Posted on 09/18/2008 10:05:34 AM PDT by John Semmens
In remarks some consider potentially offensive, Democratic VP nominee, Senator Joe Biden (Del), posed a hypothetical question contrasting who cares more about the disabled.
“You know, just giving birth to a retarded baby doesn’t prove much,” Biden said. “Consider the case of a woman who already has four children. Pregnant with a fifth that she has been told has Downs Syndrome, she has two choices. She can go ahead and have the baby—adding to the burden on society and condemning the child to a life that may not be worth living. Or she could terminate the pregnancy and donate the embryonic stem cells to research that could help save the lives of others.”
“I ask you, which choice does more for the disabled?” Biden continued. “Think about that before you get all weepy over Governor Palin’s ‘special love’ for her ‘special needs’ son.”
(Excerpt) Read more at azconservative.org ...
Mods please delete this thread.
You know it’s getting more difficult to tell satire from real news these days, especially in politics. And Biden is so despicable that I believed he’d have said this.
For those who think I’ve been unfair to Biden, see...
http://www.politicususa.com/en/Biden-Palin-Stem-Cell-Research
while campaigning in Missouri Biden said, “I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”
I’m getting conflicting advice on the satire tag idea.
Some emphatically demand it.
Others emphatically urge that I keep things the way they are.
The bits are all semi-satire. That is, the basic underlying events/facts are true. The quotes are constructed by connecting otherwise separate items in the actions of the left, by speculations on the thought processes that lie behind their words and deeds, or the ultimate implications flowing from the logic of their positions.
In this case, Biden was belittling Palin’s concern for the disabled based on her presumed (likely accurate) opposition to embryonic stem cell funding.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/Biden-Palin-Stem-Cell-Research
while campaigning in Missouri Biden said, “I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”
I think the unstated implication of Biden’s remark is that those who support aborting babies in order to harvest their stem cells care more about the disabled than those, like Palin, who oppose the grisly practice. I also think Biden and other Democrats are miffed that Palin is getting positive reactions to her decision to give birth to Trig. Her high-profile choice undermines the idea that aborting the imperfect should be the normal action. Her decision emphasizes that it is a moral decision, not merely a medical procedure. This hits at the heart of the pro-abortion effort. I think it is likely the major cause of the vitriol aimed at Palin. They fear not only a loss in the presidential election, but a momentous shift toward a pro-life ethos among the general population.
I will experiment with other markers to try to accommodate the conflicting perspectives of the FR readers.
Heh heh. If we were to abort the imperfect, there would be no more human race.
And I strongly oppose sarcasm tags. The absence of them makes people have to actually think and read at the same time.
I think it’s an exercise in using our intellect to determine if an article is true or satire. I admit to recognizing your’s as satire as I am a fan. And the resulting threads are a riot. I vote leave off the tags.
That's what trips people up. The quotes in this one from Biden were so dead on that I could hear him saying it as I read it.
My reasoning is that some folks aren't familiar with your work, respond without thinking/checking, and it makes them look a little foolish.
Shame you can't post this stuff on DU so we could see all the "I don't see anything wrong with that statement" posts.
Owl_Eagle
There are people who are surrounded by bigots
and know it is wrong, but are afraid to be vocal against it.
These people are going to pull the lever for Obama
and they are not being polled.
angee_is_mad, DUmmy
oh, boy does that put the debate into a new light......very good.
Maybe you can have a line in brackets at the end of the piece saying that it’s partly satire, but you’d ruin a lot of the effect if you had the warning at the beginning.
DO NOT FLAG IT AS SATIRE! Emphasize that it is “Semi-” News.
Because of this, I agree with you — It is important to put a SATIRE tag on the title of the piece. That would avoid confusion yet still pull in readers (like me) who enjoy well-written satire.
Flycatcher
John, thanks for adding me to your “ping” list..
I’d hate to miss any of your articles...
However — being an “older” guy — your articles are funny enough to tax my bladder control and I need to be careful!
Good stuff....
Struck a nerve I see. Good!
“Stand up, Chuck”
~ Plugs Biden
But you know that if you get three freepers in a room together you might get 5 opinions.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Bonehead
“Jesse ‘The Castrator’ Jackson”
Professional wrestling next? Sounds like a good name. LOL
If you have a problem, click “Abuse.” Otherwise, go away.
I say don’t make it too obvious. Satire in the key words. Maybe use semi-news in the title. I like getting all angry, then going “oops, almost got me again”
Maybe I did.
And I’m staying like it or not.
My 2 cents is that I like the “Satire” tag.
I know your work now, so it doesn’t really matter to me. However, you do the best type of satire i.e. its right on the edge of believability, and as the left is often off the reservation, it sometimes takes a while to be certain if you are forewarned.
Said all that to say that many FReepers, such as myself are scanning quickly to catch the breaking news and get sucked in. This doesn’t really do anyone any good.
I like it fine. It is not for me to decide. And I like it that way.
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