The fundamental squalor of the American right wing

[womzilla]

In the third (and final) Obama-McCain debate, McCain said this about the right of women to have an abortion in cases of medical necessity:

[Obama says he's for the] health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health."

The transcript (from the LA Times) has that last "health" in quotes because McCain actually made air-quotes as he said that. No, really. I'm not making that up.

PNH described John McCain's eye-rolling about assassination of Columbian labor leaders as "moral squalor". But really, the explicit contempt shown to the concept of abortion as a possible health issue is even more shocking. I think it's better described as Sam Bee does in this clip from The Daily Show: "John McCain has put women's health where it belongs: in derisive air quotes".

video courtesy of duckydoo



McCain to women: Drop "dead".

Comments

[del-c.livejournal.com]

DOG WHISTLE: UR DOING IT WRONG

[gareth-wilson.livejournal.com]

Not McCain's finest hour, I'll grant you. But there's a serious point here. Imagine a completely healthy pregnant woman, to whom the pregnancy poses no danger whatsoever. Is there anyone reading this who would have any objection to her having an abortion?
I thought not. And no, I wouldn't either. So from our point of view, isn't a health exception an enormous red herring? We'd never tolerate a situation in which a women had to prove she'd be harmed by a pregnancy, so it's disingenuous to pretend to argue for it. And McCain is correct about slippage in the definition of health. New Zealand permits abortion only in cases of fetal deformity, incest, or physical and mental harm to the mother. But the legal abortion rate is essentially the same as the US, so someone's stretching definitions somewhere.

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

My feelings about abortion are pretty complicated, and I don't think the health exception is a red herring in any way. For me at least.

I remember that "quote, health" line as the jaw-dropping, "I cannot believe he just said that out loud" moment of the debate. It probably didn't hurt McCain too badly, because anyone who would be offended by it had probably already been driven away by Sarah Palin. But it sure cemented my resolve to work harder for Obama.

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

It's not really an exemption that's of concern for abortion supporters. Opponents of abortion who believe that they are pragmatic need an argument that allows them to deal with medical issues like ectopic pregnancy that have a miniscule (possibly anecdotal) chance of producing a viable baby and a high risk to the mother. Similarly, the exception for rape or incest is part of an attempt to appear less extreme.

What protectors of legal abortions use these exemptions for is as cover to reject anti-abortion laws and as a way to peel off some support.

While the extremes of both sides don't accept it, it really does make a difference for something like 1 in 3 people (http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm). "With exceptions" is the position of forty-something percent of the people. "No exceptions" is the position of 10-20% of the people.

McCain holds the extreme position here and explains it poorly.

There are plenty of arguments against the "with exceptions" position, but they're not generally called on when challenging a "no exceptions" policy.

[redbird]

There are probably people here who would (a) agree it's her decision but (b) make a serious effort, possibly involving significant emotional pressure, to convince her not to have an abortion.