A Bushco Boomlet, Ready “Orr” Not

I tell you, you really have to hand it to Michael Smerconish; if you’re looking for someone to completely obfuscate and demagogue on a vital issue facing our country, he’s your guy. And he provides more evidence of that in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer here, in which he tells us…

Newly updated census data confirm that the United States is in the midst of unprecedented population growth. Today, we are a nation of about 305 million, and in three decades we will reach the 400-million mark.

Left undeterred, this will be the single greatest growth spurt in our history, as we expand by 135 million additional people by 2050.

I’ve been trying to figure out how Smerky would “deter” a man and woman from “begattin’,” as they used to call it; would he stand next to them with a megaphone and shout at them, telling them to knock it off in that annoying, high-pitched nasally whine of his? Or would he do something similar to that, as he did here?

Continuing…

…what's really driving the population growth is significantly higher birth rates among immigrants and the continued influx of foreigners. That's where political correctness kicks in and politicians go mum, including the presidential candidates.

Oh come on, now; you REALLY didn’t think Smerky was interested in trying to solve this, did you? Not at the expense of plugging his pet cause one more time, anyway. And you also didn’t think he would actually acknowledge the fact that what derailed common-sense immigration reform in this country – something that could have addressed this issue somewhat, if it were crafted with some imagination – was the self-righteous, high-decibel blathering of the wingnuts who typically listen to his show, did you?

Good. I didn’t think so.

And despite what Smerky claims, “non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too,” as noted here.

The story also tells us…

Fertility levels tend to decline as women become better educated and gain career opportunities, and as they postpone childbirth until they are older. Experts say those factors, along with the legalization of abortion and the expansion of contraception options, explain why the U.S. fertility rate dropped to its lowest point -- about 1.7 -- in 1976.

But while fertility declines persisted in many other developed nations, the United States saw the reverse: The fertility rate climbed to 2 in 1989 and has hovered around that mark since then, according to federal birth data.

Kohler and others say the difference has more to do with culture than race. For example, white American women have more children than white European -- even though many nations in Europe have more family-friendly government policies on parental leave and child care.

I readily acknowledge that this is a complicated issue, and there are a lot of factors involved. As nearly as I can figure out from my admittedly limited research, geographic preference plays a role also, with the south, Midwest, and western areas of this country likely to have more children per family.

But please allow me to fill in another piece of this puzzle.

This Think Progress post tells us about Dr. Susan Orr, appointed by Dubya last October to oversee the federal family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, after less than a year on the job, Dr. Orr (who, as noted, referred to contraceptives as “part of the culture of death”) quit (and in typical Bushco fashion, she fought funding for birth control methods every way possible).

And returning to Smerky for a minute, he tells us in his column that he sought advice to combat “political correctness” from Frank Luntz, of all people (again, Smerky believes that’s the problem, instead of the fact that many people in this country lack the knowledge, methods and materials to protect themselves against accidental pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases). And Luntz says…

"You need to personalize and humanize it to the community, so that you don't ask the question generically. You ask the question: How do we add more people to New York, to Miami, to L.A., when they're already packed to the brink? Where's the housing come from? Where's the transportation come from? Be specific. Don't talk about infrastructure . . . infrastructure nobody gets, no one understands."

Of course not (that is, unless the odd bridge or two tends to collapse in Minnesota every now and then).

So what do we take away from this latest bit of high-minded literary claptrap from another of the Inky’s moral scolds? Fight political correctness, blame the immigrants, don’t trouble yourself with details, and end up in circumstances such as this (“gosh, but it was OK in the movies”…).

Such is life under President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History (145 days and counting, people)…