John McCain Put The Health Of The Mother In Finger Quotes

by Todd Beeton, Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:24:04 AM EST

Bye bye women. Hell, by the end of the debate, even my Republican mother emailed me to mock him.

This is a moment, as many have said before, that John McCain will come to regret.




Tags: john mccain, presidential debate (all tags)

Display:
Permalink :: 28 Comments :: Post a Comment


How soon to the ads go up? (2.00 / 2)

Yes, let's us hear from those who say Roe isn't important in this election...

I think it just got important...


Support the separation of Church and State: Vote YES on WA R-71!
by WashStateBlue on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:42:17 PM EST

Re: How soon to the ads go up? (2.00 / 2)

Especially since a lot of people probably thought going into this thing that McCain was pro choice... Everyone just assumes that 'cos he's such a "maverick", but it's wrong.  McCain has ALWAYS been anti-abortion... that is one position he hasn't flip flopped on.


"This was never part of our arrangement, Specter" "I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!" "This deal keeps getting worse all the time!"
by LordMike on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:44:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

You beat me by about a minute (2.00 / 3)

That was just so callous and unbelievably dismissive.

To say that the scare-quoted "'health' of the mother" had "been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything'" and then go on to equate it with extremism ... I can't remember the last time something that one of these heavily prepped Republicans said made me so angry. They're usually briefed on how to at least hide their contempt for women and our well-being.


by Natasha Chart on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:43:32 PM EST

Ewwwwww (none / 0)

Is he the grossest person to ever run for President?


I attended PUMACon '08!!!
by iohs2008 on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:44:26 PM EST

Re: Ewwwwww (2.00 / 1)

No.
I call you attention to the Republican candidate in 2000 and 2004.
by sneakers563 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 02:22:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I knew someone was going to respond w/ that (none / 0)

Let me rephrase: is he the creepiest? I never thought of Bush as "creepy".


I attended PUMACon '08!!!
by iohs2008 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 10:04:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: John McCain Put The Health Of The Mother In (2.00 / 1)

"Health of the mother"..."all retarded kids are the same"

Let me tell ya, mother's of special needs children are NOT going to be happy with his "Sarah Palin knows more about Autism than most" remark.  Not only is that in itself insulting, her child has Downs Syndrome--having a nephew with Autism does not make one an "expert."


John McCain smells like mothballs.
by asherrem on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:45:38 PM EST

That's the RR view... (2.00 / 1)

The woman is just a vessel, the baby is the point...

Kind of a 9th century view, but they are still stuck in it...

That's going to kill McCain, when we remember the moments, its

I'm not Bush

Joe the Plumber..

And considering the life of the mother is an extremist view...

Any woman that votes for McCain hates her gender.


Support the separation of Church and State: Vote YES on WA R-71!
by WashStateBlue on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:48:20 PM EST

Fox is embarrasing themselves (2.00 / 1)

They think Joe the plumber is going to be a winning strategy.  These guys are a joke.

McCain couldn't have given a worse answer to the abortion segment; he sounded like an evasive evangelical.


by Blazers Edge on Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 11:54:31 PM EST

Re: Fox is embarrasing themselves (2.00 / 1)

I was hoping Obama would pounce on McCain's "Joe, I want you to keep your wealth, you spread it around" line to segue over to the economy. Something along the lines of "neither Joe nor anyone else will have any wealth to spread around if the economy continues on its present course"...


Avoid the word "socialism" when conversing with me, and I'll avoid the term "ignoramus" when responding to you.
by Sumo Vita on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 01:42:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The Health Of The Mother In Finger Quotes (2.00 / 1)

Strangely, the focus group "squiggles" didn't go below the neutral point during that.


The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country. ~RFK
by Vox Populi on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:26:41 AM EST

Re: The Health Of The Mother In Finger Quotes (2.00 / 2)

I think it happened too quickly, just the same as his dismissal of Ledbetter. It really needs to be shown in a 20-second clip to be effective.
by rfahey22 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:32:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Health Of The Mother In Finger Quotes (none / 0)

Yeah, I wish the clip was a bit longer so we could see the dial response as the statement sunk in. A lot of clips are cut too short like that.
Funny to see that the dials went down pretty much the exact moment McCain opened his mouth though (although I haven't seen these debates on any of the "dial" channels yet so perhaps it drops everytime the other one starts talking?)
by Ott on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 03:13:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Health Of The Mother In Finger Quotes (none / 0)

That Ledbetter dismissal made me cringe. I'm hardly a feminist but such an offhand disregard for a core issue such as gender pay equity REALLY got me angry.
You know, I'm going to hop on my soapbox here. John McCain is going to be the worst thing that happened to women if he gets elected. Like I said before I'm not feminist. On sundays I'm watching football in my underwear, I wear a tanktop around the house, and I love smacking my wives arse in public. But I am Democrat for a reason. McCain logic  of statute of Limitations being a reason why someone shouldn't get back pay and that the whole case was a trial lawyer's dream was damn near frightening.
*I gained a whole lot of respect for Hillary Clinton when John McCain picked Sarah Palin.
I lost a ton of respect for John Mccain when he categorically dismissed the health of the Mother as a reason for having an abortion and that WOmen don't deserve backup pay if they don't file a suit within 180 days. *
Man, let me get my checkbook......
A PROUD Hopium user!
by xodus1914 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 10:31:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: John McCain Put The Health Of The (2.00 / 1)

I wonder if Palin will make the same gesture. They do see eye to eye, after all.
by rfahey22 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:32:02 AM EST

Re: Finger Quotes (2.00 / 1)

In journalism, we call them "sneer quotes." McCain's wiggles were a good example of a sneer quote.


by Vico on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:36:37 AM EST

McCain's got sass. (2.00 / 2)

Air quotes.

He used air quotes.  Jesus Christ, he makes Bob Dole look like JFK.

btw, has anyone else noticed how BEAUTIFULLY troll free things have been lately?


When you start out making the "slippery slope" argument, where do you draw the line?
by Jess81 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 01:17:09 AM EST

Re: McCain's got sass. (2.00 / 1)

Trolls generally feed off of existing angst. It's hard to be angsty when our side is up by 6-10 and has swept the debates. What do they have to work with?
by rfahey22 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 01:41:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

There is a valid point here (none / 0)

That the "health of the mother" exception has been stretched some.  That being said, there is a way to make that point without taking a hot, steaming dump all over good people with valid concerns.

I'll take a little risk and say his underlying point, through a legislative lens, wasn't entirely bankrupt (as a criticism, not as a cure!).  He just managed to mangle that criticism and maul himself in the process.  It'll cost him.

And it should.  Dangerous and inflammatory points should not be made flippantly and off the cuff.  That remark will play well with their base and precisely NOBODY else.


by Reaper0Bot0 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 01:40:32 AM EST

Re: There is a valid point here (none / 0)

I think most people would rather the "health" of the mother be incorrectly applied in some cases than have women die because McCain and Palin value future Christian warriors more than current mothers.


by ProgressiveDL on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 08:47:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: There is a valid point here (none / 0)

This is about how I saw it too. I see the stretching too. But, regardless of however valid the point was, he did a horrible job of expressing it. He should've agreed with "health of the mother" first, and clearly -- then chiseled out a bit of ground where he thought things were stretched.

Instead he managed to pretty much say that, because it's been stretched, we should just give up on it entirely and to heck with the health of the mother.

It's even going to tank with part of the base. They won't suddenly vote for Obama, but even part of the base, even the ones who won't go for the rape and incest exception, still care about the health of the mother.


No Way. No How. No McCain-Palin!
by Texas Gray Wolf on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 09:58:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Another Scary Hand Gesture (none / 0)

Anyone pick up McCain's 3rd-base coach signal when he uttered the phrase "tragedy at Dallas"?
For McCain, the significance of the Kennedy assassination was that it prevented what would have been the great Kennedy-Goldwater townhalls.

As the Maverick was blaming his own negative ads and terroristic crowds on Obama's failure to engage in a series of townhalls, McCain brought up Kennedy and Goldwater's fabled agreement to tour the country (yay!) and have townhall debates in the run-up to the '64 election (Kennedy would probably have left Goldwater hanging, IMO).

When he got to the phrase, "tragedy at Dallas," McCain looked down, raised his hand to his face, pinched his nose, then lowered his hand.  It was as if he was telegraphing that "tragedy at Dallas" was an empty phrase.  I wish I had the video, but I don't.  It was creepy.


New Blog, Telephone House -- http://telephonehouse.blogspot.com/
by Jack1982 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 02:02:22 AM EST

Re: Another Scary Hand Gesture (none / 0)

Eh. I think McCain's just an increasingly poor speaker (seriously, he's gotten less lucid just during this campaign -- not an age slam, I think he's just tired).

There's a lot of bad things to say about McCain; I think he'd be a worse President than Bush, which six months ago I thought was ridiculous. But I don't think he was intentionally making light of the assassination, nor saying that the tragedy was just the loss of the townhalls. It just came out poorly.


No Way. No How. No McCain-Palin!
by Texas Gray Wolf on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 10:01:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Maybe not an age *slam*, but surely age-related (none / 0)

Campaigning, as Bush might say, is hard work, and even a much younger person might get a bit worn out over time.

But by all accounts, the Presidency isn't much easier.  Whether it's the toll of the Presidential campaign that has made him less lucid, or other health factors that have done so (and I agree that he IS distinctly less clear and lucid than he was two years ago), then he's just not healthy enough to be President.

And putting a ditzy, sexy babe in the Oval Office might be a funny movie premise, but it would be pretty awful in real life.


by RT on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 10:10:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: John McCain Put The Health Of The Mother In Fi (none / 0)

Barack Obama won by being smooth jazz - boring but soothing. http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/1 0/barack-obama-is-smooth-jazz-boring-but .html


by smartblackboy on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 05:33:34 AM EST

Disdain for Women (none / 0)

I believe McCain showed, once again, his disdain and disrespect for women. He's good at showing disdain....that's all he's shown to Obama in the three debates. Oh, and Joe the Plumber, McCain isn't really all that fond of you either!
by zenful6219 on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 06:39:23 AM EST

"Pro-abortion" (none / 0)

Yeh right - (liberal) women are getting pregnant just so they can have the pleasure of an abortion. Do McCain et al ever frame any issue honestly?  Are they for any women's rights?


by ocoocher on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 07:23:38 AM EST

There is a legitimate argument there (none / 0)

Obama has discussed the complexities of the issue in detail many times, and very few people dispute that we have to be careful what we define as "health of the woman," but McCain, because he really doesn't like women all that much, has so little credibility or interest talking about the subject that he comes across as an arrogant prick.

Interestingly enough, he is, in fact, an arrogant prick.  So it works out.


You can't stop the signal.

President "That One"

by Dracomicron on Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 10:23:23 AM EST


You are not logged in.

In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.

If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.

Login
Username:

Password: