Roger’s Rules

August 17th, 2008 6:18 am

Above his pay grade? Obama opts out

Last night, the televangelist Rick Warren asked Barack Obama and John McCain at what point a baby gets human rights. Whatever your position on abortion–whether you think it comes under the category of “reproductive rights” or regard it as a moral enormity–I think you’ll find their respective answers indicative of their character.

Obama: “. . . whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity . . . is above my pay grade.”

McCain: a baby’s human rights began “at the moment of conception . . . I have a 25-year pro-life record.”

I can understand that people who favor “abortion rights” would not like John McCain’s answer. I find it difficult to believe that any candid person could regard Obama’s response as anything but an insulting and mendacious equivocation. It is insulting because it ostentatiously evades the question while giving a little wink to his home team: “Oh, these religious morons and their obsession with abortion! Of course, I could care less about it, but I also know it’s impolitic to say so, so I’ll emit a brief rhetoric fog and hope no one will notice.” And it’s mendacious because when it comes to “pay grades,” no one’s is higher than the President’s. If a man who aspires to the highest office in the land cannot respond to a pointed question about an important moral issue without taking refuge in empty sophistries, how will he deal with the myriad difficult issues with which the President is confronted daily? It seems to me that in claiming that it is “above his pay grade” to answer this question forthrightly, Obama essentially admits that he is unfit for the office he covets.

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49 Comments

1. Paul:

To begin with, this glitzy televangelical caper was an insult to the Enlightenment figures who, at the risk of their lives, founded this country, and to the Constitution they wrote for it(under the insults of the televangelical equivalents of that day).

Given that, your judgment of the statements of the two candidates is entirely just. Obama’s is for all the reasons you offered a disgrace. McCain’s, on the other hand, is merely ignorant, or if not that, then purest politics(which isn’t necessarily the same thing).

At the moment of conception there isn’t anything like a “baby,” just a zygote. And if it is “human,” or potentially human, then so are the thousands of epithelial cells — each with its own complement of DNA capable of yielding a cloned me — that I destroy each morning when I shave. Beyond which, if every conceptus is human or potentially so, then the real killer of nascent humans is whoever designed the female reproductive tract. It aborts a very large fraction of all conceptuses spontaneously, and the potentialo mothers are completly unaware of it.

The whole argument is NOT a moral argument: it is a dumb one, and gets in the way of what one keeps hoping is the emergence of a rational, modern conservatism.

Aug 17, 2008 - 7:12 am 2. Jill:

I’m pro-choice, but I support John McCain. Abortion is an important issue to me, but national security trumps it. I don’t want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, but I’m more concerned about having whacked out activist judges appointed to churn out more Kelo type decisions than I am about having principled, conservative jurists with an originalist interpretation appointed.

Aug 17, 2008 - 7:18 am 3. Broadsword:

“Neither not an unequivocator nor an answerer of questions direct be; for answers clear oft come backwards biting once again, and clarity dulls the bright edge of sophistries’ evasions; This above all, to thine own interests be most cunning, and it must follow as the networks follow on the camps, thou wilst be the most vascillilatory and base of men.”

Aug 17, 2008 - 7:23 am 4. Doc O:

Paul, the epithelial cells you loose with shaving are already dead.Anybody who has completed a course in embryology KNOWS what the answer is to the question that is above Mr. Obama’s paygrade.It is true that most zygotes probably don’t make it- it is also true that before Lister and Pasteur most infants did’t make it either.Are infants human? Abortion is a difficult subject with moral implications on both sides.However, the myth that a fetus is not a human life poisons the dialogue. The question should be “what is the value of that life?”.

Aug 17, 2008 - 8:04 am 5. tbogg:

Obama is running for God? Who knew…..

Aug 17, 2008 - 8:36 am 6. srlucado:

Fer cryin’ out loud, can’t Obama give a straight answer to any question?*

If he was unprepared to answer this, what was he doing at this forum, anyway? Someone on his staff must have known that this would come up, and fed him something better to say than talking about a pay grade. Empty suit, empty head.

Scott

*I’m reminded of the story about Groucho Marx being invited to a seance, and being given a chance to ask the spirits a question. He asked, “What’s the capital of North Dakota?” (Would Obama know the answer?)

Aug 17, 2008 - 9:37 am 7. Steve Skubinna:

I’m guessing that Obama thought he was displaying a self deprecating sense of humor.

Bad move. Not only does he not do humor well, but self deprecation is a previously undisplayed quality of his. It contradicts his expressed belief that he is a Man of Destiny (I am paraphrasing, but nobody who has heard his speeches can fail to appreciate his apparent conviction that He Is The Man and Now Is His Time).

Aug 17, 2008 - 9:52 am 8. Did McCain Best Obama At The Faith Forum?:

[...] the two candidates’ answers on an abortion related question illustrated their character…to Obama’s detriment. –Firedoglake: McSame mostly did okay until he started rambling about Russia, and then he was [...]

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:12 am 9. Cindie:

It’s strange that a HUMAN being wouldn’t support another HUMAN being that lived despite an attempt to abort this CHILD. I commend McCain highly for his response to this question.

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:33 am 10. Chet:

Obama came from the most corrupt political machine in the US and he shows it. He has not risen above Ward Heeler status (Peoples Republic of Hyde Park)and he cannot talk

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:54 am 11. Fausta:

Obama, eating his waffle…again.

Aug 17, 2008 - 12:36 pm 12. ahem:

An idea that might make the issue more apposite to your own life, Roger, would be to consider what happens to the status of all our lives–both religious and secular–once we allow a human to live or die based on whether or not its continued existence is convenient–as we have.

If humans can be aborted in the interest of convenience, then human life is no longer sacred–no, not even yours or mine–and it is merely a question of time until we discover the circumstances under which society can dispense with us. For example, I can see a day where you might be begging an officer of the US National Health Service for a treatment that will save the life of your mother only to be told that, unfortunately, there’s not enough money in the budget to save everyone, and what little there is would be best spent on someone younger.

Life is sacred for all of us, or it’s not scared for any of us.

It’s coming.

Aug 17, 2008 - 12:37 pm 13. Andrew:

Well said, ahem. The sting of convience or inconvience will haunt at a more conscious stage of our lives pretty soon.

Aug 17, 2008 - 1:06 pm 14. Bob_R:

I think Obama had prepared for a moral/religious question about abortion. He planned to duck it by deferring to God – hence the prepared “above my pay grade” line. Warren crossed him up by asking a very precise legal question – when a baby has a legal right to life. Obama didn’t want to give an honest answer to that question in front of this audience (he believes that a baby has no rights until it is outside the mother’s womb) but couldn’t think fast enough to steer the question back to the one he had prepared for. It will be an interesting couple of months.

Aug 17, 2008 - 1:33 pm 15. Paul:

Doc O:

Maybe all YOUR integumentary epithelial cells are dead; quite a few of mine are alive, and I have in fact extracted perfectly good DNA from them — although of course other body cells, un-keratinized, or their nuclei for preference, would be a better choice for cloning. But your argument is a red herring anyway. You know perfectly well what I meant.

A zygote is a diploid cell; a blastocyst is an early embryo, some of whose cells have begun the trip toward determination, but only begun it. There are as yet no “tissues” and nothing even remotely like sensation, let alone like consciousness. Those latter two are words that need not be played with: they stand for themselves, unlike “human” or “baby.” Perhaps, though, you believe there is already a soul in the zygote or the blastocyst?

I have, BTW, not only completed a course in embryology, but taught them for some forty years, in some good universities. Google me up! As to “Are infants human?” Sure, depending upon what you define as an “infant.” And so what? Yes, abortion is a difficult moral question, but it is that only because some few not very ancient forms of religious belief MAKE it a moral question, and because abortion is (almost) always a painful emotional issue for the potential mother, whether or not she is religious. But There is no reason in reason, in the twenty-first century, for abortion to be a “litmus test” issue for political candidates in a nominally secular liberal society with existential problems to solve.

Aug 17, 2008 - 1:47 pm 16. BealerCaudill:

Never heard the program, but Is it possible we would be better off if Oboma was aborted?

Aug 17, 2008 - 2:24 pm 17. Eric Miller:

On Hannity’s America tonight Jill Stanek will discuss the issue of Obama’s opposition to the Illinois statute that would have obligated proper medical care for infants born alive during a botched abortion procedure. Not only was Obama’s position extreme on this issue it appears that even as late as yesterday on CNN he has misrepresented the facts on this issue. I began covering this issue a month ago on my blog http://www.who-is-barack.blogspot.com. Give it a look.

Aug 17, 2008 - 4:50 pm 18. Donna:

Beyond which, if every conceptus is human or potentially so, then the real killer of nascent humans is whoever designed the female reproductive tract. It aborts a very large fraction of all conceptuses spontaneously, and the potentialo mothers are completly unaware of it.

So we should have no problems with abortion, because women frequently miscarry? Oh, now there’s a justification for murder I’ve not yet heard.

A certain number of people drown each year. That doesn’t mean it’s OK to hold their heads under the water.

I once worked in a NICU. I have seen dedicated physicians and nurses labor to save tiny pre-term infants. The staffers were under the impression they were saving human beings. However, in Obama land, the status of those premies is entirely dependent on the mother’s feelings. If she wants the baby, medical professionals will do all in the power to save the child; if not, well, than other medical professionals are more than happy to chop the kid to bits and toss the remains in the trash can.

Aug 17, 2008 - 5:23 pm 19. james:

Its above any politicians “pay grade” to answer that with specificity

Theologically- he isn’t God or ordained to do the work of god-thus is not all knowing.
Scientific- not even the scientific community can answer it specifically.

Its not an evasion of the question, he is simply saying “i don’t know” because the truth is no one on this planet knows for sure, people may have feelings for it one way or another, but they don’t “know” so your premise of evasion is asinine.

and i don’t have to tell you there are things above the president’s “pay grade” he isn’t the most well payed and he does rely on the reports of others (or should) to make an honest and fair answer.

as far as how Obama answered the question overall, he did well. He said exactly what a democrat, and a true christian would of wanted to hear. that is criminalizing the deed doesn’t stop the fact that women are having unprotected sex when not prepared for the life of a child. overturning roe v wade only treats the symptom of a larger problem. Also he highlights that its a personal choice, many christians have decided to be pro-life and thats their choice, others take a pro-choice line on the issue. With no hard evidence to suggest life begins at conception or birth the issue becomes an ethical and personal one, and if anti-abortionist are so worried about the amount of pregnancies terminated they should do their best to influence the personal decisions of others in a positive light, not criminalize it and pass judgement on others which is not very christian

Aug 17, 2008 - 6:25 pm 20. praetorian:

Paul,

Your technical expertise clouds your moral reasoning with certainty and reductionism. The potentiality of an embryo within the human womb is of a different category than skin you slough off during shaving. That is obvious to anyone upon a moments reflection, save enlightenment fundamentalists with axes to grind.

Do we weep over lost zygotes? No. Should we? Perhaps.

This is deep water, and at these depths reason is an aid, not a guide.

Cheers,
prat

Aug 17, 2008 - 7:36 pm 21. L.Shock:

FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT DON’T UNDERSTAND ……………………..WHEN OBAMA SAID IT WAS ABOVE HIS PAY GRADE……………….THAT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH WHICH MEANT………………AS FAR AS ABORTION FROM A MORAL STAND POINT AND WHEN LIFE TRULY BEGINS, THAT IS FOR GOD TO JUDGE…………….. IT IS A FIGURE OF SPEECH, HE’S SAYING THAT I CAN NOT JUDGE WHETHER A WOMAN HAVING AN ABORTION IS RIGHT OR WRONG ……………..ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE HER……………SERIOUS PEOPLE YOU GUYS TAKE EVERYTHING SOOOOOOOOOOOO LITERAL. I HONESTLY THINK THATS WHY A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T LIKE HIM BECAUSE THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND HIM. HE ACTUALLY TRIES TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO PEOPLE FROM A REAL STAND POINT BUT WE ARE ALL STILL SO DELUDED FROM LISTENING TO BS ALL THESE YEARS THAT WE DON’T UNDERSTAND SOMEONE WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO BE HONEST AND FORTHRIGHT.

Aug 17, 2008 - 8:08 pm 22. Michael:

Paul, your argument seems to rest on the distinction that, since your epithelial cells are potentially human beings, they are of a kind exact in nature with blastocysts. This obscures the elementary point that an epithelial cell, while it contains DNA that could potentially be cloned in our technological era, will not evolve, naturally, into a human being. The fetus is not a “potential” human being, as your DNA-laden cells are; it is a human being that is simply in one of its earliest stages of growth.

Aug 17, 2008 - 8:54 pm 23. Greg:

I thought Ronald Reagan had a good answer for an argument like Paul’s: Since you cannot say when human life begins, abortion should not be an option. Otherwise, you are at risk of killing an innocent human being.

Unless you think it is passage through the birth canal that renders us human.

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:12 pm 24. Richard:

“above my pay grade” Obviously he is not ready to lead.

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:36 pm 25. dragonfly:

I am inclined to believe that most of us interested in a rational modern conservatism would not dismiss argument on abortion because it is merely a moral issue, as Paul would have us. The fine points of reproductive biology do not trump concerns of most of us as to when purging a fetus becomes murder.

There is much mention of the agonizing of the pregnant woman over making the decision. Of the 40,000,000 abortions performed, I’d estimate over 90 percent of the decisions were made quickly and without much consideration of anything beyond inconvenience. And I believe that is a good thing. It means that over 30 million unwanted children were spared neglect,abuse or psychlogical problems.

The tough question is at what time, beyond, say, a month, should termination without medical cause be illegal. In the meantime, to hell with the zygotes -I’ll go with McCain.

Aug 18, 2008 - 1:35 am 26. Doc O:

Paul, I’m about to see my first patient. I’m Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. I have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa and AOA.I have graduated with cum laude degrees from two world class universities.However,none of that can change white to black or make two plus two equal three. Your cloned skin cell(why not a buccal smear?)is not a unique product of conception like an embryo.Remember, most of our data on blastocysts comes from a handfull of specimens at the Carnegie Institute in D.C.-I would not be so quick to rule out humanity based on appearence.

Aug 18, 2008 - 6:28 am 27. Le Car:

“when it comes to “pay grades,” no one’s is higher than the President’s”

No one? Not even God?

If there’s anyone who knows insulting and mendacious, it’s Roger Kimball.

Aug 18, 2008 - 8:04 am 28. Bailey Yankee:

McCain says what he believes. That doesn’t mean he’s hell-bent on forcing his beliefs on the rest of us. A president can believe many things and not have them be threats to the populace.

Obama hems-and-haws, not beccause he’s a great thinker, but rather because

1) he can’t really say what he believes because he doesn’t know –his opinion depends on the audience
and
2) if he does have a true opinion, he thinks expressing it will be somehow politically dangerous to his campaign.

So he ends up with long, convoluted responses that merely express his moral ambiguity.

I much prefer a definitive answer. Even if I disagree with it, at least I know where the speaker stands. I am not left with that creepy sensation of someone trying to pull the wool over my eyes with cleverness.

Aug 18, 2008 - 8:44 am 29. praetorian:

It means that over 30 million unwanted children were spared neglect,abuse or psychlogical problems.

This is as strong an argument for liquidating orphans as it is for abortion, dragonfly. It simply begs the question.

Either human life is sacrosanct, and abortion is a very, very tricky issue, or it isn’t, and all sorts of things that would horrify you are perfectly acceptable.

Rationality is not self-supporting. God set is up that way, and Godel proved it. It’s a hilarious and deeply humbling fact.

Cheers,
prat

Aug 18, 2008 - 10:15 am 30. gaetano catelli:

the entire encounter could be summed up as Harry Truman vs Hamlet.

Aug 18, 2008 - 2:00 pm 31. When Does Life Begin? « Liberty Street:

[...] there is the oddness of social conservatives objecting to a candidate deferring to God — and not even recognizing that Obama was referring to God with his “above my pay grade” remark (my bolds). I can [...]

Aug 18, 2008 - 9:01 pm 32. When Does Life Begin? | Comments from Left Field:

Aug 18, 2008 - 9:05 pm 33. DC:

I remain neutral about abortion. The biggest factor may be my age since I have no desire to start a family for the next 5-10 years, but I can see valid points on both sides of the debate. However; when it comes down to true character, I can no longer support Obama’s campaign. In the past couple of weeks it has become very evident that he is nothing more than a side-stepping, silver-tounged LAWYER! Ironically, he will fit right in at the oval office with a government that is full of idleness, corruption, and empty promises.

Aug 18, 2008 - 10:52 pm 34. Sheeple:

I hope Obama wins in November. America is too stupid to think for themselves and desperately needs a Government that can think for them. I’ve been in this country less than a year and have heard nothing but whinning about how Socialism is a bad thing. Germany is a great example of how good this system can be.

Yes, the government does put limitations on alot of things which is why it is not called Capitalism – but this type of regulation makes an even playing field for the masses and not a select few. Based on the polls, it is eveident that americans are ready to try something different…or they are very misinformed on what type of change Obama is proposing. I cannot vote, but I can convince my american friends that Obama is the new hope for the future of the world.

Aug 18, 2008 - 11:07 pm 35. RCB:

Sen. Obama’s answer to Pastor Warren’s question marks the pinnacle of moral equivalence: What’s good and evil are knowable only to God; therefore, let no man take a position on moral questions lest he be mistaken, thereby serving evil and offending God. It follows that one who decries an immoral act is just as immoral as the one whose act he decries if the act is indeed not immoral.

The foregoing leads me to question Sen. Obama’s professed Christian faith because the Bible provides principles to apply to moral issues, such as “good saves life, evil destroys it”. If Sen. Obama really were a Christian, he would have encountered this principle and perhaps would realize that it should be applied to the question of abortion. More fundamental, however, is the notion that Christians look to the Bible – the word of God – for moral guidance, thereby shunning moral equivalances. Sen. Obama seems uninterested in this fundamental aspect of the Christian faith, or rather, he is attempting to avoid telling Pastor Warren’s flock that he will not allow his Christian faith to inform his policies. Either way, he wants to have his cake and eat it, too. We the faithful cannot allow this.

Aug 19, 2008 - 12:18 am 36. awad:

“Above my pay grade”. There we have it. Obama admits that the position of President is too big for him. What a joke. I cannot he is the nominee.

Aug 19, 2008 - 4:44 am 37. blueline:

The real issue is not his comment, but his truthfulness. He says he cannot comment as it is “above is pay grade”. That is Obama’s smoke and mirrors way of saying he is not going to say what he really believes. If you do your homework, and I hope you do before voting, you will discover that Obama does indeed have a firm belief that no zygote, embryo, fetus or infant (a child born live after a failed abortion) has a right to live above the wish of the mother. Obama has documented votes in favor of all terms of abortion to include taking the life of a child born live after the abortion failed.

Please People! Do your homework. Learn more about Obama before committing to this “silver tongued LAWYER!”

Aug 19, 2008 - 9:07 am 38. Thom:

One last question; What does it tell you if someone admits he doesn’t know when life begins, BUT can tell everyone it can be terminated when you want it to be. That’s blunt… it looks like someone cares more about an issue than life itself.

Destroy an unborn human and its okay, step on an eagle’s egg and you get fined. What are we thinking?

Aug 19, 2008 - 12:23 pm 39. Texas Mike:

Sheeple, Germany has an income tax rate of 15-45%, plus 5.5% “solidarity” tax. Negative population growth. High unemployment (8-10%, depending on the source). Regulation to make an “even playing field” invariably means preventing high-achievers from outpacing unproductive people. You have a shortage of good doctors, because the “progressives” decided it wasn’t “fair” for them to make high salaries. Never mind the years of study, hard work, long hours, or intellectual capacity required to get there, it’s not “fair” to let them profit off the suffering of others, right? Your socialist government decided it would be better to tell them they have to heal the sick out of the kindness of their hearts. How long do you think it will take before no one wants to be a doctor there?

Socialism is crap. If there is no incentive to work hard, we end up in a race to the bottom – what’s the least amount of work required to be employed? I work hard because I get rewarded for it. When working hard is no longer profitable, why work hard?

Aug 19, 2008 - 3:41 pm 40. Shawn:

It is so refreshing to see that L.Shock is an intelligent person.

Why do we as a country let the media tell us what we should or should not know.

It is so depressing to see that so many people hear one line or sentence out of context and make up what it is supposed to mean.

Is it so worng to have an intelligent and well educated person want to be president. Or do we really just need actors running the show, people who can pretend to be what ever they need to be just to get elected.

I read the quote from Sen. Obama about pay grade and understood right away that he meant that it was above any human to make that decision. It is obvious to me that he is educated, and intelligent.

Our current president might have an MBA, but that does not give him intelligence. We do not need more “trust-fund” graduates leading our country, or our companies. We need real peeople who actually earned and learned their way through life.

I for one do not look at Sen. Obama as an elitist but as a man who lifted himself out of poverty and made a better life for himself. How can this be a bad thing? Isn’t that the american dream?

Aug 24, 2008 - 4:09 pm 41. blueline:

I’m so embarassed! I did not use “blueline” because I am a democrate. Which I certainly am NOT! I used it because I was a cop for 18 years. I didn’t want to be mistaken for being on the wrong side of the fence.

Aug 26, 2008 - 12:43 pm 42. mtm:

Oh Sheeple,
Thank God you can’t vote. Yes, Germany has lots of experience with its government telling the folks what to do and putting limits on their freedoms and telling them how to think. Your glory period of 1939-45 comes to mind right now. That turned out really well!

I just don’t think we’ll ever get that goose-step down as well as you all do. Call us uncoordinated but that control thing is your thing, not ours.

Aug 28, 2008 - 3:05 pm 43. Suzie Jeanne:

srlucado:

Fer cryin’ out loud, can’t Obama give a straight answer to any question?*

Scott

THANK YOU SRLUCADO. FIRSTLY, I’M NOT SURE THAT HE WOULD KNOW THE ANSWER (BISMARCK). SECONDLY, THANK YOU AGAIN. YOU TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH. OF COURSE HE WAS PREPPED FOR THIS QUESTION, BUT AS OTHERS HAVE POINTED OUT, HE ANSWERS QUESTIONS BASED UPON WHAT HE FEELS THAT HIS AUDIENCE WANTS TO HEAR, NOT BASED UPON HIS ACTUAL POSITIONS. MCCAIN AT LEAST WILL SPEAK THE UNPOPULAR ANSWER WHEN IT IS WHAT HE BELIEVES.

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:17 pm 44. Suzie Jeanne:

‘L.Shock:

—– Barack, is that you? You sound sooooooooooooo confused and indignant that it must be you….

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:18 pm 45. Suzie Jeanne:

”Shawn:

It is so refreshing to see that L.Shock is an intelligent person.

Why do we as a country let the media tell us what we should or should not know.

It is so depressing to see that so many people hear one line or sentence out of context and make up what it is supposed to mean.

Is it so WORNG to have an intelligent and well educated person want to be president. Or do we really just need actors running the show, people who can pretend to be what ever they need to be just to get elected.

I read the quote from Sen. Obama about pay grade and understood right away that he meant that it was above any human to make that decision. It is obvious to me that he is educated, and intelligent. ”

SHAWN I’M GLAD THAT SOMEONE AS INTELLIGENT AS YOU COULD PRAISE SOMEONE AS WORNG (SORRY, WRONG) AS L.SHOCK. NO ONE IS DISPUTING THAT SENATOR OBAMA IS EDUCATED, AND I DON’T THINK THAT ANYONE IS CALLING HIM STUPID. HE IS UNEXPERIENCED, UNTRUSTWORTHY, AND POLITICAL TO AN EXTREME. HE SCARES MOST PEOPLE WITH REAL INTELLIGENCE. I DON’T MEAN TO PICK ON YOUR TYPO, BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY PROOFREAD SOMETHING THAT SPEAKS SO OFTEN AND HIGHLY OF INTELLIGENCE. BARACK OBAMA HAS WRITTEN THOUGHTFUL AND MEANINGFUL BOOKS, HE HAS CHARMED AUDIENCES OF MILLIONS, AND HE HAS MADE MANY STATEMENTS THAT I’M SURE HE WISHES THAT HE COULD TAKE BACK. SO HAS SENATOR MCCAIN. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT SENATOR MCCAIN SPEAKS THE SAME BELIEFS TO EVERY AUDIENCE, EVEN WHEN HE KNOWS THAT IT MAY HARM HIM IN THE END. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT EXPERIENCE DOES MATTER, AND THAT SO DOES SOMEONES RECORD. GO TO WIKIPEDIA AND LOOK UP THE POLITICAL POSITIONS OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, AND OF JOHN S. MCCAIN. THERE ARE PAGES AND PAGES OF LEGISLATION AND POSITIONS OF MCCAIN, AND A COUPLE OF PARAGRAPHS ABOUT OBAMA. HE DOESN’T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO GO WITH HIS INTELLIGENCE, AND CONTRARY TO THE BEDAZZLED MILLIONS WHO WANT TO FOLLOW THIS PIED PIPER, EXPERIENCE MATTERS.

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:34 pm 46. Third Debate- Protecting Joe Plumber From Big Government Tax Hiker | Asian Americans for McCain:

[...] right to abortion, but when it comes to the fundamental, inalieanable right to life, it is “above his pay grade.” Thankfully, Sen. McCain did not apologize for protecting the unborn. He ended his response [...]

Oct 16, 2008 - 1:20 am 47. Protecting Joe Plumber From Senator Government « El Quinio:

Oct 16, 2008 - 1:42 pm 48. MSNBC’s Shuster Wets Himself Over ‘The One’ | The Great Illuminator:

[...] I personally find that his positions are founded in liberal dogma and can site when he has admitted as [...]

May 2, 2009 - 3:44 am 49. Stephen:

So you, yourself, figure the president is *supposed* to be the final authority on matters theological and scientific? And so many of the commenters seem to agree with you. No wonder America is going to hell in a handbasket. At least Obama is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, and to understand that he is not qualified to make profound ethical judgments without external input. A whole lot more than can be said for the previous administration. (You note that word, ‘administration.’ Not Papacy. Executive. Not Imperium.)

Jul 14, 2009 - 7:18 pm