Stupidest political comment this election
Well, two and a half months left before we hit the polls, but I think we've got a winner for stupidest statement this cycle.
CNNAnswering a question about whether or not he thought abortion should be legal in the case of rape, (U.S. Representative Todd) Akin (R) explained his opposition by citing unnamed bodily responses he said prevented pregnancy.
This guy is on the Science, Space, and Technology committee in the House
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Sadly, this is not the first or the last politician (or judge!) to make this ridiculous assertion. For examples, this:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...gnancy/261303/
I always found it a silly argument anyways. It's perfectly possible to oppose abortion for rape victims without arguing that such pregnancies simply don't exist. If one believes abortion is murder, I would think it's a no-brainer that abortions after rape would be just as much of a problem as any other abortion. Furthermore, to suggest that 'legitimate rape' causes very few pregnancies doesn't really address the issue - it just makes it a smaller but not non-existent issue.
This even made the news in jolly Dutchland.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
WTF
Anyway yes if abortion is murder then it would remain murder even (tragically) in the case of rape. That should be enough to say. The problem is people not being confident enough to say that abortion is murder and leave it at that as its not.
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
I have vague memories of reading that prosecuting the would've-been-mother for murder isn't as popular an idea as banning abortion, but I can't source this vague memoryWTF
Anyway yes if abortion is murder then it would remain murder even (tragically) in the case of rape. That should be enough to say. The problem is people not being confident enough to say that abortion is murder and leave it at that as its not.
Another thing is the problem this generates vis a vis miscarriage; do we screen the menstrual fluids of all women? Police investigating each noticed miscarriage? Do we charge all chimeras with manslaughter or similar offence?
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Huh, I never knew we women had such magical powers to will away a pregnancy. I knew we were awesome, but damn.
Sad thing is, he isn't the only person to believe that. And those idiots vote.
It's either self-defense or temporary insanity. You have no idea what it's like sharing a womb with someone else. It's abusive, they're hitting you all the time and you think what they did in Abu Ghraib were stress positions? Try having to share a placenta, pal.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Can you act in self-defence if you're not, hm, with full faculties? Can a toddler claim self-defence?
Temporary insanity just makes me think Denny Crane
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
"Rape is rape. The idea that we should be parsing types of rape doesn't make sense to the American people or to me. What these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
-Obama
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
The Onion takes the cake on this one.
I Misspoke—What I Meant To Say Is 'I Am Dumb As Dog Shit And I Am A Terrible Human Being'
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
OG, I obviously agree with Barack Obama on the question of rape (and, incidentally on broader issue of abortion), but I do think this argument is specious. Legislators aren't children, but they make plenty of rules about them. They are for the most part not immigrants, but they legislate about them too. They legislate for farmers (most of them have never been that), seniors (including HEALTHCARE decisions for seniors!), etc. There's no problem IMO with a democratically elected government legislating about issues that are not personally relevant.
The argument in favor of legal abortion is not that it's an issue of women's health and therefore we can't touch it. If abortion were murder, it would be perfectly reasonable to legislate about it. The worthwhile argument is that abortion generally isn't murder, which brings the debate into a different arena - one dealing with the health of the mother, economics, privacy, etc. I understand this is an election season and using poor argumentation to fit a slogan is normal, but it still should be recognized as such.
I saw it more as Obama hitting Akin's softball in McCaskill's general direction.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Well, it was poor logic and a poor reason to make policy.
I hate these elections because they take two intelligent people who care deeply about our country (Romney and Obama, not this Senate race in Missouri) and reduce them to caricatures of themselves - spouting sound bites and slogans instead of having a substantive discussion.
I live in Massachusetts and have been following the Brown/Warren race with interest. But I'm continually frustrated by their lack of actual policy proposals in their campaign. Here we have a very rare creature indeed - a moderate Republican willing to compromise on a lot of issues, running against with a very intelligent and dynamic challenger. This race should be exciting and fascinating! Yet they are evasive about actual policy proposals, and campaign on style rather than substance. Brown's ads extol his virtues as a bipartisan 'good guy' but make no mention about policy. Warren's make specious arguments which are veiled China-baiting and gives essentially no details about her proposals. Blech.
I'm rather surprised that anyone is surprised. These views have been incorporated into the Republican party since the Moral Majority and Pro-Life days of the 80's....and more recently when religious right-wing extremism was considered part of "the conservative base". Akin made the mistake of telling the truth (of his beliefs) that are shared by many Republicans. Even those already holding office.Well, two and a half months left before we hit the polls, but I think we've got a winner for stupidest statement this cycle.
CNN
This guy is on the Science, Space, and Technology committee in the House
Re-defining Rape was part of their strategy early on. Remember HR3 and the Blunt Amendment? They've also been trying to define Personhood with state and/or federal constitutional amendments --- that life begins at conception, giving zygotes full human rights --- and would basically outlaw IUDs, IVF, many hormonal birth control (along with any termination procedure).
Similar thing has been happening with state Republicans wanting women to jump through hoops before a D & C, or termination procedure. Trans-vaginal ultrasound probing, then trans-abdominal US to make sure the woman knows she's pregnant -- but "she can close her eyes" if she wants. And physician 'counseling' to make sure the pregnancy wasn't really part of normal marital relations.
All very inconvenient for Romney/Ryan, who have stated publicly they'd overturn Roe v Wade, and support a Personhood amendment. Ryan was even a co-sponsor for some of these house bill proposals....and he used to brag about it, until he became VP candidate. What a pickle for the GOP/RNC.
The bat-shit insane comments that defy Biology have been lurking around for years, too. I see it as more than just ignorant flat-earth anti-science crap, but part of an insidious misogyny. Women will cry rape even when it's not; they're too stupid to understand what being pregnant means; they just can't be trusted with their own bodies; sluts and whores who'll abuse/misuse birth control and reproductive services; let them hold an aspirin between their knees. etc.
Actual policy proposals have been made surrounding womens' reproductive rights, though. Forget "jobs and the economy".....house Republicans have sponsored more bills relating to womens' bodies, birth control and abortion than anything else. Naming Post Offices maybe a close second. Their priorities were clear, and reflected by HR3. Third bill in the session....no wonder their approval rating is lowest in history.
But I agree with you on the frustration. These issues were already "fought" decades ago, but it feels like Republicans want to return to the 1950's. It's unfortunate the GOP has allowed the extremists to dominate their "identity crisis", by embracing them as part of their "base", and catering to them in the primaries.
Nice quote. One of the best attacks against government run health care I've ever seen.
Well...actually, nice one.
Only if you think the PPCA means "government run healthcare".Nice quote. One of the best attacks against government run health care I've ever seen.
Nice quote. One of the best attacks against government run health care I've ever seen.
Touché
Not really. Unless you mean that if you have lung cancer you go to your local politician instead of a doctor.
Touché
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
The politicians want to control doctors, and set their compensation rates for individual scans/treatments via an unelected board of "experts". Same thing, it's actually a pretty apt response.
Obama is talking about people making decisions about what treatment they, personally, have or don't have. What you're talking about is how you organise the the entire structure of the health system. Someone has to make those decisions and it's either politicians or it's business. It's not the same thing at all.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
Tsk, tsk, tsk. As Lewk always says, nuance is a nuisance.
If you squint your eyes, and the lights are down, it's brilliant.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Obamacare is about government bureaucrats making decisions about what treatments are permissible and allowed within the government-run insurance exchanges and government-run elderly care treatments. It's a nuance, but it's an important nuance.
Obviously politicians have a role in health care, but it's pretty silly for Obama to complain about people making political moves*in the healthcare space when one of the biggest legacies of his administration is a political move in the healthcare space.
By and large, he hasn't shied away from boasting about how he's impacted the healthcare space. So it's a bit silly for him to backtrack and complain about meddling in the healthcare space. That's why this is known as a stupid fight.
The substance of the complaint is that it's a) anti-woman and b) factually wrong, not that's it's political. Do try and remember that you're conversing with educated adults, we're not going to collapse into little bundles of outrage and paranoia just because you mention that something was done by the government.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
That's correct, the complaint is that it's anti-woman, factually wrong and maybe even misogynistic. No one here is disagreeing with that, as far as I can tell. The guy is a total toolbag, here's the apology he just posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57E3S8RO7A
What Rand, Lewk and I are pointing out is that it's hypocritical for someone else to turn around and say "Herpderp, this is why government shouldn't meddle in healthcare decisions, vote for me!" after they have signed a $1 trillion bill designed to increase government meddling in healthcare decisions.
It's a simple observation of hypocrisy entirely separate from our disgust at what this Missouri candidate said.
This is not a major issue in the MA Senate race. Both Brown and Warren are pretty liberal in this regard. Brown has voted for the reauthorization of VAWA, voted against defunding Planned Parenthood, etc.
Also, I frankly find it ridiculous that Brown's most articulated position is on a piece of policy that, while important, is nowhere near as important in this election as dealing with our economic and fiscal issues.
You're one of those guys who thinks that "tactic" and "strategy" is the same thing, hmmh?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
And, as I have pointed out, you are using a completely different meaning of 'healthcare decision' to the one Obama is using. Obama is using the phrase to mean "Should I have an abortion or not have an abortion?" or, more generally, "Should I have this treatment or not have this treatment?" you are using it to mean things like "how should we compensate doctors". There's actually a logical fallacy for this - using two different meanings of the same word as if they were the same thing - but I can't remember what it is called.
I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a quality one liner, especially from Lewkowski. It's just kind of sad that you've taken this off the cuff zinger and gone "this is a top notch analysis of health care situation in the US".
You need to get your shit together, basically.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
Why do you hate DreadnaughtYour level of vitriol is unacceptable, and frankly this campaign should be above this
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
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