AT SADDLEBACK FORUM, WANNA-BE PREZ SAYS IT’S NOT HIS CALL
I didn’t know there was a “Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency” tonight because I’m more focused on watching American Michael Phelps’ bid to make history, but somebody shot me an excerpt from that “non-debate” that was certainly interesting.
When asked by pastor Rick Warren — author of “The Purpose Driven Life” — “at what point does a baby get human rights,” Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama stumbled over an answer and said the decision is “above my pay grade.”
I’m sorry, I know the president doesn’t get paid but a few hundred thousand dollars a year, but whose pay grade is above the President of the United… oh, you mean God?
OK, I guess that’s fine. Except, if that decision belongs to God and God alone, why do Democrats like Obama insist upon abortion being legal? And what else is “above his pay grade”? Hmm…
McCain meanwhile didn’t think twice in saying, “at conception” when asked the same question.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Democrats, National news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
McCain answered with no reservation or hesitation, “At the point of conception.”
I never could understand why anyone thinks ripping a baby from the mother’s womb is a good thing.
I think this debate basically confirmed everyone’s feelings about both candidates. If you liked McCain before the forum, you liked his performance during it. And if you liked Obama before the forum, you liked his performance during it. I think both candidates did fine. McCain shored up his support among the religious right, and Obama talked about his faith with more credibility than Democrats have recently.
And the “above my paygrade” comment was not about abortion itself, but rather when life begins. That’s one of those “no win” type questions that derails the conversation. If Obama said life began at conception, then he would immediately be asked why he supports abortion rights, as if one is not allowed to support abortion rights at all.
People, stop. There are thousands of reasons women have abortions. Here is some examples that I’d like prying1 to answer.
A lady aged 35 is admitted to the trauma ICU. She is five and one half months pregnant, brain dead as a result of this trauma and there is no family. The baby isn’t fairing well with the stress of the death of the mother. What do you do? (Hint, five and a half month olds generally don’t fair so well either and cost an enormous amount of money to maintain in hopes of a good outcome.)
A 16 year old has a drug problem, has been kicked out of her home and has no support system. She is five months pregnant and refuses to take care of herself. She has a history of running away. She has mental problems. She’s diabetic and presents in the ER with a blood sugar of 800 and the fetus is in distress. What do you do?
A 22 year old has been beaten by her live in boyfriend of two years. She is six months pregnant . She is bleeding profusely and will require surgery not to mention she has a head injury that hasn’t totally been evaluated yet. She has no support system and no job and no insurance. The baby is in distress with an extremely rapid heartbeat. The mother needs needs extensive surgery. What do you do?
A 15 year old is mentally retarded and lives in a long term care facility. She is raped by a staff member. She now cries all the time and is severely depressed. She is pregnant as a result of this rape and she has enough understanding of the situation to not want to be forced to carry the janitor’s baby for nine months. Let’s pretend this is your daughter. What would you do?
In other words, you cannot make a rule that covers all situations people.
Anthony, With all due respect the “above my paygrade” comment confirmed the lack of religious conviction per Obama.
THIS IS KEY. Sen. Obama gave an honest answer. Cool. BUT…if you are admittedly unsure if unborn babies (fetuses) are “real” people deserving human rights…then you MUST MUST MUST err on the side of life. If you are right and babies aren’t people, then you’ve caused little harm. If you are wrong, you’ve KILLED human beings deserving of human rights just like you and me. If you are wrong, you are just like Hitler (he had a policy of killing off “unwanted” babies and kids). If you are wrong, you have the blood of 48 million babies on your hands.
If you are admittedly unsure as to the human status of a fetus, as most Democrats say they are (it’s their main argument, they just don’t know when life begins), HOW HOW HOW can you EVER err on the side of death? What if you are wrong? Someone please help me here. I’m disgusted that Rev. Warren didn’t pursue this point further. Someone tell me where I’m wrong. This is the heart of the abortion debate.
As a woman who many years ago had to make a decision as to wether to have an abortion or to give birth. I chose to give life to my son. I then gave up that son for adoption. Some 35 years later it was a delight for me to meet this son and to know I had done the right thing for him. In the years that abortion has been legal, how many babies have we aborted that would have become doctors, scientists, pastors, mothers of children who would do great things. Also consider that by this time many of those babies would have become taxpayers and our Social security system might be in better shape. In Psalms 139 God says we were known by God before we were in the womb.