Then I had to clear the cobwebs from my brain and process what was being said before I cried into my Women for Obama t-shirt.
Here is the short version, and what went on in my head as I read:
Senator Obama did an interview with some Christian magazine and said
Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain “a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother.”
Obama then added: “Now, I don’t think that ‘mental distress’ qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term.”
In my head:
oh holy hell, is he pandering to the right with this crap? are you kidding me? why would he even talk about limits and and definitions when the women’s vote is being so heavily courted by Senator McCain…is he talking about limits on just late term or could this carry over into ‘mental distress’ in any termination of pregnancy and what exactly qualifies as ‘mental distress’ and who gets to decide and why is the government even INVOLVED in this and why on earth wold he say some like that to a Christian magazine and would he have said the same to planned parenthood and what in the hell is going on with my candidate because I realize this whole ‘move to the center’ thing is really just people educating themselves on where he has ALWAYS stood but has he always stood against mental distress/late term abortion stuff….crap I need coffee.
I then hinted to fellow Huffington Post contributor Lee Stranahan that he was welcome to drive the extra 20 minutes to deliver me a latte, since he was already out getting one for his wife. Lee politely mentioned something about gas prices and I begrudgingly made myself a pot.
I’m now two cups in and ready to break this down a bit so no one gets hysterical and suffers the same caffeine-free heart failure I did a few hours ago.
NARAL endorsed Obama. They believe “A health exception must also account for the mental health problems that may occur in pregnancy. Severe fetal anomalies, for example, can exact a tremendous emotional toll on a pregnant woman and her family.”
If Obama acts on his position, he’d be going against NARAL and other pro-choice entities.
However, Obama spokespeople stress “Obviously, as he stated in the interview, he has consistently believed those exceptions should be clear and limited enough to ensure that they don’t undermine the prohibition on late-term abortions.”
Which I HOPE means he’s not going to push that provision because it would undermine.
We will need clarification on that before we all go crazy here.
I’ll be the first to admit late-term abortion is where my very staunch support of all reproductive rights gets clouded. It’s uncomfortable to think about, to grapple with, to imagine. However I always default to the position of NOT knowing every woman’s situation.
We also know our right to control our own reproduction is constantly under attack. The anti-choice movement takes every inch they can get on any issue on the table to tries and ‘undermine’ current laws and legislation.
The issues are varied and the debate is large and overwhelming.
Even in my own family, the discussion and debate causes problems. My husband and I disagree over parental consent and continue to go around-and-around on the topic.
I respect my husband’s opinion, but I think he’s wrong.
I respect Senator Obama’s opinion, but I think he’s wrong.
I still married my husband, and we continue to debate the issue.
I’m still voting for Obama, and expect we will continue to debate the issue.
Maybe voting is a bit like marriage.
My husband has core values that I agree with and we compromise and fight and respect each other on some of the details.
Senator Obama has a core values that I agree with…I’m guessing between FISA and this, the compromise and fight and respect on those details will also emerge.
So long as those core values remain, I’m guessing we can stay out of divorce proceedings.
So long as those core values remain, I’m guessing we can stay out of third-party candidate, write-in vote proceedings.
The Senator, like my husband, remains the best person for the job.
Although I wish they were both a bit more like Mrs. Stranahan’s husband and would bring me some coffee.
Erin Kotecki Vest is Political Director at BlogHer.com and thinks she’s Queen of the World on her own blog Queen of Spain blog. She also contributes over at MOMocrats where even her non-coffee bringing husband has guest posted so the entire family can Rage Against the McCain.
Please don’t be surprised that an ex-POW would be ‘mean’ to a woman or have some temper issues.
As for Cindy McCain…other than looking like the perfect Stepford wife while standing next to him on stage, I don’t know much about her. Maybe she likes being called a cunt? Maybe under all that hairspray and makeup she’s some sex freak who gets off on being berated in public? Maybe she’s secretly plotting to publicly call her husband an asshole during his next big speech? Either way, I’m going to guess husband and wife name-calling occurs on SOME level in the McCain household. Maybe it doesn’t. All I know is the whole story had my husband writing.
MOMocrats, meet DADocrat Aaron Vest:
There’s a new dust up on the campaign trail for the McCain camp. You’ve probably already heard about the new book by Cliff Schecter, “The Real McCain”. In the book Schecter writes:
“Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain’s intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, “You’re getting a little thin up there.” McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.” McCain’s excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.”
And the outrage ensues.
Feminists are outraged by the use of the word cunt. The Morally Correct simply don’t like curse words at all, especially words like cunt. And many other people are just scared that McCain could take his notorious temper into White House and start hammering away at the button with his fist, red faced jowels flapping around wildly in the wind, while screaming “Ahmadinejad is a cunt!” People believe this could happen. They do. They really really do. And they are outraged. As a side note, I think it’s rather ironic that people would be “outraged” by his temper. But anyway…
I, for one, think that we should take a step back and give McCain the benefit of the doubt on this one. We may know about his voting record. We may know about his policies. We do know all about his heroics as POW. But what we don’t know very much about is Cindy McCain. It’s quite possible that she really is a cunt. And a big one at that. Have you ever spent a really long hard day with a really big cunt? It’d piss you off too. Especially if the cunt started making fun of your male pattern baldness.
This raises a serious question, how could he have not known she was a cunt before committing to her? Did he just assume that heck, he can just easily make her stop being a cunt just because he married her? Was his best man telling him he’d be able to do it in less than a year at almost no cost? Did McCain know the history of her family? I bet he’d feel pretty silly to find out now that there is a long history of being a cunt in her family. After he discovered he couldn’t get her to stop being a cunt he probably wished he had an exit strategy for the marriage. Or at least a pre-nup. Maybe he just planned on being married to her for 100 more years, or however long it took. Who knows really?
So while I’m perfectly willing to accept John McCain’s assessment that he married a cunt, I think that says more about his judgment than anything else. Honestly, I think the last thing we need right now is another cunt in the White House.
…Oh stop it Hillary supporters, I wasn’t talking to you.
Erin Kotecki Vest writes at Queenofspainblog.com her husband usually doesn’t write anywhere
My not-exactly 5-year old loves cows. He sleeps with a stuffed cow named Kaiser (that’s the name he came with, I swear) and begged me to take him to the county fair so he could see cows live and in person.
He likes their teats.
Go ahead-make the “you breastfed him too long” joke or the “a man who knows what he likes” as I’m over it. Whatever the reason, the boy really, really, really is udder obsessed.
Thus began my (and Nana’s) search for a stuffed cow with udders. It’s been a good year of searching, at least. You’d be surprised how many stuffed cows are out there, and how zero of them have udders.
Enter Sim from Utterz.com. I met Sim at Blog World Expo in Vegas and while I was *supposed* to be talking business, I was instead explaining to him how his company’s mascot, Bessie, would make my son the happiest little boy on planet earth.
Time passed.
I continued to use Utterz (if you haven’t yet, go check it out, it’s fun) and exchanged a few emails with Sim here and there.
Then a box arrived at my door, and my son’s world changed forever:
All PR/Marking People: got a product you want me to try? Maybe a site you would like me to review? Or just want to pick my Mommyblogging-consultant brain? You get 140 characters now. Have fun.
