Sunday, February 13, 2011

Barbour's Mississippi: No picnic for newborns, either

DID YOU HAPPEN to see the hero's welcome that Gov. Haley Barbour received when he declared to the CPAC crowd that his state of Mississippi, by God, is "the safest state in America for an unborn child"? Social conservatives are in a gung-ho mood in attacking abortion these days and Barbour's pro-life boast to the Tea Partyers (who, by the way, want government off their backs) obviously was well considered for his potential presidential campaign.

But to be perfectly fair and balanced, shouldn't someone have mentioned to that same audience that Mississippi is also, um...the state with the worst record of childhood fatalities. It also has the highest percentage of people below the poverty level, and is tied (with West Virginia!) for the highest level of inhabitants with physical disabilities.

Ah, but that's a story for another time.


2 comments:

mencken said...

Since Mississippi has the lowest literacy rate in the country, I'm sure Barbour knows that most of his constituents don't pay much attention to lists or statistics.

Anonymous said...

Abortion? I thought it was all about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!