Aborting The Real Debate
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I woke up in an alternative universe. When I went to sleep the previous night, we were in the early stages of a presidential campaign in which the most critical issue was the deplorable state of the US economy. The most glaring indicator of the economy’s weakness was an unemployment rate of over 15%. Yes, I know that the official unemployment rate is 8.3%. But to arrive at that number, Obama’s Labor Department must neglect millions of Americans who have despaired of ever finding work again and have given up and those who are grievously underemployed.
Even if the economy were humming along, there are peripheral issues that belong in the conversation. One is a gun running scandal in which Obama’s Justice Department smuggled thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to drum up support for stricter gun control laws. These guns have been used in hundreds of murders. And so far, the Justice Department’s response has been the crudest, most oafish and unconvincing coverup imaginable.
And also hanging over this administration has been a lowering cloud of corruption. There are numerous documented occasions of Obama funneling hundred of millions of dollars into the pockets of campaign contributors. Recently released documents also reveal how Obama’s Federal Communications Commission drove the prime competitor of one big contributor out of business.
Those were the sorts of things that mattered when I went to bed. But I must have fallen down a rabbit hole because, when I got out of bed the following morning, the biggest issue in the in the alternate universe was birth control. Birth control is suddenly such an all consuming issue that David Gregory, the host of NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning news magazine, declared 2012 as the, “Year of Birth Control Moms.”
Seriously? With widespread unemployment, the looting of the Social Security system, corruption, soaring gasoline prices, a nuclear Iran and bumbling incompetence as far as the eye can see, this is the year of the birth control mom?
When was the last time that birth control was a political issue? Somewhere back in the 1960’s there were some deliberations, but aside from some moral debates, it’s been a dead issue ever since. I was around when the birth control pill was introduced and even then it was not something around which a general election revolved.
Now that’s not to say that there was no consternation about whether or not birth control pills were a good idea. And to be honest, many of concerns that the moralists expressed about inconsequential sex have been vindicated. And I even remember the joke about how women should consider using aspirin tablets as birth control pills by holding one tight between their knees.
Women back then were made of sterner stuff. They just groaned at bad jokes back then. Today’s liberated woman, such as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, fall faint with a case of the vapors when they hear a bad joke.
Or, it could be that I’m still in my same universe and the Democrats are up to their old fan dance, with the mainstream news media acting as the plumage.
A few months ago, at a Republican debate hosted by ABC News, Bill Clinton’s former hatchet man George Stephanopolous, now paid by ABC but clearly still working for the Democrats, began hammering away on the issue of birth control. The central issue should have been the economy (stupid!), but Stephanopolous insisted upon focusing the debate on birth control.
Does anybody seriously believe that Republicans are going to try to outlaw birth control pills?
This contraception business really started when Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional authority and tried to force churches to pay for abortions. When that backfired, he stepped even farther outside his authority and dictated that insurance companies provide abortion coverage free of charge. What started as a debate on the limits of executive branch authority was quickly turned into an attempt to convince women that Republicans wanted women barefoot and pregnant. And yes, one Democrat congressman actually said that.
It’s understandable that Democrats and the news media would want to change the subject. Who would want to run on the promise of four more years of what we’ve just gone through? And to reach back to a debate that was settled five decades ago shows just how little the Democrats have to fight back with.
Even if the economy were humming along, there are peripheral issues that belong in the conversation. One is a gun running scandal in which Obama’s Justice Department smuggled thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to drum up support for stricter gun control laws. These guns have been used in hundreds of murders. And so far, the Justice Department’s response has been the crudest, most oafish and unconvincing coverup imaginable.
And also hanging over this administration has been a lowering cloud of corruption. There are numerous documented occasions of Obama funneling hundred of millions of dollars into the pockets of campaign contributors. Recently released documents also reveal how Obama’s Federal Communications Commission drove the prime competitor of one big contributor out of business.
Those were the sorts of things that mattered when I went to bed. But I must have fallen down a rabbit hole because, when I got out of bed the following morning, the biggest issue in the in the alternate universe was birth control. Birth control is suddenly such an all consuming issue that David Gregory, the host of NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning news magazine, declared 2012 as the, “Year of Birth Control Moms.”
Seriously? With widespread unemployment, the looting of the Social Security system, corruption, soaring gasoline prices, a nuclear Iran and bumbling incompetence as far as the eye can see, this is the year of the birth control mom?
When was the last time that birth control was a political issue? Somewhere back in the 1960’s there were some deliberations, but aside from some moral debates, it’s been a dead issue ever since. I was around when the birth control pill was introduced and even then it was not something around which a general election revolved.
Now that’s not to say that there was no consternation about whether or not birth control pills were a good idea. And to be honest, many of concerns that the moralists expressed about inconsequential sex have been vindicated. And I even remember the joke about how women should consider using aspirin tablets as birth control pills by holding one tight between their knees.
Women back then were made of sterner stuff. They just groaned at bad jokes back then. Today’s liberated woman, such as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, fall faint with a case of the vapors when they hear a bad joke.
Or, it could be that I’m still in my same universe and the Democrats are up to their old fan dance, with the mainstream news media acting as the plumage.
A few months ago, at a Republican debate hosted by ABC News, Bill Clinton’s former hatchet man George Stephanopolous, now paid by ABC but clearly still working for the Democrats, began hammering away on the issue of birth control. The central issue should have been the economy (stupid!), but Stephanopolous insisted upon focusing the debate on birth control.
Does anybody seriously believe that Republicans are going to try to outlaw birth control pills?
This contraception business really started when Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional authority and tried to force churches to pay for abortions. When that backfired, he stepped even farther outside his authority and dictated that insurance companies provide abortion coverage free of charge. What started as a debate on the limits of executive branch authority was quickly turned into an attempt to convince women that Republicans wanted women barefoot and pregnant. And yes, one Democrat congressman actually said that.
It’s understandable that Democrats and the news media would want to change the subject. Who would want to run on the promise of four more years of what we’ve just gone through? And to reach back to a debate that was settled five decades ago shows just how little the Democrats have to fight back with.
posted by Michael at
11:59 PM
2 Comments:
I think the Republicans could try and outlaw an emergency contraception pill like plan b.
Although, you are right, they probably will just play to the base on the issue and not really try and outlaw it (but claim states could do it etc).
In addition, they may make it more difficult for poor people or women in the military to access plan b.
In the end, the GOP candidates will want to avoid appearing too extreme to mainstream voters.
As you point out, getting caught up in an issue that most people have considered settled for years is not a good campaign strategy.
Hurting Republicans is whole point of this misdirection campaign by the mainstream media. I just about gagged when I read an AP "news analysis" about how the Republicans are hurting themselves by spending so much of their time during the debates talking about social issues. Just who the hell is in charge of the subjects that come up at these debates?
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