ShaneBertou.com

Not to heap too much praise upon Sen. Obama, but he has more integrity in one earlobe than Edwards has in his whole body.

can anyone point me to where on Obama’s website he discusses his stance on stem cell research, abortion, etc? yes, i will admit it’s still an issue for me and would like to know what he has to say about it. i have to think it’s there, but i looked and couldn’t find it anywhere.

There isn’t anything on either issue (that I’ve been able to find in the past) on his website.

For me personally it kind of goes like this. I can’t get with his pro-choice position, but I can get with his call to come together to find solutions based in reason and common sense, versus the alternative - which is the same argument we’ve been having for the past 30 years with no one on the extreme end of either side willing to budge an inch. We’ve tried digging our heels - the only real result is that millions more abortions have taken place. Maybe it’s time for a new approach?

I can offer you this excerpt from this interview with Christianity Today where the topic does come up:

For many evangelicals, abortion is a key, if not the key factor in their vote. You voted against banning partial birth abortion and voted against notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. What role do you think the President should play in creating national abortion policies?

I don’t know anybody who is pro-abortion. I think it’s very important to start with that premise. I think people recognize what a wrenching, difficult issue it is. I do think that those who diminish the moral elements of the decision aren’t expressing the full reality of it. But what I believe is that women do not make these decisions casually, and that they struggle with it fervently with their pastors, with their spouses, with their doctors.

Our goal should be to make abortion less common, that we should be discouraging unwanted pregnancies, that we should encourage adoption wherever possible. There is a range of ways that we can educate our young people about the sacredness of sex and we should not be promoting the sort of casual activities that end up resulting in so many unwanted pregnancies.

Ultimately, women are in the best position to make a decision at the end of the day about these issues. With significant constraints. For example, I think we can legitimately say — the state can legitimately say — that we are prohibiting late-term abortions as long as there’s an exception for the mother’s health. Those provisions that I voted against typically didn’t have those exceptions, which raises profound questions where you might have a mother at great risk. Those are issues that I don’t think the government can unilaterally make a decision about. I think they need to be made in consultation with doctors, they have to be prayed upon, or people have to be consulting their conscience on it. I think we have to keep that decision-making with the person themselves.

There is also this quote:

“The issue of abortion, I don’t think, has gone away. People think about it a lot, obviously you do and you feel impassioned. I think that the American people struggle with two principles: There’s the principle that a fetus is not just an appendage, it’s potential life. I think people recognize that there’s a moral element to that. They also believe that women should have some control over their bodies and themselves and there is a privacy element to making those decisions.

“I don’t think people take the issue lightly. A lot of people have arrived in the view that I’ve arrived at, which is that there is a moral implication to these issues, but that the women involved are in the best position to make that determination. And I don’t think they make it lightly. I don’t think they make it callously, so I reject a comparison between a woman struggling with these issues and Michael Vick fighting dogs for sport. I don’t think that’s sort of how people perceive it.

“Now, this is one of those areas – again, I think it’s important to be honest – where I don’t think you’re ever going to get a complete agreement on this issue. If you believe that life begins at conception, then I can’t change your mind. I think there is a large agreement, for example, that late-term abortions are really problematic and there should be a regulation. And it should only happen in terms of the mother’s life or severe health consequences, so I think there is broad agreement on these issues.

“One area where I think we should have significant agreement is on the idea of reducing unwanted pregnancies because if we can reduce unwanted pregnancies, then it’s much less likely that people resort to abortion. The way to do that is to encourage young people and older people, people of child-bearing years, to act responsibly. Part of acting responsibly – I’ve got two daughters – part of my job as a parent is to communicate to them that sex isn’t casual and that it’s something that they should really think about and not think is just a game.

“I’m all for education for our young people, encouraging abstinence until marriage, but I also believe that young people do things regardless of what their parents tell them to do and I don’t want my daughters ending up in really difficult situations because I didn’t communicate to them, how to protect themselves if they make a mistake. I think we’ve got to have that kind of comprehensive view that says family planning and education for our young people and so forth – to prevent teen pregnancies, to prevent the kinds of situations that lead to women having to struggle with these difficult decisions and we should be supportive of those efforts. That’s an area where there should be some agreement.”

He also speaks a bit about both issues in in The Audacity of Hope.

and now, back to the obama/edwards ticket before this gets way off topic!!!

I’m not totally sure how I’d feel about an Obama/Edwards ticket. It’s no doubt a strong ticket as far as Democrats are concerned. Edwards performed well in the ‘04 race (that was definitely Kerry’s loss). He has always fared well with rural, blue collar folks as well.

I’ve always liked Edwards’ anti-poverty initiative. He ran on a platform to eliminate poverty in the next 30 years. That’s tough for me not to get behind - even if I do find it a bit far-reaching.

But then there’s just something about him that I don’t like. I’m not exactly sure what. Could be the southern.

I really don’t know who else would make for a good running mate unless Obama selected Richardson - which would make for a very interesting and typically unlikely black/hispanic coalition. That might just freak whitey completely out and make for a very entertaining election process.

Anyone but Shrillary.

Not to heap too much praise upon Sen. Obama, but he has more integrity in one earlobe than Edwards has in his whole body.

Is that a joke about the size of Obama’s ears, or a dig at John Edwards’ diminutive stature?

i was on the couch last night, icing the ol’ pinched nerve (God i sound 60!), and saw this on c-span (i think). the two both gave incredible speeches, that if i wasn’t completely cynical and thought that real change or progress could ever come through our 2 party system, would have truly inspired me. i love what they say, it’s just that having been around for almost 3 decades i sadly doubt the words will become reality. i hope for it, but there’s just too many billionaires with lots to lose, too many CEO’s running the govt., and too many conservatives in congress & the senate to vote against what they say they want to do.

but in regard to edwards as running mate, it’s almost a certainty. the dems NEED a southerner to win. no dem from north of the mason-dixon has been prez since jfk (lbj = texan, carter = georgia, clinton = arkansas, gore = tennessee, he did win the popular vote…and probably the FL electorals, too).

At this point in time I just dont see how Edwards helps Martin Obama Jr. Do you really want a person from the old socialist liberal guard to run with the person who talks nothing but change?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO Shane obama is becoming a politician Then again I would do just about anything to win too so I could have CEO’s tell me what to do all day. Back to icing my beer for tonight. (Man I sound like an alcoholic) quick I need a government program to help me

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO Shane obama is becoming a politician

Seriously. So annoying.

(The following is to be read in a light hearted tone)

I love that if you are vocal in your support of someone’s candidacy you think he’s the messiah.

I like the guy. I like his personality, I like most of his policies, I think he would make a good president. Given the alternatives, a damn good president even. That’s about it.

The perception that he’s the Messiah, or can walk on water, or is the second coming of Martin Luther King Jr. - none of that came from me. That’s all being projected on me - and the millions of other level-headed Obama supporters - by other people’s biases.

Sorry. Just had to vent. Every time someone tells me I’m “falling for the change thing” or pins the whole “second coming” thing on me, it’s just … so … aggravating.

At this point in time I just dont see how Edwards helps Martin Obama Jr. Do you really want a person from the old socialist liberal guard to run with the person who talks nothing but change?

Now, back to the topic at hand.

I probably agree. That’s actually my biggest reason for being against selecting Hillary as the VP. The whole change thing goes right out the window.

But at the same time he’s going to have to select a noteworthy Democrat I would think. So it’s going to be impossible for him to choose a complete outsider. Edwards is at least young, and a relatively fresh face in the party.

Who else, Richardson?

Richardson was my thought the day he endorsed him. I still think he’s the guy.

great blog dude

wait, i almost missed this the first time around.

“the old socialist liberal guard?” did i read that right? socialist?!?! and old at that! hmmm, makes me wonder…where’s my universal healthcare? where’s my equal distribution of wealth? where’s my power over means of production? where’s my parliamentary democracy? where’s my workplace democracy? where’s my free higher education? i’d think that if this liberal guard were both old and socialist at least one of these things would have the appearance of existing.

i’m a socialist. i know what it is, and no democrat on earth is a socialist. if they were, they’d not be a democrat.

I noticed that too, but chose to let it go. I mean, I fling enough stereotypical poo at our big oil lovin’, earth ravaging, brown is the enemy, need-an-AK47-to-kill-a-hummingbird, end times bunker dwellers to know that anything said on this blog that is based in stereotypes can be chalked up to good natured ribbing.

We’re all friends here. That’s why Phil will let me vent (at him) about my “everyone thinks I’m an Obama disciple” insecurities without getting too bent out of shape.

But I was surprised to learn that a second term Senator with no prior experience as an elected official could be part of the “old socialist liberal guard.”

@Chris: Thanks man. Hope you stick around. We’re mostly silly here as we cover a wide variety of topics, but occasionally we flare up.

It’s generally my fault.

as long as he (Edwards) doesn’t do that weird Joel-Osteen-ish blinking thing too much I could go for it.

Maybe that’s my problem with him. He does remind me of Joel Osteen!