Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

McCain, Viagra, and birth control

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I can’t resist — this is just too hilarious not to post.  I don’t believe I have ever seen a politician be quite this uncomfortable for quite this long.

Honestly — John McCain says he wants to take on the toughest issues facing the world today, and he gets all squirmy because someone asks him a question that makes him think about penises and vaginas?  Not terribly confidence-inspiring.

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  1. Normally, I would think that issues like this birth control/insurance coverage issue, as well as abortion and other sex-related “social issues,” would not be as important in an election year likely dominated by the economy.

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    p>Nevertheless, the thing that strikes me is that McCain still draws a substantial amount of at least somewhat favorable opinions from liberals in various polls. I wonder if this is the type of thing that, if pressed and forced to side with the evangelicals, will help drive up McCain’s negatives, even in an election where these issues have somewhat less salience.

      • McCain’s buddy Carly Fiona brought it up — the reporter is just pursuing a story that McCain’s campaign put out there.  

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        p>And I note how the first thing you think when you hear “birth control pill” is “fourteen year old”.  Why is that?

          • In some cases the choices are to make available her pills, pay for the baby’s funeral, aid in her delivery, or facilitate her abortion.  I’m all for effective intervention and education to keep young, unprepared mothers from getting pregnant (unlike Republicans, who prefer dishonest and ineffective abstienence-only programs), but we’re past the days when unwed teenage mothers were moved to a different community and forgotten.  What’s your solution for sexually active teenagers?

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            p>I was just surprised, because I think of birth control in the context of responsible young women, not a younger age bracket.

            • Seems like the proposal we are discussing is to mandate coverage of BC.  I say no, it is dishonest and too often 100% ineffective.  My solution is to re-associate sex with marriage and stop teaching sex before marriage.  What’s Obama’s?

              • There are many reasons to prescribe it – giving better control over one’s family planning is only one aspect of the pill.

              • “Re-associate sex with marriage?”  So your answer is to tell teenagers they can’t have sex because they’re not yet married.  When in human history has that actually worked?

                • They’re going to fight 4 million years of evolution pre-programming teenagers for sex – with words!!  

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                  p>Don’t you guys get it?  Sex is hard-wired into the human hindbrain – as soon as you’re old enough to do it, you want to do it.  Telling teenagers to abstain from sex doesn’t work – besides which, how do you tell a rape victim to abstain?  The better solution is to tell them about their options for birth control and let them decide when it’s right for themselves.  They’re going to do it anyhow – why not educate them, and prevent them from getting pregnant or getting an STD?

                • Telling teenagers to abstain actually does work – for a lot of them. It has actually worked for billions of people over the history of mankind. So why would you make a statement like that?

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                  p>What’s the matter = are you jealous that you cannot abstain? Wish you had the discipline and foredight to stay a virgin until marriage?

                • …may work for some, but it certainly doesn’t work for all.  Does contraceptive education work for everyone?  No, and I wouldn’t be so foolish as to say that it does – but they need ALL of the facts, not just the “forbidden fruit” approach.

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                  p>As to whether I can personally abstain, or if I stayed a virgin until I got married – you know absolutely nothing about me, or how much self-discipline or foresight I exercise in my personal life, so you can knock off the personal attacks any time.  There’s plenty of room there for me to attack you in kind – let’s not go there, ok?

                • “may work for some, but it certainly doesn’t work for all”

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                  p>Well we have to be all inclusive and teach abstinence right along side other methods

                • … but the age at which kids become physically able to bear children has become younger and younger while the age at which society deems a family should start having children is older and older.  The effect is to increase the ‘window’ for ‘mischief’ and ‘problems’.  If we are going to create this ‘dangerous terrain’ that kids and young adults must navigate through for their ultimate success and position in life, the least we could to is educate them on how to do it well.  

                • Adults too should not have sex unless married to each other.   We send out a mixed message when we focus on kids doing it as though it’s OK for adults to do it.

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                  p>I am still hoping we hear from Obama on this soon.  I’ll bet you that he won’t state that under his administration, he’ll fight for mandated coverage, so that birth control will be provided for free to all women, including teens and preteens.  

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                  p>He’ll surely have to take the same position as McCain about this and fob it off on the free market competition, etc.  But his base has betrayed him.  He can only pray that this story goes away before people press him about his stance, and raise their eyebrows as he claims to distance himself from progressive liberals.

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                  p>(and don’t try to claim that insurance coverage is somehow different from taxpayer coverage.  We are all forced to pay for it either way.  Whether it is called state tax or federal tax or a mandated private insurance plan, we gotta pay for it so that it’s free.)

                • I found this on his website, on “Anne Brewer’s blog”, whoever that is.  Looks like she posted a Press Release from the National Abortion Rights Action League on her MyBarackObama blog, and the website says “Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.”

                  Sen. Obama supports legislation that would ensure fairness in insurance coverage for birth control, which represents one of the best ways to prevent unintended pregnancy and thus reduce the need for abortion. That’s a clear difference between these candidates.

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                  p>I still dare him to affirm that, and state that he would have the government mandate that BC for all women, including teens, is covered by every insurance plan.  Do we have a dollar figure on that yet?

                • I still dare him to affirm that…

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                  p>He probably won’t affirm that unless you double dog dare him.

  3. He said he knew of Fiorina’s comments – hadn’t he expected to be asked about them? Maybe he’s not used to the kids on the bus challenging him.

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    p>First time I’ve seen a reporter push McCain hard. I’m sure it’s happened before, but it’s not a prominent part of his media profile.  

  4. If not for his long record of votes against women’s reproductive freedom.  Opposing mandating health insurance coverage for birth control is just one more blot on an already bad record.

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    p>

    Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says her group has always considered McCain pro-life … And it’s not just abortion, she says.

    “He voted against family planning, he voted against the freedom of access to clinic entrances – that was about violence against women in clinics,” Keenan says, adding, “He voted against funding for teen pregnancy-prevention programs, and making sure that abstinence only was medically accurate. This is very, very extreme.”

    (NPR story)

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    p>What I want to know is what the heck Carly Fiorina is thinking in supporting him?

  5. Carly is supposed to offset the “I don’t know much about economics” rap on McCain.  Too bad he picked an executive who was fired for almost destroying Hewlett Packard Corp.

  6. Does Obama now have to say that he thinks birth control should be free, paid for by taxpayers?

    • The issue at hand is private insurance plans that cover Viagra prescriptions but not birth control prescriptions.

      • Will people be able to opt out of funding BC or Viagra in Obama’s plan?  Will they both be covered?

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        p>I’d just like to know how Obama handles this same question.

        • Why doesn’t John McCain simply answer the question asked about private insurers covering both Viagra and contraception?  

          • His campaign said there should be competition in insurance, in other words, no mandate.  It’s kind of a cop-out answer, but it’s a convenient position for someone who believes in private insurance.  Now it is Obama’s turn to say what he thinks.

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            p>Obama believes we should move to universal coverage, doesn’t he?  Don’t you?  I do too.  So the question is only relevant to universal insurance: should BC and Viagra be covered?

            • but I think that both Viagra and birth control should be part of universal health care, and they should both be covered by medical insurance.

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              p>Sexual activity between consenting healthy adults can be part of a normal functioning life, and an important part therein.  If the FDA thinks its safe* and the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks, then why wouldn’t BCP and V be part of a good health care plan?

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              p>

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              p> * safe enough… it’s all relative I suppose

    • Paid for by taxpayers?

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      p>Did you even watch the video?  

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      p>You have substituted a question that suits your ideology in place of the actual question that was asked by the reporter.   How bizarre.

        • We are debating whether private insurance should cover both Viagra and birth control medication – if you want to talk about taxpayer funded birth contol, you should start your own thread.

          • It’s dishonest of you to suddenly hide behind private insurance when the subject of what should be covered gets raised.  You know Obama wants to move to Universal coverage.

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            p>Oh, and because we are debating whether private insurance should cover both Viagra and birth control medication, I found something on Obama’s website about this subject.  (Hmm, this was posted July 8th, was that before McCain claimed he didn’t know how he voted?):

            Fiorina’s comments are in direct contradiction with McCain’s record. In fact, McCain voted against a proposal that would have required insurance companies to cover prescription contraception in the same way they pay for Viagra.

            “If Carly Fiorina is so concerned about making sure women have choices that include coverage for birth control, than she should support the only presidential candidate who actually supports health insurance coverage for birth control…Barack Obama,” Keenan said. “Women are concerned about health-care inequities-and that’s why we are working to elect Sen. Barack Obama as the next president. Unlike McCain, who has voted against family planning 22 times, Sen. Obama supports legislation that would ensure fairness in insurance coverage for birth control, which represents one of the best ways to prevent unintended pregnancy and thus reduce the need for abortion. That’s a clear difference between these candidates.”

            • …and you’re asking questions you already know the answer to.  Tell me what you disagree with in Obama’s stated position as you quoted it – that certainly seems like a sane, rational approach to family planning to me.  

              • And it isn’t Obama’s stated position, it was NARAL’s statement about Obama’s position.  I’d like to see Obama face the camera’s like McCain did.

  7. What an idiot.  First he gets asked an obvious question, based on what one of his surrogates said, and he is completely clueless?  Clueless!  

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    p>I don’t know what my position is?

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    p>Does he have to ask someone?

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    p>Leader of the free world…..ahhh, nope.

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