T-Steel Nails It About Microscopic Analysis of Every Syllable and Word Candidates Say

Barack Obama made the following remarks at a town hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (emphasis in original):

“When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include — which should include abstinence education and teaching the children — teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include — it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at the age of 16. You know, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.”

The Christian Broadcasting Network leaps on the word “punished”:

A lot has been made (by both sides) in this Democratic primary race that “words matter”. Well, The Brody File brings you this:

At a town hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon, Barack Obama told the crowd that he didn’t want his daughters, “punished with a baby”. …
[...]
I understand Obama was talking off the cuff and these were not prepared remarks. I also know that when you’re on the campaign trail 20 hours a day you will say something you wish you hadn’t. But still. “Punished with a baby?” That just doesn’t sound right. Why use the word punished? I would think that word would be alarming to people and possibly offensive to those who have had babies out of wedlock.

I actually saw this article at Memeorandum earlier in the day, but didn’t blog about it because I was so annoyed that it made me inarticulate. I couldn’t pin down the way to describe in words what made this article as intensely irritating as it was.

Well, I just read T-Steel’s post on the piece, and he captures my inchoate feelings perfectly (ital is T-Steel’s; bolding is mine):

What is infinitely bothersome this campaign season is how the words of Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama are micro-parsed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Meanings are pulled out of non-meanings. Non-ideas pulled out of ideas. So on and so forth. Case in point: Senator Obama’s words at a town hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania last Saturday. …

And besides, it is punishing for a child to have a child:

I’m an assistant high school football coach. Two players a year ago got their 16 year old girlfriends (the guys were 16 also) pregnant. And those girls were definitely “punished” in the sense that their teenaged lives drastically altered. No school dances. No extracurricular activities. Motherhood thrust upon them when they were not ready. And that lack of motherhood readiness in today’s society frequently feels like punishment. They even said as much when they approached me and I listened to their laments. YET they both fought through that initial phase and are toughing it out now. Both girls are juggling high school and motherhood. In one case, the guy is supportive and there with her. In the other case, the guy has shirked his responsibilities. But is using the word punished in the context Senator Obama used it “offensive to those who have had babies out of wedlock”? [...]

No. NO. No, it is not. What is wrong with these people? Their brains are all fucked up.

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