Obama says pointed abortion query “above his pay grade”
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DALLAS – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama side-stepped a pointed query about abortion on Saturday by “mega-pastor” Rick Warren during a televised forum.
Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.”
He went on to reiterate his view that it was important to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who followed Obama onto the stage of the nationally televised event, was more blunt and more emphatic.
He said a baby’s human rights began “at the moment of conception … I have a 25-year pro-life record.”
Both candidates were vying for the “faith vote,” in particular the one in four U.S. adults who count themselves as evangelical.
Obama took questions first from Warren and McCain followed. The two shared the stage together briefly.
Some centrist evangelicals have said they appreciate moves by the Democratic Party to “soften” the edges of its pro-choice stand by stressing the need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions — and by also working harder in areas like adoption.
But for many conservative evangelicals — a key part of the evangelical base — life begins at conception and the argument ends there.
The issue remains one of the most divisive and partisan in America — as Obama and McCain highlighted on Warren’s stage.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason)
(Photo credit: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook, Files, USA)
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Jack Sheet and all the others who noticed this side-step answer are absolutely right. How can a topic of this magnitude be above any presidential candidate’s paygrade?
When he is asked questions about raising taxes or the economy will those be above his pay grade as well?
He wasn’t asked to give an explanation on a Hawking universe theory, he was asked to state his opinion on something which is very important to many of the people who might have considered voting for him.
Add this one to his list of “worst possible answers” and find another candidate, perhaps one with an opinion.
Obama is trully an intellectual. Mcain is an actor. The question of when life trully begins looks simple to a non thinker.But it is not. It is a theological question as obama trully noted, and even at that, theologians are disagreed on when life begins. If you say conception , what makes you say that? Even before conception, the sperm alone has life which enables it to swim around. In this case even wet dream is abortion, not to talk of withdrawal method of birth control. By this standard, a woman who cleans up after sex is cleaning out millions of babies.
On the other hand after conception, the foetus is not much different than the difference before and after a car accident. So long as we do not think, but rely on emotions, ignorant men and groups will continue to rule us by exploiting our emotions instead of our brain
@liz:
“then I’m pretty sure God has sent his word about abortion out loud and clear – thou shalt not commit murder!”
Hopefully then you really mean what you say, and are also anti-war and anti-capital punishment. Somehow, though, I doubt it.
Did anyone notice how McCain finished answering all of the same questions Obama had in only 35 minutes and took an addition 20 minutes of additional questions? The MSM describe Obama’s answers as “Thoughtful” but I however am not soliciting Obama’s millions for airtime. Obama was so careful not to say anything that would offend anyone that he really did not say anything at all. This may please some, however the POTUS will need to make unpopular tough decisions and do so because they are the correct thing to do whether they please everyone or not.
Is abortion one of these tough decisions? Maybe, however if Obama wants to be President, he is going to need to serve some substance with the parsley he’s been selling. No ammount of MSM rehab or damage control comments here will be able to cover his shortcomings.
LIZ_- So McCain is prolife and pro war. So how can you say one is right and the other is wrong. Murder is Murder right?
But that is a tough subject to say where life begins, my grandmother feels that once a man engages in any form of sex and produces semen then thats the point where life begins. And it is a sin to waste semen when not in the act of reproduction or even to use birth control is a sin. I have a friend that feels at the beginning of the pregnancy thats when life begins, and then I have another friend that feels its not wrong to have an abortion after the first month because the brain doesn’t start to develop until the 2nd month. Who are we to condemn someone and say that its a moral sin because life begins and the point of conception and it is wrong to have an abortion. Everything is not so black and white, there are a few gray areas and that happens to be one, we do not have the power to say the exact moment where life begins, but we should let a woman make this difficult decision for herself and let God handle the judgment.
Jeff – again
WHEN OBAMA SAID IT WAS ABOVE HIS PAY GRADE……………….THAT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH WHICH MEANT………………AS FAR AS ABORTION FROM A MORAL STAND POINT AND WHEN LIFE TRULY BEGINS, THAT IS FOR GOD TO JUDGE…………….. IT IS A FIGURE OF SPEECH, HE’S SAYING THAT I CAN NOT JUDGE WHETHER A WOMAN HAVING AN ABORTION IS RIGHT OR WRONG ……………..ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE HER……………SERIOUS PEOPLE YOU GUYS TAKE EVERYTHING SOOOOOOOOOOOO LITERAL. I HONESTLY THINK THATS WHY A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T LIKE HIM BECAUSE THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND HIM. HE ACTUALLY TRIES TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO PEOPLE FROM A REAL STAND POINT BUT WE ARE ALL STILL SO DELUDED FROM LISTENING TO BS ALL THESE YEARS THAT WE DON’T UNDERSTAND SOMEONE WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO BE HONEST AND FORTHRIGHT. That is above all of our pay grade none of us are god there for none of us can say when life truly begins.
To say “it doesn’t matter when life begins” is another avoidance of the question. Americans do NOT want anyone to tell them to take personal responsibility for their actions. Americans have become weak, irresponsible, etc. We don’t want children because they get in our way, they cost too much, and they cause too much stress in our lives. So what do we do? We marginalize life. We argue over a ridiculous question…When does life begin? It’s been settled, folks. Even leaders of the feminist movement have publicly admitted that life starts at conception. Trivialize life within the womb, now… and in the future you WILL trivialize life outside of the womb. There are numerous examples of this throughout history. Do a little research and see how close your views on abortion match up with some of the “monsters” scattered across history. I dare you. Oh, while I’m on a rant… Do you know why Planned Parenthood was started? Can you complete the title of this book: Darwin’s “Origin of the Species….” ?
Republicans:
OK to send a man to die for a pointless war
OK to force unwilling women into motherhood
Yeah those make PLENTY of sense.
GObama!!!!
McCain is a horrible candidate. He is neither conservative nor Republican. The fact that he would team with domestic enemy and short distance swimming champion; Ted Kennedy, should tell you all you need to know about John McCain.
Horrible candidate though he might be, while we cannot want him to win, Obama must lose. Obama could and would do irreparable harm to the Constitution. Just ask Michelle.
So Andrew Austin, When does it matter. No state requires women to have babies. Don’t get pregnant. We have wonderful birth control methods today. Haven’t you heard about them? The tyranny we have today is the forced abortions that are taking place, many by sicko fathers who impregnate their own daughters. Obama doesn’t even care if the baby is born and out of the mother, if the mother chooses to kill the baby its ok with him. You call it a fetus, but you cannot tell me when it has rights. You don’t have a clue.
Shocking that anti-choice nutbags can’t read…Obama’s made his stance on abortion. His comments here are entirely different. It’s NO man’s right to decide on when a fetus (a fetus, not a human being) has “human rights.”
Good job by Obama avoiding this joke of a “question” from a plant who’s likely living a hypocritical life like the rest of the scumbag mega-pastors before him, from Bakker to Haglund.
To answer a poster…
GOD > President of the United States
My previous post was moderated? It disappeared. LOL
Mr. Obama is pro abortion and has repeatedly said so and voted so. I wonder why he failed to have the courage of his albeit misguided convictions?
Maxine said:
“…the decision of having an abortion lies with the individual one must trust in one’s faith to make the choice that is right before God, We can not have our governments making that choice for us. Legislation can not deter a choice of free will.”
Do we give people the Choice or free will to run red lights, lie under oath or rape children without fear of government intrusion nor sanction? No we do not.
Shall we protect an unborn person from death at the hands of an abortionist at the behest of the mother?
Does motherhood imbue a person with immunity from prosecution for acts of violence that deprive life
simply because that life is inconvenient?
I think not.
Obama has a opinion regarding abortion and the killing of millions of children annually. Some posters say he is deferring to God by his answer. His votes did not defer to God. His words of the past did not defer to God.
God does have an opinion. Perhaps BO should seek that opinion and champion that opinion rather than feign ignorance and false humility.
I wonder if this post will be moderated like the mind of Barack Obama.
I suggest that every pro-choice person is not standing with God but in opposition to God. Any attempt to be neutral fails. Have courage. Stand up and protect those who need protection, the unborn.
In response to Andrew Austin’s first comment about “forced” abortions. In the total number of pregnancies, an incredibly small percent of them are caused by rape. So what would be refreshing in our society would be the concept that people would behave responsibly and not get pregnant in the first place. This would end abortion all together. If environmentalists have the right to be angry at people who drive SUV’s, then pro lifer’s should at least have the right to want people to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Somehow we’ve rationalized that the environmentalist are just, while pro lifer’s are bigoted, neanderthal tyrants. But the human cost of abortion is a tangible number 40,000,000, compared to environmentalist junk science that they’ve yet to prove.
Hey fred, nobody is forcing a woman to be a mother. If she doesn’t want to be one there is a surefire prevention method for it. It’s called celibacy. Anything beyond that makes her a willing participant, with the exception of rape.
Again Fred, It is 99.99% of the time, the couple’s own behavior that got her into that “unwanted pregnancy” We need to grow up and be responsible in our behaviors. Accept consequences for our own mistakes. If you’re pregnant and you don’t want to be….Why? You didn’t take precautions!!!!! YOU BLEW IT, NOT THE BABY!!!!!
BTW Peter Van Dyke, You are 100% right. My pay grade is retired (=0$) and much smarter than 40 years ago. Also, I was for Thompson earlier, and was not a McCain supporter, but I just sent McCain my $100. I pray that he wins. I can never vote for an abortion supporter
I have not read previous posts. I only read the article. I am not going to read what ever may follow what I have to say.
I remember being 18 and so sure of myself. While I would never have an abortion, I would never judge another for whatever choice her what was best for her.
At 22, I was on the pill. I was pregnant. At 23, I was a mom. At 24, I was in the Navy (I WAS NOT going to raise my child on welfare!) At 43, my son (21) asked me why I “gave him to his dad to raise.”
I had to explain to my child that his grandmother had more money that an E-3 in the USN and that the judge thought that my position was “not a stable situation” for a child.
I put myself in debt to have a place for him and me. Over the next 5 years I lived off $20.00 a week to pay off the lawyer and paying double child support (child support that I NEVER minded paying!! )
I will NEVER judge another for the choice made. It is NOT my place to do so. NOR is it YOURS!!!!
WE must all live by the decisions we have made.
I die a bit each day because I was not brave enough to battle homelessness and poverty to raise my son.
I live a bit each day because my decisions have brought me to a husband who loves me, a daughter who thinks I am wonderful and the best thing in her world, best of all a son who loves me and understands that as a mom I did the best for him I could at the time no matter how much it kills me now.
NObama!
My hope is in JC not BO who seems to think he’s JC or something!
Fred…obviously the the vast majority of unwilling women were willing to do something to get into an unwanted pregnancy!
Alot of you people seem to be really stuck on stupid. Nobody who has ever been in war is pro war. Secondly, there is a BIG differencebetween killing someone who wants to kill you and murdering your own flesh and blood. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
You say that Obama was making light of the abortion issues with his ‘above my pay grade’ joke, was it really a joke? I mean people may have laughed because in the past it was used in a humorous situation and we are all familiar with that so we respond accordingly. But what did he really mean and more importantly, what did his answer mean to me?
To me he means that to decide when life begins isn’t something he is able to do… and he isn’t. Neither is John McCain, Elizabeth Dole, Ronald Reagan, George Washington, Pat Robertson, Robert SCHuler or whatever reigning Pope currently in power. For any man or woman to stand and say ‘life begins at this moment’ is in fact being very arrogant. Whether or not it begins at conception, or when the brain begins to develop, or when the head begins to crown, only God can say. What if perhaps life begins when the body acquires a soul, truly only God the Father Himself can know when that happens? What if you don’t believe in souls, then when does life begin?
No human being, no mere mortal man can ever declare when life begins, only God knows that. To do so is encroachment on God’s domain, to usurp His authority to grant ‘life’. They only thing we can argue is whether or not a woman has the right to choose what to do with her body, her life, and her future. As far as I know, we still abide by the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and wrapped up in all those rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is jane doe’s right to choose, as well it should be.
Dear L. Shock, I appreciate your passion for the subject. I need to point out to you though, that people of faith do know when life begins. The Scriptures in Psalm 139:13-16 tell us specifically that God knits us together in our mother’s womb, that His eyes see our unformed body while we are made in the secret place, and that all of our days are ordained before one of them comes to be. I understand that it may seem irrelevant in our modern, increasingly faithless society, but that has not always been so, and our own attempts to reject God do not effect the truth of His existence. It is better to know God than to believe in Him and people of true faith know, rather than believe, and that is how they can be so confident about their convictions. Not to condemn and judge but to proclaim the loving thing; that it’s best to control ourselves and not be put in the position of having to end a baby’s life.
Reuters has apparently decided that the liberals who love to see babies die will get maximum exposure here. Thus, the preponderance of liberal responses justifying killing babies. Reuters has also decided to supress those of us who oppose killing babies. They have censored most of the pro-life posts while publishing most of the pro-death posts. Isn’t it fortunate, however, for the pro-death crowd that the mothers of the current liberal Reuters editors did not choose to abort their children?
Obama again demonstrates his inability to make a firm, clear position. Typical of most Democrats and all liberals, it is the lack of substantive beliefs of the individual that causes this. Dems and libs tend to exist as such, more for the sake of being against the conservatives (who stand by specific princicples and beliefs of their individual own), than for their own specific ideals. Ask a lib and you’ll see what I mean. The debate will quickly turn to an anti-conservative stance with no points other than to be anti-conservative, or fall all the way down to name calling.
It is not hard to see why so many liberals and so-called centrists (read folks that don’t have ideals or commitment) are for Barry Hussein. He panders and flip flops to try and get the message staright fro whatever audience he has, while never taking a stand on his ideals or platform (by the way, what does he actually stand for?).
Obama’s answer actually displayed his level of intelligence and nuanced thinking as opposed to McCain. Asking when we get “human rights” is a pretty poor question to begin with without defining further what he means. What are the rights we’re talking about, and where is it that these “human” rights come from? What defines human? What role does self consciousness and identity have in the existence of these rights?
This is a pretty complex question that theologians, legal philosophers and scientists regularly debate over. It is above his pay grade. The funny thing is only the Bible beating pro-lifers in these comments have such a fierce and bright line answer based on their understanding of God’s word as interpreted by a particular religion. That this answer is founded on Religious belief should give significant pause to anyone who takes the Establishment Clause seriously and who recognizes that reasonable minds could disagree. If your justification for your policy position is based on your Religious belief alone, it was probably not meant to be a law universally applicable to all under the Constitution.
re: jeff cutter
“…he was asked to state his opinion on something which is very important to many of the people who might have considered voting for him.”
Why is his personal opinion so important?
Consider that Lincoln, the President championed as the ‘Great Emancipator’ had opinions that differed from the majority of the nation. He may have written the ‘Emanicaption Proclamation when he was President, however, when he was still back in Indiana, when the state was debating whether to be a free state or keep their slaves Lincoln wrote ‘…[that if these laws be passed], I fear a black hand will be on the plowhandle where a white man’s used to be.” So when Lincoln was in office, he didn’t vote to support his opinion, to further his fears, he voted to defend the rights put forth in the Constitution. Personally, I wouldn’t want someone who votes his opinion, but someone who supports out Constitution.
setting aside all the LEFT/RIGHT arguments concerning abortion and aknowledging that this issue is very important to the american people…why then have we not been given the our constitutional right to vote on it?
roe v. wade is nothing more than edict handed down by 9 judges who are not accountable to the people…all it does is deny the man any rights before the birth of a child…IT IS B.S.
IT IS A STATES RIGHTS ISSUE !!!!
ExT
Obama a Christian?
Is Obama a Christian? The Bible says that disciples of Christ were called Christians. (Acts 11:26) Is Obama a disciple of Christ? Jesus said: If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) If a disciple of Christ, does Obama keep the commandments? Look at what he was taught by his mentor and spiritual leader Rev. Wright.
The Bible teaches “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:3) Looking at Rev. Wrights teachings you would think that Black theology has more to do about Africa than god.
And again, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;” (Ex 20:7) Rev Wright taught Obama that it is OK to take the Lords name in vain as he repeatedly said GD America in front of men, women and children, and he also taught it is OK to do it on the Sabbath in the house of God.
Rev. Wright does not teach, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Ex 20:8) On the Sabbath Rev. Wright takes the Lords name in vain, bears false witness and serves two masters.
And again the Bible says, “Honour thy father and thy mother:” (Ex 20:12) And we know that Obama would rather throw his mother under the bus than turn on his mentor and spiritual leader Rev. Wright.
It is written, “Thou shalt not kill.” (Ex 20:13) How can Obama keep this commandment and approve of 115,000 abortions a day, he is approving the killing of over 42 million innocent human babies a year. With that on Obama’s conscience how will stand before Christ at the judgment day and say “I did as you ask, I followed you and loved you by keeping your commandments”.
Again it is written, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Ex 20:14) And again Obama’s mentor and teacher desecrates the Sabbath and acts out an act of adultery in front of men, women and children.
It is written, “Thou shalt not steal.” (Ex 20:15) Obama said that he made over a million dollars last year and gave less that 2%, $22,000 to his church. It is bad enough to steal from man, but will a man rob God? (Mal 3:8) It is not enough to make over a million dollars and only give 2% to the poor, but it is the goal of Obama as President to steal from those that work hard for a living and give it to those that will not put in a days hard work.
It is written, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Ex 20:16) Again Obama’s spiritual leader sets the example for him by showing Obama that it is OK to lie on the Sabbath in front of people that should not approve of Rev. Wright bearing false witness against the government, telling them things that any Christian, in a God fearing country, would know is not true.
And again it is written, “Thou shalt not covet” (Ex 20:17) Not only does Obama covet his neighbor property but he has a crook buy the property and then sell him the part he covets for below market price. And it is not enough to covet only his close neighbors property, Obama covets the property of all the wealthy Americans and it is his ambition to steal it and give to those that he is unwilling to give his own money too.
Ten Commandments and Obama’s teacher and mentor did not teach him to keep one of them! Christ said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” (John 10:27) If the disciples of Christ are called Christians, (Acts 11:26) and as disciples they follow Him and love Him, how can Obama claim to be a Christian and not keep any of the commandments?
You say, is Obama a good example of a Christian? Is Obama a good Christian? Was he taught to be a Christian by Rev. Wright? Is Obama a disciple of Christ?
Its very funny to read these conservative replies.
they are against Obama and are hallucinating things about what he said.
Its pretty obvious to smart liberals AND smart conservatives, that by paygrade he means, its only GOD who can decide when life really begins.
stop comparing to a few cells as babies, you make it sound like liberals are baby killers, which is what is being used here. Everyone is so gunho about being against abortion, does everyone remember what the options for teenagers was before then? not telling your parents and getting a abortion from some noncertified person in a shady place. Abortion may not be moral, but the option is your conservatives daughters getting backalley abortions and dying from that. So the choice is would you rather have your daughters not a get sex education in early high school, and have a back alley abortion, or have the choice should she need one if the family cant afford a baby cause of monetary or other reasons (like she is going to college and cant raise the baby herself)?
I do think the liberal stance is a compromise, reducing abortions EVERYONE wants. but not teaching safe-sex and banning abortions is a backwards solutions going back to those days in the 1940s. It really isnt a Marxist/crazy idea as many here seem to say.
Come on conservatives, why cant this be a compromise, it would reduce abortions (aka your ‘baby deaths’)?
And many people conservatives and liberals, arent religious, we cant force the view that God is against abortion, since that would violate the principles our country was founded upon.
Can we please have a consistent view of human life? I am proudly pro-life, but that doesn’t just mean pro-birth. If someone wants to talk about how abortion is wrong, then be willing to come along side young, scared mothers, and be there for them in whatever they need.
Then, care about the life of humans after birth. This means the person under the bridge, the person from a broken home, and the Iraqi civilian.
I cannot understand how these views get separated.
ABOVE HIS PAY GRADE?
He has been above his pay grade for quite some time now. Thankfully I can be one of the Americans that decide Obama’s pay grade. I can help keep him a senator. It is then up to the good people of Illinois to drop his pay grade back to community organizer. Is that abortion community organizer?
Obama’s comment “above my pay scale” will help sink him. He’s starting to seem like Kerry–”just so much smarter than the rest of us.” McCain was direct and gave clear answers. I never thought I’d say this but the Republican was better. I don’t agree with McCain but I know who he is. I still don’t know who Obama is and I don’t think he wants us to know. Why? And the gray hair suddenly? It says he and his campaign think the American people are so dumb we fall for stuff like that which tells us what they really think about us. McCain will win. I won’t vote for either but I give McCain credit–he had the guts to let us know who he is. Obama didn’t. I still want Ron Paul to be President.
If Barack Hussein Obama doesn’t know at what point a baby becomes a human life, shouldn’t he give the benefit of the doubt to the child?
How have Democrat presidential candidates changed? You can see it so simply:
HARRY S. TRUMAN: “The Buck Stops Here.”
BARAK H. OBAMA: “That’s above my pay grade.”
Putting aside the moral issue of abortion (as Obama did, of course, too) let’s look closer: Every time this guy tries to be clever and scoot around a straight answer, all of his claims of being anything like a “new” kind of pol and of bringing “change” to the system just plain vaporize.
He’s the same-old same-old shifty political animal. The fact that he’s also okay with baby-killing is an issue, but on his OWN TERMS as a “new” politician for “change”–he’s got NO change at all. Bankrupt. Kaput.
“Choice” comes when a man and a women engage in sex.The individuals involved know that getting pregnant is a natural consequence of that choice. Abortion (with few exceptions) is a selfish attempt to avoid the consequences of ones actions.
Many of the policies pursued by liberal democrats come from the same line of thinking – do all I can to avoid taking responsibility for my actions. Those policies and the irresponsible people who push them are destroying this country from within.
Its pathetic that we care about abortion over the military spending budget, we are pathetic as americans for making our politicians swear to “god” before they swear to you or I for the prosperity of our lives.
Being President is above Obama’s pay grade. This format demonstrates how pusillanimous he is.
“Obama thinks science doesn’t EASILY know when life begins? The answer to this is not above any 5th grade biology student’s “pay grade” — human life begins at conception. ”
That wasn’t the question asked.
I find it curious that people like Andrew Austin use the curious phrase of the “the state to force women to have babies”. Ahhh….now we get to the crux of why Abortion is so loved by liberals…responsibility. No state is forcing the woman to have sex…it is the woman who CHOOSES herself to procreate and that is the primary issue isn’t it? Like a child who doesn’t want to face the responsibility of his actions, so too we see that so many woman have been duped into believing that murdering innocent children is simply a “reproductive right” vs an abomination of willfully killing a child…just to avoid the consequences of their action. Yes, even the irresponsible men who participate in this are just as guilty.
Wake up people. Sex is for procreation…the pleasure is a byproduct of the act…NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. You play…you pay…not the child for your stupidity.
Organisms are classified by the chromosomes they contain. The complete set of human chromosomes is present from conception. Even atheists believe that.
Further, if you are still in doubt as to whether the fetus is human, it is not moral to extinguish its life since it may, according to yourself, be human.
Possibly we can somehow never really judge the personal guilt of another, as only God can really know all the forces that drove the person’s action. We should be as merciful as possible when confronted with wrongdoing. But a lawmaker must be able to decide on matters of moral right or wrong in order to legislate. If he couldn’t make up his mind, he should have refrained from voting on life issues. Instead, he voted pro-choice, and then disowned his own position when confronted with it during this forum. The next president is going to have to go toe-to-toe with China, Russia, and Iran- that requires firmness and courage.
I’m glad to see so many of you are willing to adopt all of the babies from forced pregnancies. Thanks for that great kindness.
I am a pro-choice Republican. I know where I stand. A president must make tough choices and if Obama is NOT ready to make tough choice, he is NOT ready to be President.
Obama is for “change”? Is this his version of change? This is politics at its worst. The only part of change from his compaign that I have seen is that he “changes his mind” every other day about every topic.
But if you are a gutless politician like B.O. then when you get asked a question you know you are passionately wrong on, then you try to make a joke and totally avoid answering it.
I hope all of America was watching.
Lets make sure that the question of “human rights” is above his pay grade and not elect him to the job.
I am sure that he will understand when he loses to McCain, since he has less job qualifications than Clarence Thomas does.
I love the fact that Christians totally trashed him for his failure to answer the question and I am sure that the Moveon.org crowd will want to choke him for not showing his true support for massive abortion rights.
“Organisms are classified by the chromosomes they contain. The complete set of human chromosomes is present from conception. Even atheists believe that.”
The question was about human rights, not whether or not a fetus was alive or a human fetus.
But, to play along….
Your skin cells contain complete sets of chromosomes.
When you scrape your knee do you consider the skin cells lost to be humans?
” Instead, he voted pro-choice, and then disowned his own position when confronted with it during this forum.”
McCain voted pro-choice?
The hypocracy of the democrats cuts deep into the social cord of life. They are fine and dandy with destroying/killing an unborn child but take great efforts to save a convicted murderer from death row.
As Senator Obama walked away from this event, he knew he lost hundreds of thousands of votes, and the numbers will continue to climb every time he opens his mouth.
The message should be clear to him now, speak with a forked tongue and see where that gets you. All the money in the world will not buy him the pay grade of the Presidency of the United States, nor will his short time spent in public office afford him the comfort to rest on his leadership experience.
Senator McCain’s triumph at this forum should be no surprize and his message must cascade out throughout every household willing to really understand what’s at stake…our son’s and daughter’s of Liberty (born or unborn)!
Anthony
The solution to the abortion issue is to require the man to pony up for the responsibility of making this baby along with the woman. When men are required to give up promising careers, education and opportunities just as these young women are then abortion will be just as morally acceptable to the “keep the women bare foot and in the kitchen” group as having a wart removed.
The courts in this country have set a precedent in place that abortion must exist if the health of the mother is in question. That being said, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that abortion will NEVER go away. I am a pro-life Democrat; but at least I am looking at this realistically. I agree that Obama’s answer was weak. However, the downside to a McCain presidency, with all that has happened in the last 8 years of Bush II, overrides anything that Obama said in this forum. I will vote Libertarian before I vote for McCain.