NBC's Guthrie falsely suggested Obama's "punished with a baby" comment was about abortion
SUMMARY: On NBC's Nightly News, Savannah Guthrie falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama was talking about abortion when he said of his two daughters: "I don't want them punished with a baby." In fact, Obama was discussing sex education, not abortion, when he made his comment.
On the October 12 edition of NBC's Nightly News, correspondent Savannah Guthrie falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama was talking about abortion when he said: "I've got two daughters -- 9 years old and 6 years old. I'm going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." During the broadcast, referring to comments by Gov. Sarah Palin, Guthrie reported: "Saturday in Pennsylvania, her most withering attack yet on Obama's stance on abortion." She then aired Palin saying of Obama: "He said that a woman shouldn't have to be, quote, 'punished with a baby.' " In fact, as Media Matters for America has previously documented, Obama was instead referring to sex education, not abortion, when he made his "punished with a baby" comment.
As Media Matters noted, during the October 11 edition of MSNBC Live, after anchor Chris Jansing uncritically aired Palin's false charge about Obama's comments, Guthrie said of Palin: "[W]e've never heard her speak quite like this, and at such length, about Barack Obama's record on abortion."
In fact, Obama made the comment in response to what CNN reported was "a question about how his administration, if he's elected, would deal with the issue of HIV and AIDS and also sexually transmitted diseases with young girls." Indeed, as video of the March 29 campaign event, broadcast by CNN, shows, Obama was discussing sex education, not abortion, when he made the comment Palin cited.
From the March 29 edition of CNN's Ballot Bowl 2008:
MARY SNOW (CNN correspondent): Welcome back to CNN's edition of Ballot Bowl. This is a chance for you to hear directly from the candidates. I'm Mary Snow in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where Senator Barack Obama is holding a town hall meeting right now, taking questions from the audience. Let's go straight to Senator Barack Obama; he just was asked a question about how his administration, if he's elected, would deal with the issue of HIV and AIDS and also sexually transmitted diseases with young girls. Here's Senator Barack Obama.
OBAMA: -- or we give them really expensive surgery and we don't spend money on the front end keeping people healthy in the first place. So, when it comes to -- when it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include -- which should include abstinence only -- should include abstinence education and teaching that children -- teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters -- 9 years old and 6 years old. I'm going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at the age of 16.
You know, so, it doesn't make sense to not give them information. You still want to teach them the morals and the values to make good decisions. That will be important, number one. Then we're still going to have to provide better treatment for those who do have -- who do contract HIV/AIDS, because it's no longer a death sentence, if, in fact, you get the proper cocktails. It's expensive. That's why we want to prevent as much as possible.
But we should also provide better treatment. And we should focus on those sectors where it's prevalent and we've got to get over the stigma because understand that the fastest growth in HIV/AIDS is in heterosexuals, not gays. And so, we've got to get out of that stigma that we still have around it. It's connected also to drug use. So, one of the things we have to do is to start thinking about better substance abuse treatment programs around drugs and not just treat it as a criminal justice issue. Treat it as a public health issue as well.
From the October 12 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News with Lester Holt:
GUTHRIE: It's been a working weekend for Governor Palin: a bus tour through Pennsylvania yesterday, today Ohio. And though she's still on the attack against Barack Obama, we're seeing a change in tone after a week where some say the atmosphere on the campaign trail was getting overly heated.
[begin video clip]
GUTHRIE: Sarah Palin at a rally tonight in Ohio.
PALIN: Just once, I would love to hear Barack Obama say he wants America to win.
GUTHRIE: Saturday in Pennsylvania, her most withering attack yet on Obama's stance on abortion.
PALIN: He said that a woman shouldn't have to be, quote, "punished with a baby."
GUTHRIE: But as Palin campaigned this weekend, getting a mixture of boos and applause as she dropped the first puck at a Philadelphia hockey game, noticeably absent was any reference to Obama's connection to '60s radical Bill Ayers, something she had previously hit hard. That marks a change in tone, after a week in which the McCain campaign had ratcheted up the rhetoric.
I just finished looking at another thread on this topic, and it seems pretty obvious that those who have been told this was about abortion, and really want to believe it was, will continue to believe that.
Thanks to our media, those who may be wavering in their confusion can have it reinforced on a regular basis.
Exactly Colonel, exactly. Never mind the whole context of his remark about this, and other things like that.
I still don't fully understand the anti abortion crowd either. Why you might ask? Here's why. If you don't believe in abortion, or don't believe you should do it, it's really as simple as, you know, not doing it. Don't have an abortion. And, if as we keep hearing from anti abortion activists, that this is against the Lord's will and all; worry about yourselves folks. If you are indeed following God's law, then you should be good to go. Worry about your own preservation instead of everyone else's. It's called being pro choice. What might be right for you, might not be right for everyone.
I'm starting to think the wingnuts need to go back to school and take some reading comprehension or ESL or something.
None of them seem to be able to actually understand anything.
The only thing the seem to understand is how to lie.
Not true, Larry! They also understand how to believe a lie!
And to believe that their believing the lie is "doing God's Work".....
Because that baby is a living human being and has right to life. An unborn baby is just as alive as a born one.
It's a simple concept, really.
I'm going to tell every person who tries to push their beliefs on the rest of us the same thing. And that since you have the arrogance to tell us when life begins, I guess it is consistent, at least in your mind, to elide the living with the unborn. Kudos to you omniscient one.
When can we expect, on the count of murder, the executions of rape victims and victims of incest to begin? Murder is murder, right? Does your zealotry prepare you to stay as rigid in regard to executing rape victims as it does in forcing the rest of your, "abortion is murder," beliefs on us?
Col
I suppose that is good, since it was CLEARLY a comment about abortion. Anyone can see that, except for those on the far loonly left.
Yeah, sure. The question he was asked didn't mention abortion or even hint at it. Obama's reply didn't mention abortion or even hint at it. And yet a bunch of nutjobs, er, I mean, carefully discerning individuals can figure out that it refers to abortion in spite of those facts.
Please analyze the comment and show how that's the only reasonable interpretation. No, not even that. Please analyze the comment and show how it's a reasonable interpretation.
Good luck.
It would be much easier if the media folks out there checked MMFA for information as often as they check "The Drudge Report".......
I know Neal Boortz checks frequently, just to see if he's made the list
This isn't about wingnuts; it's about how lazy the media has gotten. Guthrie claimed it was about abortion, when the context explicitly shows he was talking about contraception. This much bungling in any other field (except corporate finance, federal agencies, the current administration...oh never mind) would get you fired and discredit your profession.
The news media has too much power and influence to keep getting away with so much inaccuracy. They have ONE job: report the news accurately. They fail every day.
Magnolia, you have to keep in mind that you aren't dealing with rational people. Your argument could apply to a host of issues, like Gay Marriage. Nobody is requiring them to marry a gay person, but they just can't leave it alone. Critical thinking is not their friend.
Critical thinking is not their friend.
"Critical Thinking" is not even a casual aquaintance of theirs.......
Just once, I would like to hear you lefties say you want America to win ! I can't really define winning, and I can't provide any feasible plan for winning. I just like hearing happy talk.
Speaking of "winning", I heard a report this morning that the Christians in Iraq are still being attacked and killed at an alarming rate. Tthere were 800,000 Christians in Iraq before President Numbnuts invaded; now there are fewer than 100,000. Most have fled, but many have been killed. In other words, they lived in relative peace under Saddam, but now live in daily fear.
Where, I wonder, does this figure into the "success" that Grampy keeps crowing about? Why isn't James Dobson's Troglodyte army raising hell about this? Oh, I know.... they're too busy scaring their idiot followers about Barack Obama.
True, we keep hearing from Palin - McCain about how Obama doesn't believe in the same country that you and I believe in, a strong America that can help the world and all. Of course, that's ridiculous. We, meaning democrats, and Obama, want to do different things, and you know, gain back the respect that we lost under George W. Bush from the rest of the world.
I heard the report also about Christians in Iraq. It's pretty scary really. I'm sure that we'll have some of our "other" friends in here at some point in time talking about how stupid could those people be, living in a country that is a majority of Muslims, and maybe they should just move somewhere where they are accepted. You know, I call it the "Katrina" response. They should just pack up and move. I mean, come on...
It's been mentioned before, but the same "conservatives" who become apoplectic over every cent spent on domestic programs don't even bat an eye over the hundreds of billions President Numbnuts has pi$$ed away in Iraq. How does that world view work, exactly?
In other words, they lived in relative peace under Saddam, but now live in daily fear. - nerzog
And, by making that statement, you are obviously claiming that Iraq was a paradise under Saddam.
and you are obviously another mind reader recruited and trained by KKK Rove.
Yup, you've got me pegged exactly right.
The thing that bothers me about the whining lefties is that they don't seem to be scared enough. Fear makes you strong. They need to embrace the bedwetter inside them. Only then can they be free and victorious and wet.
Forgot to ratchet up tour sarcasm detector for the first one,eh Pit? ;0)
I guess what I've never understood is the pro-life movement. They're VERY strong on abortion... but... if you're "pro-life" you should be anti-war, anti-death penality, anti-gun... right???? Am I missing something here???
I think I speak for many here when I say I'm glad you recognize he's not talking about abortion. The baseless assertions in that vein have been piling up.
I think the "punishment" is in the context of the life of a teenager. Does a teenager see an unwanted pregnancy as anything other than a punishment? Probably not. It's idealistic to say that every baby should be a blessing, regardless of circumstsnces. It's just not how it is. What's more reasonable is to say that since we should try to make every baby a blessing, we should have sex education and family planning which works towards that end.
Smitty, I'd guess that your use of the word "consequences" is probably pretty close to what Obama meant by "punishment".
Obama's remark actually assumes that abortion would not even be an option for his daughters: if they don't get accurate birth control info, they'd more likely get pregnant, and be punished with an unwanted baby.
There's no reason to accept the tactic that saying "punished with a baby" somehow disses babies, those lil miracles! I've talked to enough pro-lifers to know they say it all the time - some variation of "if you don't want a baby, abstain from sex or suffer the consequences." Couldn't be plainer.