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Obama in 2004 Campaign Clip: An Unborn Child Is ‘a Potential Life’

Oct. 3, 2012 1:17pm Billy Hallowell

Barack Obama in 2004: A Fetus Is...A Potential Life

Photo Credit: YouTube

President Barack Obama is known to be infamously pro-choice. Despite the fact that his views on abortion are public knowledge, a newly-surfaced clip featuring the president discussing abortion during a campaign event in 2004 is likely to rile pro-life advocates. In the video, Obama can be seen referring to an unborn baby as “a potential life.”

The clip, which was posted by CBN News’ David Brody earlier today and then covered by pro-life outlets like LifeSite.com, offers up some questions about what, exactly, Obama meant by “potential life” during his commentary.

“My basic view is that abortion is an extraordinarily difficult moral issue,” he said. “As a Christian, I think that a fetus is not just a collection of cells. It is a potential life.”

This comment is somewhat odd, considering the distinction Obama was openly making. While he went out of his way to differentiate a “fetus” from “a collection of cells,” he — at least in this clip — doesn’t appear committed to referring to the unborn as being definitively alive.

What came after this, though, was even more fascinating, as Obama attempted to differentiate his views between pregnancies that are pre-viable and those in which a child can live outside of the mother’s body. Interesting, Obama also defends the right of the state to restrict late-term abortions.

“And I think that after viability it is legitimate for the state to prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is an exception for the mother’s life and health,” he said. “Prior to viability, the problem is that this potential life is inside someone else’s body. It’s inside a woman’s body.”

Obama said that he doesn’t feel that “it is appropriate” for him to dictate what a woman should do with her own body. And since the child cannot live without the woman in a pre-viable state, the president declined to support pro-life sentiment during that phase of pregnancy.

Watch Obama make these statements, below:

This isn’t the first clip to emerge featuring Obama speaking out about abortion. LifeSite.com recaps:

In August, Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack uncovered new audio of Obama, as a state legislator in Illinois in 2003, defending his position against a bill to provide medical support for babies who survived botched abortions. Obama essentially argues that there is no need for the law because he trusts abortion practitioners to provide medical care for the baby they unsuccessfully tried to kill in an abortion.

McCormack also uncovered an old video from 2003, when President Barack Obama was running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, in which he defends his position favoring late-term abortions.

You can read more here about Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and their beliefs about contraception and abortion.

–

Related:

This Is Where Obama & Romney Stand on Abortion and Birth Control (And Why it Matters)

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (85)

colt1860
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:38pm
“potential life”?

What is he smoking? IT IS A LIFE! That’s why a doctor must terminate it, because IT’S ALIVE!

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- rose-ellen
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 3:41pm
  I prefer to not vote then vote for someone who believes it’s all right to kill a new born[or fetus for that matter!]. Of course romney is also a killer as he won’t lift a finger to stop abortions
  
  Report this comment
- Verceofreason
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:15pm
  It’s a potential life.
  So what’s the story here?
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Voiceofstupidity – Spoken like a true baby killer and a Marxist idiot.
  
  Report this comment
- sleezevil
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 5:12pm
  an outgrowth of tissue with the potential for self-sustaining life
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:33pm
  Sleeze – So by your way of thinking, that means you leftists should be killed since you’re not self sustaining.
  
  Report this comment
- colt1860
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 11:00pm
  Is This Abortion Or Murder?
  
  http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ff_1313680767
  
  (Warning: very graphic)
  
  Report this comment
- colt1860
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 11:05pm
  Scientific FACTS:
  
  “Day 22: heart begins to beat with the child’s own blood, often a different type than the mothers’.” nrlc.org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopment.html
  
  “5 weeks: Also the placenta begins functioning, known as the chorionic villi and the umbilical cord, through which the baby will receive nourishment and oxygen.” baby2see.com/development/first_trimester.html
  
  “The placenta has been described as a pancake-shaped organ that attaches to the inside of the uterus and is connected to the fetus by the umbilical cord…The placenta is responsible for working as a trading post between the mother‘s and the baby’s blood supply. Small blood vessels carrying the fetal blood run through the placenta, which is full of maternal blood. Nutrients and oxygen from the mother’s blood are transferred to the fetal blood, while waste products are transferred from the fetal blood to the maternal blood, without the two blood supplies mixing.” americanpregnancy.org/duringpregnancy/fetallifesupportsystem.html
  
  Life is in the blood. If there’s blood, there’s life. Period. Leviticus 17:11-14; Genesis 9:4, 6-7
  
  Report this comment
Rational Man
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:29pm
So that in that statement Obama is basically admitting that he is a murderer!

Anyone remember the 400 million dollars for international abortion ‘assistance’, posted on the White House website 3 days after Obama’s inauguration? His first act as president!

Christian!…..My skinny redneck ****!!

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- PontiusPirate
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 3:10pm
  The vast majority of Americans support abortion rights.
  
  Report this comment
- jman-6
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:02pm
  Born Again Believers know he’s not a Christian except in other ‘tares’ eyes!
  
  Pontius- You had better check your facts the new polls show an almost exact reversal, many citing their own change due to modern medical technology registering a heartbeat in 3-14 days depending on how updated the sonogram being used!
  
  Report this comment
- Sosorryforyou
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:14pm
  So, according to your reasoning, President Obama is a murderer because he is Pro-Choice and will not overturn overturn Roe vs Wade. If my recollection serves me right, by this same reasoning, Pres. Bush must also be a murderer not only because he did not in his entire 8 years as President try to overturn Roe vs Wade despite claiming to be Pro-Life, having both a Republican House and Senate for 6 years and a Conservative Supreme Court, but also as Governor of Texas presided over approx. 130 death row “murders”, any of which he could have commuted but chose not to. And, although I may be wrong, I do not remember any recent president ever trying to overturn Roe vs Wade. So are they “murderers” too?
  
  Report this comment
- Sosorryforyou
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:40pm
  Oh, and another thing, Roe vs Wade was a conservative decision. Six Republican-appointed Supreme Court judges voted in favor, making the majority of the vote. Also, Roe vs Wade can only be overturned by a Constitutional Amendment, and no legislation to amend it has been brought forth by any House or Senate since Roe vs Wade was decided. Murderers!! (at least according to your reasoning)
  
  Report this comment
- PontiusPirate
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 6:17pm
  I was basing that statement on the results of several of the most recent polls. And if you’re suggesting a fetus has a heartbeat anywhere near 3 days after conception you’re horribly wrong.
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:34pm
  Pontius – It’s there 21 days after conception.
  
  Report this comment
- sbmmomma
  Posted on October 4, 2012 at 8:57am
  He and Pelosi have said, 4 years ago, that after a child is born he is not yet a human. When he or she is a few years old and proven healthy, then the child is human. If child is not healthy [therefore not human] the parent can abort [murder] the child. O was asked if his daughters were human beings yet but he joked off the question-this before last election.
  
  Report this comment
wboehmer
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:24pm
When does a baby get human rights?

“Well, uh, you know, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or, uh, a scientific perspective, uh, answering that question with specificity, uh, you know, is, is, uh, above my pay grade.” – Sen. Barack Øbama, 2008

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- Kelly Henderson
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:33pm
  This man(if he is a man) is as phony as a $4.oo bill.How in the world could a country as great as the USA fall for this fraud???
  
  Report this comment
- NHwinter
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:33pm
  And yet, they accuse Romney of flip flopping. At least Romney flipped the right way, to pro-life. It appears this election is between good and evil. I pray the majority of people choose good.
  
  Report this comment
- YAHUSHUAHRULES
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:50pm
  Kelly Henderson I have an answer for you as to how the people of the USA fell for Obama…AGENDA of dumbing down the populace so not only do they want big government but they will not survive without cradle to grave government care. Raising a generation so dumb they can’t govern themselves, they can’t critically think, they can’t serve on juries competently and can’t vote intelligently. Useful idiots for the state – A complicit media, captured Hollywood and forcing normalization of homosexuality and all manner of perversion, war against Judeo/Christian values, pledging allegiance to the earth rather then the flag of the US and the Republic for which it stands, environmentalism a tool of totalitarianism, a corrupt, amoral, godless generation and its not their children – for the most part they abort theirs – its co-oped indoctrinated “our” children and much more
  this will connect all the dots:
  AGENDA: GRINDING AMERICA DOWN. get it. watch it. share it the hour is late and darkness closing in from all sides…
  so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dkKoJ3kT8
  
  Report this comment
SREGN
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:23pm
You can’t Michael Flatley out of this one, Baby-killer.

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getourcountryback
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:23pm
Obama butthead practices “taqiyya”, isn’t that clear yet? He is a lying bastard and I want him out of the White House in November. Sooner would be good too.

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jp2feminist
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:22pm
No, Barack. An unfertilized egg is a potential life. A sperm is a potential life. A fetus is a life.

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- Verceofreason
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:17pm
  A fetus is technically a parasite. It cannot survive without a host.
  The HOST decides if it’s going to be a full term life.
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:43pm
  Voiceofstupidity – So then by your standards, you welfare bums have every right have your welfare checks terminated since you can’t survive on your own without them.
  
  Report this comment
term limits for congress
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:14pm
I would not believe anything this man says – even if his tongue was notarized.

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- BelieveMe
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 6:24pm
  Well said. He uses Alinksy’s, well known, thoroughly examined, by majority of Americans, method of ceating the illusion of intelligence. Obama could not solve a SUDOKU by himself.
  
  Report this comment
kiwi1
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:06pm
Obviously Obama has “Evolved” on the abortion issue. Now he has “Evolved” to the point of killing a child after birth.

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- TexasHeat
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:21pm
  They missed the video of Obama telling a reporter that “Dr’s would do the right thing in the case of a botched abortion. . . that the legal ramifications outweigh that child’s right to live”.
  
  Report this comment
- Rational Man
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:32pm
  I think Obama voted for that while he was a Senator.
  
  Report this comment
sbenard
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:02pm
NOT “pro-choice”. Pro-abortion!

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- Sosorryforyou
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:53pm
  No – PRO-CHOICE. There are many Pro-Choice who are also pro-life. They just believe that every woman should be able to have the FREEDOM to make this CHOICE for herself. I know many of you don’t understand or refuse to make this distinction, but being Pro-Choice doesn’t necessarily mean that one is Pro-Abortion.
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:35pm
  So – Excuse me if you should NOT be allowed to kill your own baby.
  
  Report this comment
Mainer forever
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:00pm
I can’t bring myself to click on the video…I am so SICK of listening to LIES!!!

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- Verceofreason
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:18pm
  Well you only have to for another 4 years.
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:45pm
  Voiceofstupidity – Spoken like a true Marxist idiot. You Marxists aren’t going to survive once your welfare checks are cut off. And civilization will advance and be better off for it.
  
  Report this comment
Mainer forever
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:59pm
No wonder he “needs” his teleprompter….it is kinda hard to keep track of all the LIES!!!

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Small World
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:55pm
This guy is a pathological lire.

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- CatB
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:03pm
  Yup …
  
  http://bornalivetruth.org/obamarecord.php
  
  Report this comment
The Third Archon
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:52pm
“OBAMA IN 2004 CAMPAIGN CLIP: AN UNBORN CHILD IS ‘A POTENTIAL LIFE’”
Yeah a POTENTIAL life, not an ACTUAL one–it doesn’t have RIGHTS until it is an ACTUAL one; “potential people” can’t have rights. That’s absurd. Not only from the pragmatically obvious reason that such people don’t exist, and thus can’t be queried (and don’t HAVE) about their interests, but also from the theoretical standpoint that it is impossible to speculate, with any degree of accuracy, about all the “potential people” who could have been and/or could be, MUCH LESS make any kind of inference about what their rights WOULD be. It simply doesn’t make sense, it isn’t practicable, and as a matter of de facto practice it just isn’t done. It’s a whole lot of tentative speculation, with many undefined (quite possibly UNDEFINABLE) variables, to imagine “who COULD be” before they ARE–a WHOLE lot of things, that we KNOW of, could intervene in the interim, let ALONE those factors of which we are IGNORANT. And even if we COULD accurately make such forecasts, it would be the height of hubris to presume we could infer THEIR interests without communicating with them (or indeed without even their existence), and would most likely result in nothing more than a projection of our OWN interests and prejudices ONTO “theirs” in lieu of any knowledge or hitherto existence thereof.

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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:37pm
  Yet illegal aliens can have rights in this country by your demented way of thinking.
  
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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:42pm
  And your side also whines about animal rights.
  
  Report this comment
RightUnite
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:40pm
Hahahahahaha!! He can’t even keep his lies straight! Hahahahahahaha!

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hi
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:40pm
The fetus is already a life. Life begins when sperm hits the egg. Science cannot explain what life is.

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- iglooanne
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:46pm
  Actually science can define life and it supports a pro-life stance. 1. growth, 2. adaptation, 3. eventual species reproduction, mechanisms for homeostasis. All these things a fetus does do in utero or is developing for further reproductive use (girl babies have all their eggs they will ever have before birth). This differentiates us from a rock! Thank God!
  
  Report this comment
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:38pm
“Obama said that he doesn’t feel that “it is appropriate” for him to dictate what a woman should do with her own body”
————————————-
That’s the issue. A baby is NOT part of the woman’s body, like an arm or a leg, but a completely different person. Different DNA, maybe different eye and **** color, or even color of skin.

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- PontiusPirate
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:59pm
  You are right, a fetus is not a part of the women’s body at all, except that its connected to the mother via the umbillical cord which supplies blood, nutrients, and oxygen via the mother, but other than those unnecessary things you are right.
  
  Report this comment
- colt1860
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:01pm
  Scientific facts:
  
  “Day 22: heart begins to beat with the child’s own blood, often a different type than the mothers’.”
  nrlc.org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopment.html
  
  “5 weeks: Also the placenta begins functioning, known as the chorionic villi and the umbilical cord, through which the baby will receive nourishment and oxygen.”
  baby2see.com/development/first_trimester.html
  
  “The placenta has been described as a pancake-shaped organ that attaches to the inside of the uterus and is connected to the fetus by the umbilical cord…The placenta is responsible for working as a trading post between the mother‘s and the baby’s blood supply. Small blood vessels carrying the fetal blood run through the placenta, which is full of maternal blood. Nutrients and oxygen from the mother’s blood are transferred to the fetal blood, while waste products are transferred from the fetal blood to the maternal blood, without the two blood supplies mixing.”
  americanpregnancy.org/duringpregnancy/fetallifesupportsystem.html
  
  Life is in the blood. If there’s blood, there’s life. Leviticus 17:11-14; Genesis 9:4, 6-7
  
  “All men are CREATED equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are LIFE, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
  
  A child in the womb IS formed, or CREATED, with ALL HIS RIGHTS ATTACHED, as his Rights are UNALIENABLE, inherent, and NATURAL. The state can’t deny that which God has granted.
  
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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:43pm
  Pontius – So does that mean by your way of thinking, anybody dependent upon oxygen tanks or any other medical devices to keep them alive aren’t human beings?
  
  Report this comment
biohazard23
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:35pm
And he doesn’t have a problem with potentially killing that potential life that has the potential to survive a woman’s potential concerted effort to kill it. What an arse.

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- CatB
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:48pm
  Even when the BABY is born alive !!!
  
  http://bornalivetruth.org/obamarecord.php
  
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- biohazard23
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:21pm
  I know. It’s simply appalling, isn’t it? And now PP’s prezzie is openly campaigning for him? I’ll bet Ms Richards would like to make the Girl Scouts design an abortion badge for the girls to acquire.After all, murdering unborn babies is a badge of honor to the sick, demented, and completely depraved individuals (like Dear Leader) who support such things.
  
  How are you, Cat? :)
  
  Report this comment
GlennaBeckski
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:31pm
Will the REAL Barack Hussein Obama Please stand up??

How was he able to articulate this conversation for 3 plus minutes without a teleprompter? Seriously?

It was the ability to morph and maintain this facade that catipulted him into the political limelight.

He really should win an Oscar.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:31pm
“As a Christian, I think that a fetus is not just a collection of cells. It is a potential life.”

The Marxist heathen says he’s Christian,that’s impossible since he’s a Marxist they’re all Godless heathen. The Marxist POS says he’s Christian because it sells in America,the gullible and naive will believe every lie that comes out of his Marxist mouth.Barry will always fool the gullible but there’s so much out there proving this Marxist maggot is a liar he can’t escape it.

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- 13th Imam
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:44pm
  Until the potential mutha decides they don’t want to be burdened with a baby. Mr Flip-Flop will get a pass for any position he has on that particular day, or that particular conversation. DEMOCRATS don’t give a rats A$$, they are Progressive libs first last always.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:29pm
He says whatever he wants to procure votes. He believes in nothing except himself.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:39pm
  Bingo, nail on the head!!!
  
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Gonzo
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:26pm
“As a Christian, I think that a fetus is not just a collection of cells. It is a potential life.”
Yet, he voted 4 times to legalize infanticide if a baby survived the abortion procedure. He’s a dirtbag that will say anything to get your vote. Anything.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:36pm
  How many devils can dance on the tip of a needle?
  
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- Gonzo
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:51pm
  How many bisexual Marxists can dance on a burning Constitution?
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 2:28pm
  G lol we have one and that’s one to many so we’ll just have to fire the pole puffing pustule on humanity.
  
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Nepenthe
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:25pm
” Interesting, Obama also defends the right of the state to restrict late-term abortions.”

Why would that be interesting? Roe v Wade already did this, so he is basically following constitutional ruling.

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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:46pm
  And you’re stupid enough to believe that a court ruling gives us Constitutional rights.
  
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Want our country back
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:25pm
What does obama believe????? He seems really confused about what he belives, or does he? He doesn’t believe in anything except himself.

This video is heartbreaking, it shows an actual late term abortion. I DO NOT recommend watching it unless you are a Liberal and approve of obama’s stance on this procedure. He voted 3X’s to prevent aid for an abortion survivor.
WARNING!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ff_1313680767
What kind of PERSON is obama?
Is This Abortion Or Murder?

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Nepenthe
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:23pm
“Obama essentially argues that there is no need for the law because he trusts abortion practitioners to provide medical care for the baby they unsuccessfully tried to kill in an abortion”

He probably trusted them since it was already the law.

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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 3, 2012 at 4:48pm
  Yet here you Marxist hypocrites whine about the loopholes you claim the rich use yet they are legal.
  
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CWPrequired
Posted on October 3, 2012 at 1:23pm
He’s a proven liar!

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