AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU GAFFE?:

Barone: Media wanted Palin to abort (Mike Allen and Andy Barr, Politico, 11/11/2008)

A roomful of academics erupted in angry boos Tuesday morning after political analyst Michael Barone said journalists trashed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republicans' vice presidential nominee, because "she did not abort her Down syndrome baby."

Barone said in an e-mail that he "was attempting to be humorous and ... went over the line."

Barone was speaking at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, to the 121st annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, which calls itself the nation’s oldest higher-education association.

“The liberal media attacked Sarah Palin because she did not abort her Down syndrome baby," Barone said, according to accounts by attendees. "They wanted her to kill that child. ... I'm talking about my media colleagues with whom I've worked for 35 years.” [...]

About 500 people were in the room, and some walked out.

Hmmm, let's break this down into a series of Sure Truths:

* As this was a crowd of academics, about, oh, 500 members of the audience would have aborted the kid in Sarah Palin's shoes.

* Most of them would not consider the unborn child to be a human life, to be worthy of legal protection, or to be likely to lead a fulfilling life if born.

* This kind of unanimity in any social circle naturally leads to suspicion of people who act otherwise.

* Particularly when the others can be grouped into a Two-Minutes Hate subgroup like White Trash, Right-Wing Submoronic Religious Imbeciles.

So what exactly is so upsetting here? There is nothing in that statement that is remotely incorrect. Perhaps the academics object to the word "kill." What would they prefer? "Terminate"? "Expunge"? And do they know what that sounds like?

Here's a practical example of this attitude from the syndicated columnist Froma Harrop, writing back in September:

[W]ho does McCain pick for VP? A 44-year-old who parades her dysfunctional family as a poster-child for conservative values.

Now obviously no self-respecting liberal, or a person with any humility for that matter, would ever use the word "dysfunctional" to describe a family solely because of one unwed daughter who was enduring a first-time pregnancy. Everyone knows good families in that predicament. What Ms. Harrop means is this: "Ewww, this is a religious and openly patriotic family with five kids. Also, they chose to keep a baby with Down Syndrome. What a bunch of weirdoes."

Posted by Matt Murphy at November 11, 2008 7:14 PM