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Huckabee denies criticizing Portman's pregnancy

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“That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”

There are a lot of things that society unfortunately glorifies and glamorizes, having a child "out of wedlock" is a long, long, way down the list of importance of them. Huckabee's friendly, nice guy, right-winger schtick is getting pretty stale, and personally I find his parroting of the usual "Hollywood" cliches and sticking his nose in other peoples' business to try and score some cheap points offensive.

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Textbook definition of "backtracking".

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Huckabee's Portman comments come on the heels of some of his other crazy statements this week regarding how President Obama was brought up in Kenya.

What kind of idiots give this man air time? Even George Will calls Huckabee "weird" and not to be trusted with a lemonade stand. Nevertheless, many conservatives actually believe Huckabee is credible.

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Huckabee is a moron however you have to admit that we do glamorize these people. I make sure to tell my children that it isn't right when they ask ME about stars having children when they aren't married. I don't want them even THINKING it's somehow moral.

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How can the guy possibly deny what he was saying, and then back it up by talking about the exact same 'problem' with having children outside of wed-lock? He truly does make a fitting Republican, and is exactly why there should never be another Rep. president again.

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I could careless about who's having kids out of wed lock as long as its not me nor my kids... Natalie Portman has more than enough money to raise her kids, hire a nanny, and send them to the best schools.. So, if your kid says they want to be like her, tell them she's accomplished a lot and waited until she had cash in hand to have kids. She's a role model in this day and age. that being said, the poor single women with kids should be thinking about other things than having more.

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@smithinjapan, right on. These Rep are for a "Right for Life" while refusing to extend the gov. help to those who are in needs. It is a moron to me.

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"So, if your kid says they want to be like her, tell them she's accomplished a lot and waited until she had cash in hand to have kids."

...bull...if my daughter made a lot of money and did the same thing I'd disown her and she knows it!

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She's having a baby with her fiance. It's not really a morally degenerate thing to do. If your kid got pregnant or impregnated someone out of wedlock, would you not encourage them to get married? That's what these people are doing.

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...bull...if my daughter made a lot of money and did the same thing I'd disown her and she knows it!" I would like to believe my daughter is a strong woman who doesn't need a man who is worthless... We've got a lot of money set aside for our kids and other kids to come. If my daughter were to be pregnant out of wed lock, I can assure you she wouldn't need to take from the state at all..

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yanee: " I make sure to tell my children that it isn't right when they ask ME about stars having children when they aren't married. I don't want them even THINKING it's somehow moral."

I think the problem is that YOU have taught them it's immoral in the first place. What makes it immoral? outdated religious doctrine and social morays? What if the two live together and raise the child together but simply haven't succumbed to the notion that they have to have tied the not 'under god'?

There's nothing wrong in believing this -- the problem is when you push it on others, be it on innocent children (who then ask you why such and such is happening), or Huckabee trying to push it on the people in general. Instead children should be taught to have an open mind about such things. Why, for example, does Mike Huckabee claim he is talking about the financial difficulties people have when they have a baby out of wedlock? Like I said, if it's a common-law 'marriage' why does that make them less able to cope than if they paid thousands to get married? And does he think Portman is having financial trouble?? NO. He just assumed that anyone who has a baby out of wedlock must be some destitute, single mother (and probably 'loose' to boot).

Mike Huckabee has shown yet again what a bigot and a loser he is.

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Black Swan - Fantastic film noire with a wonderful nod towards the arts - ie ballet. As for having children in or out of wedlock - marriage is just a formality - what's important is the lifelong commitment to each other AND to the children. As for marriage in the USA - divorce rates are over 50% and have been that way for decades. Before expounding the virtues of marriage - perhaps politicians should first seek to repair the underlying social problems contributing to such a staggeringly high lack of social responsibility. The same applies to the US expounding the virtues of democracy - haven't set a very good example of late - what with the secret prisons, kidnapping programs (aka extraordinary rendition), and torture programs. Is that really "truth, justice, liberty" and the "American way"?

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This came along just as Huckabee was getting over another foot-in-mouth incident when he echoed what Newt Gingrich had previously claimed, about Obama having been raised in Kenya and therefore sympathetic to the Mau-mau rebels and harboring an anti-colonial attitude toward the Brits. Even those who don't like Obama surely most concede this is simply not true, and that the media (except Fox News) will use it to wreck the prospects of 2012 presidential candidates who go around firing off such inaccurate statements.

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Seems the Media has noticed that Huckabee might run for President again and has started the "Palin" treatment on him already.

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Seems the Media has noticed that Huckabee might run for President again and has started the "Palin" treatment on him already.

Fortunately or unfortunately, politicians are held responsible for their remarks made in front of a camera. If he wants to avoid the "Palin" treatment, he should not circulate the fantasies of the lunatic fringe.

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Fortunately or unfortunately, politicians are held responsible for their remarks made in front of a camera. If he wants to avoid the "Palin" treatment, he should not circulate the fantasies of the lunatic fringe.

Agreed, pointing out that single mothers are generally poorer and worse off and that their kids are more likely to end up in crime or stuck in poverty themselves is pretty 'lunatic fringy'.....It's not like there are real statistics to back that up and such.

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Agreed, pointing out that single mothers are generally poorer and worse off and that their kids are more likely to end up in crime or stuck in poverty themselves

This issue is not particularly new, and has been vigorously debated in the "liberal" media as well from quite some time ago. As evidence I suggest you Google "Dan Quayle Was Right," which appeared in the April 1993 issue of Atlantic monthly. The full article by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead is on the web.

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Agreed, pointing out that single mothers are generally poorer and worse off and that their kids are more likely to end up in crime or stuck in poverty themselves is pretty 'lunatic fringy'.....

What puts the hypocrite icing on the lunatic upside-down cake is the wing-nuts' opposition to the one organization doing FAR more concrete good than any other to alleviate the above situation: Planned Parenthood.

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What puts the hypocrite icing on the lunatic upside-down cake is the wing-nuts' opposition to the one organization doing FAR more concrete good than any other to alleviate the above situation: Planned Parenthood.

Agreed, Planned Parenthood is so much better then that stale outmoded two parent stable marriage thing for raising children that those wing nuts bitterly cling to and promote, as the best way to alleviate poverty.

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World news , I guess.

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I hope the media savages Huckabee, thereby removing him from the 2012 field.

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My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death,” Huckabee said..............................

He should be a very good Republican candidate for POTUS. Well versed in double-speak. Full of hypocrisy...............cut the education funding and yet concerned about education, ketchup is vegetable for school lunch etc etc. And yes, if it weren't for government asistance, ye all gonna starved and died. Wow, that's a heartening thought.

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He should be a very good Republican candidate for POTUS. Well versed in double-speak. Full of hypocrisy...............cut the education funding and yet concerned about education, ketchup is vegetable for school lunch etc etc. And yes, if it weren't for government asistance, ye all gonna starved and died. Wow, that's a heartening thought.

You've got the wrong guy. His record as Governor in Arkansas was very pro-education and with the funding to back it his initiatives there.

Huckabee also expanded the Governor's Distinguished Scholarship -- which awards $10,000 to students with top ACT and SAT scores -- to private institutions, arguing (not without opposition) that it would keep more students in Arkansas. The initiative worked: Eighty-eight percent of students from the state who scored 32 or above on the ACT attended Arkansas colleges in 2002, compared with 38 percent five years earlier. Huckabee added some $15 million of funding to cover that expansion as well as the Academic Challenge Scholarships.

The funding increases were achieved despite lagging support for higher education across the country and a court mandate that left Huckabee's administration searching for ways to funnel more money into public primary and secondary schools. But according to Richard Hudson, the vice chancellor for government and community relations at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, higher education received funding increases for 9 out of the 10 years of Huckabee's administration. Even when it wasn't possible, Huckabee sought increases in his yearly budgets. In his last years in office, he sought funding increases of $54 million for fiscal year 2006 and $49 million for fiscal year 2007.

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If that were the case, then the tea party and Republicans won't nominate/support Huckabee, ain't that a shame ? My apology to Mr. Huckabee .

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If that were the case, then the tea party and Republicans won't nominate/support Huckabee, ain't that a shame ? My apology to Mr. Huckabee .

March 3rd Poll

According to a new NBC/WSJ poll, 53 percent of respondents who said they expect to vote in the GOP presidential primary identified themselves as Tea Party supporters. Their favorite candidate right now: the former Arkansas governor who shot to prominence after winning over conservatives in Iowa in 2008.

Among Tea Party backers, 27 percent said Gov. Mike Huckabee would be their first choice among Republican candidates, with an additional 15 percent calling Huckabee their second choice.

oberst,

The Tea Party isn't against Government per se, it is against Government that is poorly run, overly intrusive and fiscally irresponsible. The Tea Party wants Government to live within it means, stop spending money we don't have and get financial sanity back with the public purse. Huckabee as Governor of Arkansas inherited a 200 million dollar budget deficit when he was elected. From FACTCHECK.org

It’s worth noting, too, that Huckabee, despite facing a $200 million shortfall in 2002, ended his term with a surplus of $844.5 million. A billion dollar turnaround is, we think, a noteworthy accomplishment.

That's why the Tea Party likes the guy......His record speaks for itself when it comes to fiscal sanity and spending priorities of the Taxpayer dollars.

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Oh one final note, funny since the poll came out that he might be the guy that's the front runner to run against Obama and does have Tea Party support that a schlock pseudo MSM smear story like this now comes out by the A.P on the guy.

Expect lots more like it in the future on him.

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smithinjapan:I think the problem is that YOU have taught them it's immoral in the first place. What makes it immoral? outdated religious doctrine and social morays [mores?] ?

There is nothing outdated about the documented findings of sociologists that male offspring of single mothers are more prone than the general population to the entire range of anti-social behavior, and are over-represented among the incarcerated.

Fact: 71% of all high school dropouts (in America) come from fatherless homes.

It does not necessarily apply in Portman's case, since she (alone ,or with her "partner" ) has the means to provide the child with some viable substitutes for a nuclear family (private schools, tutors, little prospect that the child becomes dependent on the State because of the high likelihood of another wealthy suitor should Portman split w/the biological father) but on the general principle I can see why a former governor of a state like Arkansas (incarceration rate above the now-declining nat'l rate) speaks out on this.

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sailwind: "Seems the Media has noticed that Huckabee might run for President again and has started the "Palin" treatment on him already."

If he doesn't want to be treated like palin by the media, he should not make idiotic remarks and gaffes like her.

"Agreed, pointing out that single mothers are generally poorer and worse off and that their kids are more likely to end up in crime or stuck in poverty themselves is pretty 'lunatic fringy'.....It's not like there are real statistics to back that up and such."

I know... Portman's kid is going to have it so tough! And once again you miss the point (or just fail to look at it); Huckabee defends his attack on Portman by saying he was talking about 'out of wedlock' mothers in general. But one does not need to be married to raise a child, do they? nor does that mean the father is automatically not present if they didn't subscribe to some outmoded institution of marriage.

"Agreed, Planned Parenthood is so much better then that stale outmoded two parent stable marriage thing for raising children that those wing nuts bitterly cling to and promote, as the best way to alleviate poverty."

Once again, why do two people under the same roof raising a child have to be 'married' for it to be moral and more economically feasible?

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SolidariTea: "There is nothing outdated about the documented findings of sociologists that male offspring of single mothers are more prone than the general population to the entire range of anti-social behavior, and are over-represented among the incarcerated."

It's interesting that you quote my comment on how people who are not married but have children are not necessarily 'immoral' and jump to the Huckabee-like conclusion that I somehow was defending single-parent households. I clearly stated what I said to sailwind above -- you needn't have a marriage contract to be 'moral', do you? MARRIAGE is outdated, in terms of the religious aspects in particular; I said nothing about single-parent households being better off (though I did point out that Natalie Portman's child won't be hard up for anything money-wise).

So, since you quoted my statement on the institution of marriage and morality, go ahead and actually try to refute my argument that the child of parents in a common-law marriage isn't going to be any worse off than two people who got suckered into paying an arm and a leg to rent a church and sign a legal contract.

"It does not necessarily apply in Portman's case..."

HAHAHA! So now you're trying to use my own point to argue against me? Wow... you really MUST be a Huckabee fan!

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Come on, peeps, I want to hear it: if two parents of a child live together, unmarried, how is Huckabee's comment valid in any way, shape, or form? (I mean his defense against his attacks on Portman, that people who aren't married are immoral and the children will suffer economically).

Even if they don't, how does this affect Portman as a single mother, given the fact that there would be no economic problems whatsoever? I mean... that is the pathetic weasel's 'defense'.

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SolidariTea: "Fact: 71% of all high school dropouts (in America) come from fatherless homes."

That's what you get when people like Huckabee push their values on others, and portray bastard-children as nothing more than will-be dropouts. What do you think Huckabee would feel about a TWO-FATHER household? Wouldn't be fatherless, would it... or suffer economically, per se. Would he then approve?

On the contrary, the only thing worse than a single-parent family is two parents living together who HATE each other, fight, and only stay together because of weird idea that it's doing the child good based on some fool's stats.

If Americans are so utterly foolish to believe the garbage this man spews, they deserve to have him run as president (and yet again disgrace the Republican Party).

I really hope it's Huckabee/Palin for 2012... that would just be classic.

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My question is how does he feel about divorced mothers, etc that solely raise their own children.

Are those as likely to produce criminal off-springs as mothers that weren't married?

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I prefer Palin/Gingrich, more fun that way

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Zenny11: "My question is how does he feel about divorced mothers, etc that solely raise their own children."

I have no doubt that Huckabee probably thinks not only is it their fault that the divorce came to be, but that they are somehow harlots or jezebels and should wear a scarlet letter on their chest and beg god for mercy. Who cares if the husband may have beaten them and thence they left? It's 'immoral' for them to be out of wedlock.

He's a religious fanatic no better than radical Islamists who want to stone people for being looked at.

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smithinjapan: MARRIAGE is outdated, in terms of the religious aspects in particular;

As usual you fail to explain the portion of your half-bakeed argument meant to qualify the sweeping assertions you come here with, in this case that marriage is outdated, in terms of the religious aspects in particular. What are the particular aspects you have in your wisdom seen through ?

like most supposedly free-thinking , liberated, "progressive" types who deride traditional marriage you are blithely unaware of the contradiction in your position - if I had the time to go through the whopping 1000 plus pages of your only hobby I could probably easily find you on other threads here dutifully repeating the PC hokum you were spoonfed back home by telling anyone who will listen that gay marriage is one of the most urgent moral and legal issues of our time...

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He's a religious fanatic no better than radical Islamists who want to stone people for being looked at.

nice try, but moral equivalence of that degree merely underscores the lack of critical thinking and obstinate refusal to face sociological facts that utopian progressives are infamous for.

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Planned Parenthood is so much better then that stale outmoded two parent stable marriage thing for raising children that those wing nuts bitterly cling to and promote, as the best way to alleviate poverty.

If the "two-parent stable marriage thing" worked so well, there wouldn't be a need for the hundreds of thousands who have found it necessary to turn to Planned Parenthood for help.

If it worked so well, then it wouldn't be the so-called "Bible belt" and red states like Arkansas that have the biggest problem with teen pregnacy and single motherhood.

The problem of why what the wing nuts "bitterly cling to and promote" doesn't catch hold is because most people -- especially young people -- can see so clearly through the hypocricy. Huckabee would have done much better to make Bristol Palin the example rather than Natalie Portman. Portman is a much more mature, successful, and better-educated woman in a very stable and committed relationship, and Huckabee's little dig makes no sense at all.

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Oh one final note, funny since the poll came out that he might be the guy that's the front runner to run against Obama and does have Tea Party support that a schlock pseudo MSM smear story like this now comes out by the A.P on the guy

There is no smear on this story of Huckabee, nor on his previous, grossly ignorant and mean-spirited lie on President Obama's personal views of Britain based on his "Mau-Mau" upbringing in Kenya. This is nothing less than bearing false witness against the president and shows why Huckabee is clearly unfit to be anywhere near the White House other than on a guided tour.

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"Huckabee, who is considering a(nother) run for the Republican presidential nomination"

He should pick Chuck Norris, a Huckabee supporter, to be his running mate - Huck & Chuck!

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Once again, why do two people under the same roof raising a child have to be 'married' for it to be moral and more economically feasible?

From a strictly Christian standpoint, a single man or single woman who have chosen to follow Christ should not be having sexual relations. Period. The proper venue for promoting that ideal is via the "body" known as the Church.

Huckabee and a great percentage of his supporters would foist that ideal on non-Christians via government pressure. This makes him and his supporters far closer to Satan than any promiscuous young person, straight or gay.

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Agree w/yabits forr a change. Hope this gets Huckabee knocked out of the running for 2012.

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"most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death"

yabits? SolidariTea? Is this untrue?

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SolidariTea: Love it!

"...meant to qualify the sweeping assertions you come here with... if I had the time to go through the whopping 1000 plus pages of your only hobby... you were spoonfed back home by telling anyone who will listen..."

Sorry to cherry-pick, but the contradictions and subsequent hypocrisy are just TOO funny! You quote me saying that a two parents living together may not require legal marriage to be more economically feasible and use it by backing up unrelated statistics on single-parent, mother-only households! You fall right into the backwater religious and bigoted thinking Huckabee is now in trouble for.

"nice try, but moral equivalence of that degree merely underscores the lack of critical thinking and obstinate refusal to face sociological facts that utopian progressives are infamous for."

You forgot 'socialist cheerleaders' in your comment, old friend. And once again, you merely deflect, for Huckabee is indeed in the say way pushing his beliefs on the public (and would do so all the more voraciously if Americans were dumb enough to put him in office!) in the same way that those whom you quote me as saying do.

The thing about a 'two-father' household was just a shot at how bone-headed and biased Huckabee's thinking, and those who support him, can be. He picks a RICH celebrity Academy Award winner and decides to rant about his beliefs on marriage and out-of-wedlock birth. He then jumps to the conclusion that all who engage in out-of-wedlock births are destitute mothers who would starve to death if not funded by the government. Yabits is exactly right when he says, "Huckabee would have done much better to make Bristol Palin the example rather than Natalie Portman" and that people can see through Huckabee's hypocrisy.

And marriage in the religious sense is indeed outdated -- at least, the idea that if you aren't married it's immoral, or the idea that gay people CAN marry is immoral (again, contradictions). If people want to marry -- interracial, gay, heterosexual (Huckabee would say 'normal' here), or to more than one person -- I say fine if they agree with it. It's the fact that they love each other is what matters, not some legal piece of paper and someone saying god agrees. The idea that 'marriage is the bond between a man and woman under god' is ridiculous.

"Agree w/yabits forr a change. Hope this gets Huckabee knocked out of the running for 2012."

Good, because he and I are on the same page. I still hope Huckabee runs for pres in 2012, though -- it's got you guys scared of losing again, which means that you realize how wrong a lot of his thinking is.

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SolidariTea: and the '1000 pages on your only hobby' thing? come on, my friend, that got old as the bottom of the barrel lack of argument long ago. It's just funny you follow it up with claiming I lack 'critical thinking'. :)

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smith, I could not make any sense out of what you wrote in your incoherent attempt at rebuttal (?) . But I see you still cannot name the particular aspects of religion (Christian? Only Christian, or all religions??) that you say are no longer valid and therfore render traditional marriage "outdated."

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If the "two-parent stable marriage thing" worked so well, there wouldn't be a need for the hundreds of thousands who have found it necessary to turn to Planned Parenthood for help.

Ummm....Pretty sure two parents can decide when they want kids and when to use birth control when they do not. I believe that is why it is called Planned Parenthood in the first place.

If it worked so well, then it wouldn't be the so-called "Bible belt" and red states like Arkansas that have the biggest problem with teen pregnacy and single motherhood.

Your opinion of people that live in the Red States is well known and I am sorry that instead of the the red states trying to deal with teen pregnancy from a moral standpoint instead of a government subsidy standpoint upsets you.

Huckabee and a great percentage of his supporters would foist that ideal on non-Christians via government pressure. This makes him and his supporters far closer to Satan than any promiscuous young person, straight or gay.

He was Governor of Arkansas for almost ten years.....You have some proof that he foisted any of this on his State? After all he actually has a record we can look at and review as a Chief Executive of his State.

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Some thoughts....

-I dont know if this is true, but I heard about 1 in 5 American children are in poverty.

-I would rather be a child of a multi-millionaire single parent than a child of parents that make 26,000 a year.

-America has a pathological infatuation with idol worship.

-Just because you are good at your job, doesnt mean you are a good parent.

-Often when politicians talk about important real issues of substance it translates into political suicide because the American public are not capable of dealing with these tough issues. They want feel-good, back patting, emotional, knee-jerk reaction talking points that make them feel good.

-Huckabee is mostly right on this one...but America isnt ready to hear it.

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Pretty sure two parents can decide when they want kids and when to use birth control when they do not.

The problem is when the adolescent kids of these "two-parent stable marriage things" start having sex, and we know that a majority of them will do so. It's good to see an organization whose function is to support the goals of the parents in ensuring all pregnancies are planned and wanted.

Your opinion of people that live in the Red States is well known and I am sorry that instead of the the red states trying to deal with teen pregnancy from a moral standpoint instead of a government subsidy standpoint upsets you.

The only things that even come close to "upsetting" me are waste and stupidity-in-practice. Living in Georgia as I have for over a quarter-century now, I see plenty of both. The stupidity (aka: pig-headedness) comes from red-state-bred people believing it has to be one or the other. The waste shows in the dismal results achieved. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Institutions have to deal with reality and not the wishful, magical, impractical and unrealistic thinking of so many parents -- every one of whom are irresponsible and flawed in their own way. When it comes to the potential creation of a human life, our institutions simply have to provide some way to compensate for those flaws.

You have some proof that he foisted any of this on his State?

And Zell Miller was a decent moderate Georgia Democratic governor before he went national and became crazy. Regarding Hucakbee, his "bearing false witness" is a far more serious moral failing than two unmarried people having sex. I am misquoting him by saying that he prefaced his complete fabrications with "If I know anything about Obama...." This was done in the context of a radio program whose main thrust was that the president is an enemy of the United States.

That kind of scurrilous butchering of truth makes all of his years as governor of Arkansas count for absolutely nothing.

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If the "two-parent stable marriage thing" worked so well,

It does work so well. Why do you think that gays want to be included in this institution? If marriage is so outdated, then they wouldn't be upset without being able to do it, even though civil unions are recognized in the states.

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I am misquoting him by saying that he prefaced

Correction: I meant to write, "I am NOT misquoting him..."

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The problem is when the adolescent kids of these "two-parent stable marriage things" start having sex, and we know that a majority of them will do so. It's good to see an organization whose function is to support the goals of the parents in ensuring all pregnancies are planned and wanted.

Umm..Horny teenagers having sex is pretty much what has been going on since we came down from the trees, not quite sure how they have not figured out how not to get pregnant without the having planned parenthood to give them guidance in the first place, not a whole lot in our collective history that single parenthood was much of an issue. Egypt, Roman Empire, etd...seems thay had a grip after all about the sex thing.

Institutions have to deal with reality and not the wishful, magical, impractical and unrealistic thinking of so many parents -- every one of whom are irresponsible and flawed in their own way. When it comes to the potential creation of a human life, our institutions simply have to provide some way to compensate for those flaws.

No offense....I refuse to give my free will over to some institution to compensate for my flaws.

That kind of scurrilous butchering of truth makes all of his years as governor of Arkansas count for absolutely nothing.

Actually he has a pretty good record as Governor, sorry to see you dismiss so handily.

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Horny teenagers having sex is pretty much what has been going on since we came down from the trees, not quite sure how they have not figured out how not to get pregnant without the having planned parenthood to give them guidance in the first place, not a whole lot in our collective history that single parenthood was much of an issue.

And, at the time of the founding of the US, most states declared the age of consent for a girl to marry to be 12 years old. It's clear that society has changed significantly in this area since the time your ancestors came down from their trees.

I refuse to give my free will over to some institution to compensate for my flaws.

Institutions are build based upon the free will of intelligent men and women working together to achieve common goals. There will always be anti-social elements who feel threatened by falsely presuming that working together towards a common goal necessarily means giving up one's own will. These are the types who demand that institutions bend to their own will or else risk destruction, usually through apathy or schisms.

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Institutions are build based upon the free will of intelligent men and women working together to achieve common goals.

Socialism.

There will always be anti-social elements who feel threatened by falsely presuming that working together towards a common goal necessarily means giving up one's own will.

Give up your free will to a Yabits type 0f guy, he knows best.

These are the types who demand that institutions bend to their own will or else risk destruction, usually through apathy or schisms.

They are called elections, missed that part but of course if you you do not like the result you can grab a motel room in Ilinous.

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That kind of scurrilous butchering of truth makes all of his years as governor of Arkansas count for absolutely nothing.

I'm from Arkansas, and he did ok as Gov. I wish he would have instituted the Flat Tax that he wants the US to go to in AR first so we can see how it works, but he didn't.

Institutions are build based upon the free will of intelligent men and women working together to achieve common goals. There will always be anti-social elements who feel threatened by falsely presuming that working together towards a common goal necessarily means giving up one's own will. These are the types who demand that institutions bend to their own will or else risk destruction, usually through apathy or schisms.

Isn't that what organized religion is? I see you sometimes post that it is the cause of all our problems. At least with religion, the ultimate goal is for the next life. I am sure you will say that is just a flaw of Christanit, but show me a Buddahist that isn't giving to the temple and following a specific dogma in order to reach Nirvana. Your arguments are basically calling for a secular religion.

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I see you sometimes post that it is the cause of all our problems.

A complete delusion. Never posted any such thing.

Your arguments are basically calling for a secular religion.

Huh? Social institutions do not require anything remotely resembling blind belief or worship. I won't try to argue about Buddhism but it's abundantly clear you have little understanding of it.

As it relates to the topic, if you hire someone to accomplish a task and they continually fail to complete it, it won't be too long before you look to someone else who can do the job. I don't see where Huckabee made any impact -- lasting or otherwise -- on the teen/unwed pregnancy rate in his home state. In fact, he doesn't even have a viable answer, so why would he be qualified to comment in the first place?

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Huh? Social institutions do not require anything remotely resembling blind belief or worship. I won't try to argue about Buddhism but it's abundantly clear you have little understanding of it.

Agreed, people can do just what they want, and gosh darn if they settle on to form a union of sames sort of those like minded travelers as those that parked there happy butts in the Wisconsin Capitol lately.

As it relates to the topic, if you hire someone to accomplish a task and they continually fail to complete it, it won't be too long before you look to someone else who can do the job. I don't see where Huckabee made any impact -- lasting or otherwise -- on the teen/unwed pregnancy rate in his home state. In fact, he doesn't even have a viable answer, so why would he be qualified to comment in the first place?

As it relates to the topic, if you hire someone to accomplish a task and they continually fail to complete it, it won't be too long before you look to someone else who can do the job.

I don't see where Huckabee made any impact -- lasting or otherwise -- on the teen/unwed pregnancy rate in his home state. In fact, he doesn't even have a viable answer, so why would he be qualified to comment in the first place?

Agreed, telling a young woman not to have a kid until they are ready is a bad thing.

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it.

Agreed, people can do just what they want, and gosh darn if they settle on to form a union of sames sort of those like minded travelers as those that parked there happy butts in the Wisconsin Capitol lately.

"United we stand; Divided we fall."

telling a young woman not to have a kid until they are ready is a bad thing.

That's not what Huckabee was doing. He was accusing people like Portman of somehow going out of their way to "glamorize" having a child. If people have been raised so stupid as to not be aware that they don't have the resources of a Natalie Portman, we're all going to need Planned Parenthood because it's plain their parents didn't give them much in the way of sense.

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"He was accusing people like Portman of somehow going out of their way to 'glamorize' having a child."

It harks back to Dan Quayle's denunciation of the TV character "Murphy Brown." But in between we had Bristol Palin, another unwed mother, a teenage one no less with no discernible job skills in contrast to Portman, who was extolled for "choosing life." Since giving birth, she's made buckets of money selling photos of the little tyke, hawking reality shows, and giving speeches with the message, "Do as I say, not as I did." Impressionable teenagers who've been raised in our celebrity-obsessed culture may have watched her recent turn on "Dancing with the Stars" and thought to themselves, "Wow, that could be me!" Talk about glamorizing the lifestyle of an unwed mother!

Conservatives have to decide whether unwed parenthood represents a good thing since the mother "chose life," despite less than optimal circumstances, or a selfish choice worthy of moral condemnation. I've said it before and I will say it again: Can't have it both ways.

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Conservatives have to decide whether unwed parenthood represents a good thing since the mother "chose life," despite less than optimal circumstances, or a selfish choice worthy of moral condemnation.

As a young friend of mine says: "They're all over the place."

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sailwind: "Umm..Horny teenagers having sex is pretty much what has been going on since we came down from the trees,"

Don't say that to Huckabee... he probably thinks we were created from god and are not the product of evolution.

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Smith, should 'evolution' be proven to be more than a theory, who's to say that it isn't part of 'God's plan'?

Theist scientists already consider this so it's a win-win for true believers and a 'so what' for your philosophies.

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Portman is hot, Harvard-educated (and supposedly fluent in Japanese). Huckabee taking shots at her specifically all redounds to her favor.

I like the fact that in contrast to most of the media and entertainment elite she is so openly pro-Israel.

Classy woman.

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I have no problem with Huckabee, Portman is sick to deny her child a male parent and it doesn't stand well for the education one should receive in Harvard. Another educated idiot, the same educated idiots that put America trillions of dollars in debt. Collede education doesn't equate to intelligence or common sense.

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Collede education doesn't equate to intelligence or common sense.

Before someone jumps on me... "College" is how it's spelled, I made a typo.

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Also, I don't mind her being openly Israel, as long as she is against dragging Americans into bloodshed for someone else's religious wars!

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That's not what Huckabee was doing. He was accusing people like Portman of somehow going out of their way to "glamorize" having a child.

Is that what he was doing? I read his statement, both of them, and totally missed that. Way to read between the lines. Although it would probably be more accurate to say, make stuff up. He said being an unwed mother is not a good thing, it is much better to have a father in the picture if possible. Are you saying he is wrong?

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I read his statement, both of them, and totally missed that.

Yes. You totally miss a lot of things.

Here are Huckabee's words directly from the article:

“One of the things that is troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, `Hey look, we’re having children, we’re not married, but we’re having these children, and they’re doing just fine,’”

It is Huckabee who is making stuff up. Portman never went out of her way to "boast" or otherwise direct attention to herself. It's sad to see how conservatives can be so utterly clueless to the obvious.

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"Portman is sick to deny her child a male parent "

Huh? Sorry? What?

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Betzee at 04:20 = Excellent post!!

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"Portman is sick to deny her child a male parent "

In pretty typical fashion, why bother to let a few troublesome facts get in the way of a good rant? Natalie Portman is having a child with her fiancee. They're engaged to be married, so the child isn't being denied anything. Perhaps reading the article prior to making hysterical posts might help in the future.

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US right wingnut shots himself on the foot again, now he is back tracking off his original comments and praising Portman.

Social conservatism is silly in general. It's odd that the US conservatives talk about freedom all the time yet they also want to control/influence other people's freedom in the bedroom. More importantly it's pathetic that social issues have taken up so much time and resources away from legitimate issues like healthcare and education.

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This is the homophobe who advocated quarantining AIDS paitents in the 90s. He is also a young earth creationist.

That anyone would listen to anything this mouth-breather has to say is both puzzling and alarming.

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