Comments on: A Query

By: Dave L

Dave L — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:34:25 +0000

“But if so, he’d be contradicting himself. (Not that that’s an unusual thing for a politician to do!)”
Ha, very true, and good point. I’m not an Obama supporter and that wasn’t the motivation for my dispute; to me nearly all politicians should be treated with excessive cynicism, and I haven’t seen one that hadn’t earned it. I see it less as a contradiction, although I can’t argue with what he literally said, and more as a needed clarification on his part.
The main reason I don’t agree with the implications Josh brought up is the context. If he said today in the middle of a speech listing his policy positions, “we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to the foundation of the family”, then yes, I agree with the point. Even leaving aside the race issue, on Father’s Day, I don’t think I would have blinked if Ellen Degeneres said what the post quoted.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:30:25 +0000

Nothing tacky about asking questions about matters one is ignorant of. Of course, if you don’t know how old the kids are then just say so.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:22:03 +0000

Dave L,
I’m not ascribing any statements to Obama; I’m just agreeing with Josh on the logical implication of his speech.
It’s quite possible that, if asked directly, Obama would say that lesbian parents are just as good for a child as a heterosexual couple is. But if so, he’d be contradicting himself. (Not that that’s an unusual thing for a politician to do!)

By: Dave L

Dave L — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:42:25 +0000

Joel,
I appreciate your comments and I do understand where you are coming from. No apologies necessary, and I’m sorry if I came off as too defensive.
Eric said:
“folks are doing logical backflips to interpret Obama’s speech as not actually implying that having a mom and a dad is preferable for a child to having lesbian parents.”
I just don’t understand how we can on the one hand, essentially take one statement very literally, and then on the other ascribe to him vaguely defined statements such as he obviously doesn’t think “lesbian parents are equal to heterosexual ones?” and “having a mom and a dad is preferable for a child to having lesbian parents”. I find this ill-defined and sweeping inference especially curious since, and maybe I missed it, he doesn’t even say the words, ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, or even ’same-sex’ in that lengthy speech, and again as far as I can tell, says nothing specifically referencing anything requiring maleness.
Why if I was to take things literally, Eric’s statement, “having a mom and a dad is preferable for a child to having lesbian parents” is nonsensical; all children currently have a mom and dad, as I’m pretty sure we don’t have the technology to create babies from two women’s DNA. Now of course one can/should then say, oh come on, it’s not absolutely obvious that that is what Eric meant and he specifies what he means with everything else he says around that quote. To which I say, exactly.
An interesting question was brought up on Jason’s blog; if we take ‘critical’ to mean ‘important’ but not ‘essential’ (and in all fairness I usually take it to mean ‘essential’), does this objection or contradiction disappear? I think it does, which, if that’s all the inference hinges on, just makes it that much more flimsy.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:12:33 +0000

It sure is interesting reading comments here and on Jason’s post from those who presumably support both Obama and gay rights. Obama’s speech could have been lifted directly from Dr. James Dobson, and yet folks are doing logical backflips to interpret Obama’s speech as not actually implying that having a mom and a dad is preferable for a child to having lesbian parents.

By: Joel Betow

Joel Betow — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:13:09 +0000

Anonymous, since you seem to want to be rather tacky, I’ll be tacky back. I didn’t need to be the father of my 18-year-old nephew killed in an auto accident in September of 2005 in order to witness the profound effect his father, my older brother, as a male, had on his life. That isn’t to diminish what his mother contributed. For all I know, maybe she gave more. But she didn’t and couldn’t give the same.
And at least when I posted with a pseudonym, I gave so many clues about my identity that any half intelligent interested person could have figured out who I was in 30 minutes or less.
Does someone have to be a fire fighter to know that they are important to our lives?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:56:27 +0000

Thanks. How old are they?

By: Essence

Essence — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:23:35 +0000

A woman has a choice to give her newborn either the milk from her breast or the formula. We all know that there is no better line of defense for the child than the mothers breast milk. Not only is the breast milk healthier for the baby in every way, the bond between mother and child is incredible. Sure you can nurse a baby at your bosom (man or woman)with formula and there be a very close connection but this connection ends at physical contact. However, the baby’s internal immune system is left more vulnerable and must settle with an imitation instead of receiving the natural antibodies from the mother. The baby will still live but at what cost of being denied it’s original defense?
Another example- just because I may be able to substitute water for milk in some of my recipes, does not mean that I should expect the same or even better outcome.
Check out my blog http://essenceofthings.blogspot.com

By: DMD

DMD — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:07:59 +0000

Ask his two daughters, anon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:19:10 +0000

Does he have any actual experience of being a father? If so, with what result? If not, wouldn’t Bill Cosby be a better source for info?