Iowa Caucus running thread

[finishthehat]

And also:

www.theroot.com/santorum-denies-black-people-lives-welfare-remark

That is a pretty damn hilarious explanation if you read it -- he was saying another word and then changed it to "blah" but people think they heard "black."

I agree, though, I am not a fan of blah people either. It's why I was glad the Bulls, Spurs and Lakers signed Dennis Rodman.

Biz Markie's girlfriend is worried.

 

[YankeeFan]

Charles Lane in the WaPo:

Nine years ago, my son Jonathan's heart mysteriously stopped in utero — two hours prior to a scheduled c-section that would have brought him out after 33 weeks. Next came hours of induced labor so that my wife could produce a lifeless child. I cannot describe the anxiety, emotional pain, and physical horror.

And then there was the question: what about the corpse? Fortunately for us, our hospital's nurses were trained to deal with infant death. They washed the baby, wrapped him in a blanket and put a little cotton cap on his head, just as they would have done if he had been born alive. They then recommended that we spend as much time with him as we wanted.

My wife held Jonathan for a long while. I hesitated to do so. At the urging of the nurses and my wife, I summoned the courage to cradle Jonathan's body, long enough to get a good look at his face and to muse how much he looked like his brother -- then say goodbye. I am glad that my love for him overcame my fear of the dead.

We, like the Santorums, took a photograph of the baby -- lying, as if asleep, in my wife's arms. We have a framed copy in our bedroom. It's beautiful.

Jonathan's body was prepared according to Jewish law, including circumcision, and buried after a religious service. Clergy and friends gathered at our home to support us.

I regret that, unlike the Santorums, who presented the body of their child to their children, we did not show Jonathan's body to our other son, who was six years old at the time. When I told him what had happened, his first question was, "Well, where is the baby?" I tried to explain what a morgue is, and why the baby went there. It was awkward and unsatisfactory -- too abstract. In hindsight, I was not protecting my son from a difficult conversation, I was protecting myself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/rick-santorums-baby--and-mine/2011/03/04/gIQA0uH1eP_blog.html

Like some of you here, I've held a baby who died in utero in my arms. One of the saddest moments of my life. Will never forget it. (And I was not the father.)

Can't imagine criticizing anyone for how the Santorum family dealt with this.

 

[Boom_70]

 

[Dick Whitman]

Charles Lane in the WaPo:

Nine years ago, my son Jonathan's heart mysteriously stopped in utero — two hours prior to a scheduled c-section that would have brought him out after 33 weeks. Next came hours of induced labor so that my wife could produce a lifeless child. I cannot describe the anxiety, emotional pain, and physical horror.

And then there was the question: what about the corpse? Fortunately for us, our hospital's nurses were trained to deal with infant death. They washed the baby, wrapped him in a blanket and put a little cotton cap on his head, just as they would have done if he had been born alive. They then recommended that we spend as much time with him as we wanted.

My wife held Jonathan for a long while. I hesitated to do so. At the urging of the nurses and my wife, I summoned the courage to cradle Jonathan's body, long enough to get a good look at his face and to muse how much he looked like his brother -- then say goodbye. I am glad that my love for him overcame my fear of the dead.

We, like the Santorums, took a photograph of the baby -- lying, as if asleep, in my wife's arms. We have a framed copy in our bedroom. It's beautiful.

Jonathan's body was prepared according to Jewish law, including circumcision, and buried after a religious service. Clergy and friends gathered at our home to support us.

I regret that, unlike the Santorums, who presented the body of their child to their children, we did not show Jonathan's body to our other son, who was six years old at the time. When I told him what had happened, his first question was, "Well, where is the baby?" I tried to explain what a morgue is, and why the baby went there. It was awkward and unsatisfactory -- too abstract. In hindsight, I was not protecting my son from a difficult conversation, I was protecting myself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/rick-santorums-baby--and-mine/2011/03/04/gIQA0uH1eP_blog.html

Like some of you here, I've held a baby who died in utero in my arms. One of the saddest moments of my life. Will never forget it. (And I was not the father.)

Can't imagine criticizing anyone for how the Santorum family dealt with this.

I think there are two arguments here:

(1) Whether it should be open for discussion at all.

(2) Whether the Santorum family should be criticized.

I am pro-life.

I think that, for many reasons, the Santorums' handling of the ordeal is at least open to discussion. Because they made it so.

 

[ifilus]

Mitt's favorite read: L. Ron Hubbard.
Whoda thunk it?

 

[Dick Whitman]

I think there are two arguments here:

(1) Whether it should be open for discussion at all.

(2) Whether the Santorum family should be criticized.

I am pro-life.

I think that, for many reasons, the Santorums' handling of the ordeal is at least open to discussion. Because they made it so.

I would've given anything to hold my baby after what happened to us. I didn't get that chance. Granted, I'm not running for president, but anyone who felt that our reaction was "open to discussion" would've gotten a throat punch. Anyone who thought it was reason to criticize us would've gotten curb-stomped.

You didn't write a book about it.

And, also, enough with the violence. My god. I get that you are speaking metaphorically, but come on already.

 

[Iron_chet]

I think there are two arguments here:

(1) Whether it should be open for discussion at all.

(2) Whether the Santorum family should be criticized.

I am pro-life.

I think that, for many reasons, the Santorums' handling of the ordeal is at least open to discussion. Because they made it so.

I would've given anything to hold my baby after what happened to us. I didn't get that chance. Granted, I'm not running for president, but anyone who felt that our reaction was "open to discussion" would've gotten a throat punch. Anyone who thought it was reason to criticize us would've gotten curb-stomped.

You didn't write a book about it.

And, also, enough with the violence. My god. I get that you are speaking metaphorically, but come on already.

Hi deck

The violence in the words should probably show you what an emotional point this is. I abhor Santorum but just because he put it in a book does not mean it is "fair game."

Not really sure why you keep circling back to this as a talking point.

 

[Dick Whitman]

fork you.

Nice.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I think there are two arguments here:

(1) Whether it should be open for discussion at all.

(2) Whether the Santorum family should be criticized.

I am pro-life.

I think that, for many reasons, the Santorums' handling of the ordeal is at least open to discussion. Because they made it so.

I would've given anything to hold my baby after what happened to us. I didn't get that chance. Granted, I'm not running for president, but anyone who felt that our reaction was "open to discussion" would've gotten a throat punch. Anyone who thought it was reason to criticize us would've gotten curb-stomped.

You didn't write a book about it.

And, also, enough with the violence. My god. I get that you are speaking metaphorically, but come on already.

Hi deck

The violence in the words should probably show you what an emotional point this is. I abhor Santorum but just because he put it in a book does not mean it is "fair game."

Not really sure why you keep circling back to this as a talking point.

I don't care if it's an emotional point or not.

Grown adults should be able to have rational discussions about emotional points. Something being emotionally charged doesn't excuse threats of violence. And it doesn't take it off the table as a discussion. Perhaps the end of the discussion is, "The Santorums shouldn't be criticized." But they brought it up. And they bring up issues surrounding fetal development all the time. All the time. It's the damned linch pin of his campaign.

For clarity, when I say that it is "fair game," that doesn't mean that it's completely in bounds to unload at will. Colmes was wrong. But it's not wrong to discuss it tactfully, in the right context.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Let's simmer down or I'll master lock this shirt.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I don't care if it's an emotional point or not.

Grown adults should be able to have rational discussions about emotional points. Something being emotionally charged doesn't excuse threats of violence. And it doesn't take it off the table as a discussion. Perhaps the end of the discussion is, "The Santorums shouldn't be criticized." But they brought it up. And they bring up issues surrounding fetal development all the time. All the time. It's the damned linch pin of his campaign.

That's exactly my point, forkhead. Sometimes, even grown adults get thrown into situations they can't handle, and they react irrationally to them. And they always will. Losing a child is one of those situations. Call me when (God forbid) it happens to you. The last thing you will get from me is a rational debate on the validity of your feelings at the time.

We had a miscarriage.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Let's simmer down or I'll master lock this shirt.

I didn't do anything.