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May 10, 2008 - 7:48am.
 Sen. Barack Obama (Reuters) It appears that Barack Obama has survived a tough couple of weeks. In the words of some, he's shown that "he can take a punch." But, frankly, I think Senator Obama is still getting kid gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left. Despite the hounding about his "bitterness" remarks, and the ongoing story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, there's been hardly 10 seconds of attention about his incredible statement that he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "make a mistake." This in a discussion about HIV/AIDS in which he said that contraception should be included alongside of abstinence in sex education. Regarding his two young daughters, Obama said, "I am going to teach them first about values and morals." First? What are values and morals if there is a second? Faith, of course, includes forgiveness. But values and morals are absolutes. There is a world of difference between forgiveness and teaching alternative paths. There have been questions, appropriate questions, about how Barack Obama could have been sitting in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years and suddenly, today, realize he does not agree with him. How so? We have a good possible answer here. Religion for Senator Obama is not something too serious. It may satisfy some social needs and provide intellectual and emotional salve. But it doesn't translate into behavioral absolutes. The arena for addressing life's dilemmas for Obama is politics not religion. So, in this sense, Pastor Wright had it right. His former congregant is first and foremost a politician. In answering a question about abortion while campaigning in Iowa last year, the always deliberative Obama said: "I think the American people struggle with two principles: There's the principle that the fetus is not just an appendage, it's potential life ... They also believe that women should have some control over their bodies ..." The fetus is "potential life?" Shortly after the Supreme Court's decision last year upholding the constitutionality of the ban on partial birth abortions, Obama spoke at a Planned Parenthood conference in Washington, D.C. Condemning the court's decision, he said that it was part of "a concerted effort to steadily roll back" legal abortions. Criticizing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in the case, Obama said, "Justice Kennedy knows many things, but my understanding is that he does not know how to be a doctor." Of course, Kennedy's job is not to be a doctor, but to be a judge. And in doing so, he included in his opinion testimony of a nurse who participated in a partial birth abortion procedure: "The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors in the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out ...The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high powered suction tube into the opening, and sucked the baby's brains out ... Now the baby went completely limp. He threw the baby in a pan, along with the placenta, and the instruments he had just used." Thus the end of what, for Obama, was "potential life." Nat Hentoff, no conservative, but a libertarian who writes for the "Village Voice,'' calls Obama the "infanticide candidate." In a recent column, Hentoff noted that, while in the Illinois State Senate, Obama voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. This Act addressed cases where, during an abortion procedure, the live infant was actually born. The Act would have banned killing the living child. Responding to John McCain's remarks delivered the other day at Wake Forest University about law and judges, Obama contrasted McCain's pledge of "judicial constraint" with his own concept of legal activism. Obama said he'd seek out judges "who are sympathetic to those who are on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless." Aside from this bizarre idea about the role of law, what irony there is in hearing this from a man with zero empathy for our most vulnerable -- the helpless infant in the womb. For the 90 percent of blacks who are casting votes for Obama, know that almost 50 million children have been aborted since Roe V. Wade in 1973, a third of which were black babies. Is this really the man whom our community needs? (Star Parker is president of CURE, Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (www.urbancure.org) and author of three books. She can be reached at parker(at)urbancure.org.)
Capitol Hill Blue's columnists, blogs and reader comments Capitol Hill Blue is an independent, non-partisan news site that belongs to no political party and subscribes to no political or philosophical point-of-view. Our columnists and bloggers are welcome to their opinions but readers should understand that their views do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies of this web site. Any registered reader of Capitol Hill Blue can have a blog. We also welcome comments on our stories, columns or blogs and we invite you to discuss stories and other issues in our popular ReaderRant discussion forum. We believe in civility at Capitol Hill Blue and must insist that commenters avoid attacks on other readers, obscenities or threats. We reserve the right to moderate or remove comments that we feel violate our rules. Posts that contain racism, homophobia, bigotry or Antisemitism will be removed and the posters banned. Likewise, posts that seek only to insult others, including other readers of this web site, elected officials or others in public view will be considered in context and if we feel they are out of line, they will be removed. We also reserve the right to remove the ability to comment from certain articles and, if necessary, review comments before they are published. Copyright © 2008 Capitol Hill Blue
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Well, let's see what is
Submitted by 33rdSt on May 10, 2008 - 11:22am.Well, let's see what is second?
How about math, science, history, literature, art, maybe even religion (which is related in some religions to values and morals but isn't the same thing at all).
You are, of course, free to decide not to have an abortion and to counsel women against that choice. Nothing Roe v. Wade REQUIRES an abortion. This is not China, after all. But it could be if the choice is made for you by 5 ugly old white men.
Roe v. Wade let's you decide, in the privacy of your own home, your doctor's office, or your pastor's study. Senator Obama wants it always to be thus; a question of conscience for you, not a matter of law for a bunch of men who have never been nor ever will be pregnant.
I started writing a comment,
Submitted by DejaVuAllOver on May 10, 2008 - 2:41pm.I started writing a comment, but you said it perfectly, 33rdSt. Looks like Star was kinda hard-up for material to slam Obama with. What a surprise.
And btw, the fetus IS potential life, just like a sperm or an egg. Some recent experiences with reincarnation have taught me that new souls enter their bodies at BIRTH, not at conception.
I know, I know. There's no faster way to short-circuit a Christian than to preach such heresy, even if there's a lot of evidence, but the funny thing is, the truth makes itself known, in spite of the egomaniacs who want to keep it hidden.
Sleepy-Eyed Ho-Bama
Submitted by Word of God Mil... on May 10, 2008 - 2:53pm.Sleepy-Eyed Ho-Bama
"But, frankly, I think
Submitted by JerryG on May 10, 2008 - 8:13pm."But, frankly, I think Senator Obama is still getting kid gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left."
Here we go, another "thinker"! I will vote for Obama but I wish he would stop starting off many of his answers with "I think..."
I'm not interested in what some insignificant pundit from another acronym organization (CURE) "thinks". What you "think" doesn't mean crap. I can sit on my couch all day and "think" this and "think" that. I "think" CURE is a bogus organization!
I'm sick and freakin' tired of reading and hearing what people "think"! Inherent in the phrase "I think" is the implication that one isn't really sure of the position being articulated or question being answered. "I think" is wish-washy at best and tells me jack-shit about to what you, the candidate, are committed!
So, my advice to you, Star Parker, is instead of telling me what you "think", tell me that which to what you are sure and committed and then, just maybe, I'll "think" your organization has some credibility!
Excellent point, deja vu. If
Submitted by 33rdSt on May 10, 2008 - 9:23pm.Excellent point, deja vu. If potential life becomes codified as actual life, there is no basis for upholding the right to purchase birth control pills, condoms, etc., all of which have as their purpose the interference with a potential future live birth.
A zygote is a living organism. A sperm cell is a living organism. Birth control methods stop them from becoming actual children.
The press is hardly
Submitted by WWWexler on May 11, 2008 - 10:31am.The press is hardly left-leaning and those who seriously assert this have discredited themselves.
The press in America is now driven by capitalism instead of journalism, which means that it's a business. Business is controlled by the right, not the left.
Anybody knows that. Who are you trying to kid? The last tinge of left-leaning media was gone long before Newt Gingrich threatened to pull the plug on CPB unless they took a hard right turn. (Which they did).
Left-leaning media. Pfffft. Yer outta yer ever-lovin' mind.
-Wexler
Notice how the media has
Submitted by neondog on May 11, 2008 - 10:39pm.Notice how the media has sought the voices of the "black" RepubliCon to make the anti Obama case. CNN, Fox News, MSNB and even right here at CHB, a nice comfortable niche has been created for these black right wing attack dogs.
Hey, it is a perfectly fair dynamic, and I'm sure the media would like to tell me these folks offer a fair and balanced account of ideas within the black community.
If so, I would challenge this same media, CHB included, to provide us a view of all of John McCains supporters within the white community, even those redneck bubbas on the fringe.
A few words from the distinguished members of the Nationalist Movement or the National Socialist party would a great place to start. Doug or Wolf Blitzer may want to querie the Council of Conservative Citizens for a few quotes on who they think is the better man running for President.
How about a couple of interviews with a spokesman from the Christian Identity Movement?
Come on now, fair is fair!
The press corps has been
Submitted by mitchigann on May 12, 2008 - 12:15am.The press corps has been left-leaning as far back as I can remember -- which is back to Kennedy-Nixon -- but somehow plenty of Republicans have been elected president in that span. And plenty of Democrats have been turned on and savaged by the left-leaning press whenever it smelled blood in the water. It could be that reporters just like the guy -- more a matter of style and personality than ideology.
As for how Obama could sit in church for 20 years and not hear a word the preacher was saying, surely that happens a lot. I make a point of it myself.
Mitch at www.mitchgann.com/blog
If Obama is getting a free
Submitted by Greyhawk on May 12, 2008 - 12:19pm.If Obama is getting a free ride why am I STILL hearing about Rev Wright and Michelle Obama's comment about her not seeing much to be proud of in America in her adult life? The truth is there's just not much to object to about Obama. Some are still digging but no matter what comes up Obama takes care of it with intelligence, sensitivity and leadership. No matter though, some people will not be satisfied until Obama is tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. The saying comes to mind, "A mind is like a parachute- It only works when it's open."
Starr Parker is another
Submitted by ridingchick on May 12, 2008 - 9:07pm.Starr Parker is another right wing nut job. When they kicked her butt about being a welfare queen and a baby factory, she had to go somewhere so why not make a name for herself and pounce on the poor.
Starr, why don’t you go and get a real life. You don't like Mr. Obama because he represents what you could never do or be. He rose to prominence by hard work and not taking advantage of poor defenseless people. Your 15 minutes of fame is by stepping on the backs of poor people.
Please go back to the trash from wince you came. I think Ronald Regan described you best...Welfare Queen!
Obama '08
Where is Starr getting her
Submitted by PokyCat on May 13, 2008 - 2:10pm.Where is Starr getting her numbers about abortion rates? They are more than double what the CDC reports: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5609.pdf
But I suppose she'll just say the CDC's reporting is yet another example of a white liberal conspiracy?!