair has been asked or have had anything to say about it. I would have respected her much more if she had shown willingness to support her daughter, regardless of whether she marries or not. I get the feeling that the wedding plans have more to do with Mum's position as future VP and less to do with what the kids may or may not want.

Sarah Palin needs to sit down and watch some Gilmore Girls. Doesn't she know that if she forces her daughter to marry her boyfriend, she'll lose her for 16 years as she goes off to run a Connecticut inn and date unsuitable men in an idyllic small town until she needs money to pay for little Betsy Lou's education at an Ivy League school? Actually that doesn't sound too bad in the end. Maybe that's her big plan.

p.s. I wish spatown was my mother growing up.

I haven't seen any gushing from the family about their prospective son-in-law at all. I know I sure as hell wouldn't be encouraging my daughter to marry this guy, at least not right away. Come on, it's 2008! Nobody should feel like they have to marry because they got caught pregnant (him or her), whether they want to have and keep the baby, or not.

I promised myself I wouldn't write anything like that, and now I've gone and done it. That part really is a private family matter.

Not sure if I'd want this self-labelled redneck guy in the family anyway - would you?

[quote name='Fribble' date='Sep 2 2008, 10:25 pm' post='1385238'
p.s. I wish spatown was my mother growing up.
[/quote]

I'm touched!

Well this little bit about him is hilarious!

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/09/were_..._babydaddy.html

You should be! You sound like a good mom. And teenaged girls are really rotten. Here's hoping I can work off that karma before motherhood.

Gallup Poll
Obama 50%, McCain 42%
Link

I am not going to read all this mess so I will just post a picture.

nice pic eurovol. Much better looking than Hillary.

Sarah Palin is 6 months' pregnant in that photo.

VP candidate in action.

Eurovol, she couldn't be more perfect!! You guys have a messiah, we have a hot babe who hunts!!

McCain could die and Palin is not Presidential material! I mean let's get real.

I don't have a vote in this but from what i've read i'm not sure if i'd want her in my pub let alone running the bloody country, but there again my neck is not red.

yet, she has more executive experience than Obama.

I detect jealousy Bluedave

I played hockey in every league I could through college. And then ligaments tore. And tendons. And I have limited mobility in my shoulders, much like a vet we all know (not saying, just saying).

If Levi gives up a chance to play for the pain I didn't even get to, that's bad for America. My official vote is for Levi to sign with the Hamilton Mustangs. I couldn't care less about his girlfriend or his girlfriend's mom.

Let's not forget about an athlete that's about to die.

Any news on how Pailin as Alaskan Govenor has made links with neighbours in Canada and Russia?

begs the question of whether Govs do any international work on behalf of their state. Some, I believe, but I imagine this is the job of the Feds.

The Canucks answer your question, MT. Notably, they have nothing to say aboot Alaska/Canada relations.


yanksavage, I thought you were on her side. Stick to your talking points (see above.)

Obama would have less experience than Palin.

I am cinzia, just beimg honest though. I think she's great!!! My kinda gal!!

Unfortunately, presidential historian Matthew Dallek disagrees with you, yanksavage, about whether she has more experience than Obama, or even Dan Quayle (see quote above.) But I'm sure you know better.

You know, sometimes I wonder who is being asked to vote with what body part here. Initially, we chicks were being asked to vote with our, you know, love pitas. Now I wonder if it's not the men the Republicans were wooing all along.

I think you might call good ald Matty Boy a bit of a partisan. And yes, the fact is Obama has NO executive experience. Who will prove me wrong? Nobody, it's a fact.

Palin wants to drill in ANWR, so she has no friends in Canada. Russia? She saw something about it Red Dawn.

Wrong, yanksavage. Here are Matthew Dallek's major publications to date:

The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan’s First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (Oxford University Press, 2004)
“Liberalism Overthrown,” American Heritage, October 1996
“The Conservative 1960s,” The Atlantic, December 1995

And yet, she does have more experience than Obama, so where is his criticism of the Messiah?

and I just saw this on his web page:
Deputy Communications Director/Speechwriter, House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt, 2000-02

Not partisan you say?