"Women's Health" Is Nothing: Try Putting Air Quotes Around A Middle Finger

The other week, when John McCain got all dismissive about women's health during the presidential debate and kept waving his fingers around making sarcastic air quotes - or, as Jon Stewart correctly referred to them last night on The Daily Show, "dick fingers" - I thought that my head was going blow off. "Women" use "health" as an excuse to get abortions? This is something that the "extreme pro-abortion movement" uses as a ploy to promote abortion? "HEALTH"?

If only there were some way to brandish one's middle finger and flick air quotes around it.

I couldn't write about it. I couldn't even respond to Twitter discussions or Facebook comments or e-mails asking what I thought. I was too angry. Seriously. WAY too angry. Angry as in, incapable of making coherent and non-expletive-based comment.

When I calmed down, I followed a few links to posts by women who were brave enough to write about why they were angry. Cecily wrote this post (and reminded me that McCain's comments were made on - get this - National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Eff you, McCain.) Dooce linked to this post from Alexa at Flotsam and this post from Julie at a little pregnant.

I read those posts, and I cried and I raged, and then I went back to bed and stuck my head under the blankets. Which is where I stayed (as it happened, I came down with flu while sticking my head in the figurative sand) until, finally, somebody issued a rejoinder to McCain that allowed me to thump my raging, flu-addled chest and laugh, evilly, through my tears:

Samantha Bee, everybody: ROUND OF APPLAUSE.

"Thank you, John McCain, for finally exposing the seedy underbelly of the "women's health" scam... Let's face it: women loooove abortions, and will do anything to get one - the later the better. "Hemorrhages" "sever uterine infections" "dying" blah blah blah blah... People can disagree about abortion, but still agree about the unimportance of women's health."

Thank you, Samantha Bee, for that awesome bitch-slap. I'm still head-burstingly angry about McCain's words, but at least now I'm also laughing.

Her Bad Mother is pro-choice and an enthusiastic proponent of all forms of birth control, especially on those days when poo has been flung at her head.

Submitted by Her Bad Mother (view blog

) on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 6:57pm

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Ahh..but you are Canadian and isn't Sam Bee
too?

our wacky pro women's rights and strange leftist notions are just out of touch with what the American public want!!

Look for me at http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com

Submitted by Crunchy Carpets on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 20:33

Shoot... I did something

Shoot... I did something weird to my attempt at a post, so I'll try again....

I am a pro-life deomcrat. I would never vote for John McCain and his air quotes at the statment of the health of a mother disgust me. I am against abortion, except in cases of the health of the mother -- no air quotes.

Submitted by crousehaus on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 20:50

Divided...

When I saw him do that during the debate, it hit me like a brick how divided we are in our values - that he would actually think this was a good idea, that such a statement/gesture would be considered appropriate in any way (esp. with the whole nation watching) - that's what gives me the chills. Knowing that somewhere, someone is saying "Finally! I'm so glad he addressed this phony "women's health" masquerade!" As if abortions are some kind of black market luxury item and women routinely steal and make up lies to get them and show them off to their friends.

It makes me sad. And angry.

And I finally saw the Samantha Bee response last night - laughed so loud at "dick fingers" that my 3 year old daughter kept asking me what I was laughing about from the next room. I was so pleased I almost told her.

Atena

Assumptions, Biases & Irrational Fantasies

Submitted by Atena on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 03:58

I just spit my coffee...

...and Laughed Out Loud aLot! First at your title, which sums up Samantha's piece...and then at Sam herself. Oh wow...would we be laughing if Obama didn't seem--please God--about to win?????

By Jane

http://byjane.blogspot.com

http://midlifebloggers.com

Submitted by ByJane on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:11

Love the title!

Nevertheless, it still scares me that there are people who can be so cavalier about life and death.

If you're pro-life, since when did the mother's life not become important?

And for a few facts on the bad things that can happen (not "bad things", mind you)...

http://renaissancetrophywife.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/health-of-the-moth...

RTW

renaissancetrophywife.wordpress.com

Submitted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 13:31

In defense....

Was it appropriate to be so cavalier? No. But let me say, for many people, being pro-choice is a matter of faith. We believe that (according to the books of Psalms and Isaiah) God knows us before we are in the womb. And there are Biblical references concerning the punishment for those who murder or unintentionally kill a woman during her pregnancy. For us, as believers, to accept the idea of abortion would be to blatantly defy the Word of God. It has nothing to do with us hating life or thinking that the mother is less important than the child and everything to do with us trusting in God's purposes. I imagine this will incite some nasty gestures, but it's the simple truth. Nonbelievers often go on about how hypocritical Christians are and then when we try to live and act according to the Word we are chastised all the more. Which is it?

Submitted by Gracegirl on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 16:21

This isn't an issue of being pro-choice or
pro-life

... it's an issue of being respectful of women. As the stories you'll find through some of the links I provided tragically demonstrate, abortion is not a straightforward issue - and women's health is very often a complicating factor. To trivialize the physical or mental health of women who might need or choose abortion is profoundly disrespectful, and not fitting behaviour for any moral person, Christian or otherwise

Submitted by Her Bad Mother on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 17:37

Perfectly said, ~Susan

Perfectly said,

~Susan

http://lilmomthatcould.com/

Submitted by lilmommythatcould on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 18:09

This man..

...disgusts me to the nth level. He is a fail. How in the hell could you do that, sit there and refer to woman as being worthy enough for some "air quotage" as you will? I mean COME ON. I suppose Cindy didn't have anything to say either. Wonder if he considered her past health issues worthy enough for some air quotes as well?

Submitted by Bonafide Liberal on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 20:10

Hilarious!

First off, GREAT POST! FOMCL (fell off my chair, laughing)!

I saw that Daily Show, and Samantha Bee, as always, is as irreverent and right on target as a junior Hunter S. Thompson! Stewart's remarks, of course, were hilarious...and well-deserved. SHAME ON MCCAIN! I guess we know where he ALSO stands on women's health! No surprise, but still, sickening!

To the poster who wrote:

"Ahh..but you are Canadian and isn't Sam Bee
too?

our wacky pro women's rights and strange leftist notions are just out of touch with what the American public want!!"

Your reference to Canadians: What's the point there? As for "leftist notions", I'm SO sick of the word "leftist" being bandied around (like "socialist" is now...maybe because "leftist IS more common?)...for every belief/stance/political platform that Right-wingers and Evangelists don't like!

Since when do anti-choice fanatics get to declare that THEY represent America?! Well, since we have Free Speech, they can declare it all they want...but that doesn't make it so. And saying women LIKE having abortions! McCain's dumber than I thought...and meaner.

Thanks for the good belly laugh--I needed it!

P.S.: To all you fellow closet "Socialists" out there: my advice is not to watch any more of the McCain/Palin circus. It's bad for your blood pressure and makes it easier to keep your food down! :P

Submitted by Gwynneth on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 08:41

Ok whoa..I AM canadian and so is the
poster....

That was the reference....

and being that some of the conservatives around her have been slamming me for my 'soc i al ist' views and 'lefty' views...I was making a joke.

Because someone making air quotes about women's health IS disgusting and Samantha Bee rocks.

Look for me at

http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com

Submitted by Crunchy Carpets on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 11:16

Hmmm...

Crunchy Carpets:

Guess I misread your post! I don't do well with subtlety, nor especially with the kind of backward criticism that say, Stephen Colbert uses. If I didn't know he'd started out on The Daily Show, I might really believe he was a Republican, like the crowd did who invited him to that banquet as a speaker to *cough!* honor Bush!

I'm too freaking literal, I guess. Sorry!

Submitted by Gwynneth on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 11:27