If The Tables Were Turned: Campaign Teen Pregnancy Edition
Tapper asks:
How can he expect to run the country when he can't run his own family? Are these the kinds of values he teaches his children? If you vote for Obama, you're voting for a country full of pregnant teenagers. This is what liberal values and sex education get you. Etc.
Bill Bennet would solemnly intone that everyone knows that the actions of the child are the best sign of the character of the parents. Bill Kristol & co. would announce that the election is over, that no campaign could possibly survive such a revelation, nor should it. The Christian right would be up in arms, perhaps even, demanding that Obama withdraw from the race. Fox News would have...oh, I don't know, a "body-language expert" or some other loony psychology type to explain that it was scientifically proven that Obama's bad judgment and defective parenting led to the tragedy.
And that's just off the top of my head.
The conservative double standard has been fully deployed in this case. Anyone who doubts that this would be an entirely different story if the pregnancy were in the family of one of the Democratic candidates is simply clueless about the current state of American politics.
Tapper asks:
What would the response be if Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and his wife Michelle had a pregnant unmarried teenage daughter?Yer kiddin', right Jake? You really think this is a hard question? You know what would happen; I know what would happen; everyone knows what would happen. Here's a taste, just off the top of my head:
How can he expect to run the country when he can't run his own family? Are these the kinds of values he teaches his children? If you vote for Obama, you're voting for a country full of pregnant teenagers. This is what liberal values and sex education get you. Etc.
Bill Bennet would solemnly intone that everyone knows that the actions of the child are the best sign of the character of the parents. Bill Kristol & co. would announce that the election is over, that no campaign could possibly survive such a revelation, nor should it. The Christian right would be up in arms, perhaps even, demanding that Obama withdraw from the race. Fox News would have...oh, I don't know, a "body-language expert" or some other loony psychology type to explain that it was scientifically proven that Obama's bad judgment and defective parenting led to the tragedy.
And that's just off the top of my head.
The conservative double standard has been fully deployed in this case. Anyone who doubts that this would be an entirely different story if the pregnancy were in the family of one of the Democratic candidates is simply clueless about the current state of American politics.
posted by Winston Smith at
10:36 PM
1 Comments:
You're so right Winst. I thought the pregnancy was a disaster and couldn't understand how McCain could have gone for Palin if he's known about it, but now I see it will be played out like some kind of heartwarming Juno-style pro-life allegory as real-time backdrop to the campaign -- whereas Obama would have been destroyed. It's kind of like only Nixon could go to China.
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