Conservatives have found sympathy all of a sudden
Categories: Politics and Elections
Written By: Shawn Williams
Yesterday Earnest Gates used this space to make the following assertion:
- If this had been Senator Obama’s “teenage daughter”(getting pregnant), we would have heard the words “lack of family values” ad nauseam.
Earnest is right. To see how conservatives felt about teen pregnancy before Monday, just look at this exchange between Rush Limbaugh and one of his callers.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks for taking my phone call. Say, sorry to change up subjects on you, but I thought something on a little bit lighter note. What do you think about this whole… the Spears family spreading like wildfire now, the second Spears sister having a child with a man that’s old enough to go to jail for it?
RUSH: I don’t think there is anything extraordinary about the Spears family spreading like wildlife. The Spears family is not the only family spreading like wildlife. There are countless American families that have 16 years old that go out and get pregnant; you just don’t know about them because their sisters aren’t on television. Take a look at the Jerry Springer Show. That’s a good point. If you want to be concerned about — what’s this Spears name? Jamie-Lynn, is that her name?
CALLER: Yeah, Jamie-Lynn.
RUSH: Jamie-Lynn. Whatever. If you want to be concerned about her, go watch the Jerry Springer Show.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: Now, that’s cause for concern, because they’re practically — these families are — propagating in front of our eyes on that show.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: What’s happening to these people is no different than what happens to a lot of families in this country, except their lives are on TV.
CALLER: Would you tend to think that a family in this position, though, wouldn’t you think that there would be a more watchful eye as a parent to be watching over these kids so this doesn’t happen to them?
RUSH: I would certainly hope so, but it’s long past time for this to happen. The parents here are the culprits!
CALLER: (chuckles)
RUSH: I mean, the parents, they’re infected with this disease, this addiction to fame themselves. Look at Britney’s mom, for crying out loud. “Put me on TV, too! Put me on TV!” You know, celebrity parents, they can go both ways, and some of them lose whatever grounding they had as adults when their kids get famous. They want to be part of it. They like the money themselves. It’s very rare to have celebrity parents that remain grounded, but who’s going to get this family in line?
CALLER: Yeah, that’s true.
RUSH: The parents are out there making as big a mess of their own lives as the kids are. Plus, the real sick thing about it is, at the end of the day — I don’t care what the Britney Spears camp says or the Jamie whatever-her-name Spears camp — they love the attention. It’s their job to get it! That’s what’s perverse about this. You know, I have a minimal amount of fame compared to people on television and movies, and I don’t like the stuff I’ve got, but it is what it is. But these people that have to go out and get taken pictures of by the paparazzi, have to go out to these nightclub openings at two o’clock in the morning, make sure they’re photographed there.
Were a Barack Obama teenage daughter pregnant, every conservative pundit in America would talk about how he can’t control his own house less known the White House. But we see a much more appropriate response out of the Obama camp. Even from attack dogs like James Carville.
Limbaugh spoke of the “put me on T.V. too” disease. How does that jive with the news that young Palin’s boyfriend is reportedly on his way to St. Paul? How much T.V. time will he get if he does make the trip? How can one say family life is off limits and then consider putting them out there for all the world to see?
Here’s a quote from Dr. Laura Schlessinger (on same topic) :
- I feel sorry for children who are robbed of their childhoods of innocence by parents who are negligent or voyeuristic. I feel sorry for the unborn baby, whose precious life is bound to be a toy in the hands of these young people.
Conservatives have never thought of teen pregnancy as honorable, courageous, or of any value before yesterday. The Focus on the Family crew that prayed for God to send rain to Invesco Field last week now has a heart of compassion for one of their own. To bad that compassion doesn’t spread across the political divide.
It’s another example of the right changing their opinions on the fly to fit their agenda. No wonder they have taken McCain back in so easily.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Did you miss where they agreed that there was nothing extraordinary about this? The behavior with drugs and disease is the obvious concern of the call. Barack himself was born to a teenage mother, and he and his official camp are about the only ones on the left that have been civil about this.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Where are the conservative and independent voices of Dallas South blog on this issue? Has cat got your tongue? Why no outrage over this teenage pregnancy? As I said “evangelical hypocrites!”
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 am
Civility has never been a hallmark of the right. I would expect Sen. Obama and his camp to take the high road. That’s what they do.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
What exactly is the problem? You have a problem with people showing compassion to Sarah Palin’s situation because Obama’s mythical teenage daughter is mythically pregnant, and mythical conservatives are mythically attacking Obama for it? Beautiful. Is the mythical father blue collar?
Obama and Biden know that any attack on Palin’s family situation would backfire on them. Every time the media asserts that Palin should focus on her family, knowing full well that would never be mentioned if she were male, it works against the left.
“Conservatives found sympathy all of a sudden” is a lot like saying “libs found family values all of a sudden.”
But hey, you guys can beat on this all you want. In my mind it only helps the right.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:30 am
I appreciate the comments of those who see no problem with norrow mindedness. This is the mindset that has gotten us to the state of affairs that we are in today. The mind set is, “No matter how wrong I am, I am still right”, and “No matter how right you are, you are still wrong”. When the common people wakeup and can see through this right-left paradigm trap, solid common sense solutions can be reached. As long as we let lying selfish mis-leaders set the agendas and reap the rewards of our labor we will continue to get the same lies and corruption pushed down our throats. Have you noticed that it doesn’t matter if a Republican or Democrat wins the White House the common people get taxed more and are still falling farther and farther behind.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Where are the conservative and independent voices of Dallas South blog on this issue?
The only one it seems to be an issue to is you. It isn’t an issue to conservatives, and it isn’t an issue to Obama.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
To show the readers how hypercritical conservatives are Limbaugh was thoughtful and sympothetic with the Spears girl. I know why. The candidate for vice presidents daughter is in the same boat. Conservatives are only sympothethetic with like minded individuals. That is how the Nazis’ thought. They were the only ones who knew what was right for the world. They also castigated anyone who didn’t think as they did. Can anyone see a similar train of thought here. A sick selfish mind is never wrong in its on sight. This is why we have to paddle selfish childrens bottoms. Then they get the message that they are not the only ones who have a right to be heard. Life is filled with COMPROMISING WITH OTHERS. If conservatives do not wakeup…WW III will soon be here.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:18 am
@ Akeru “A sick selfish mind is never wrong in its on sight”
So very true!
September 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Conservatives are only sympothethetic with like minded individuals. That is how the Nazis’ thought. They were the only ones who knew what was right for the world. They also castigated anyone who didn’t think as they did.
And when someone disagrees with you, you compare them to Nazis.
There is a disconnect there.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Phelps, the disconnect is in your mind. The reason why the statement was written is to show that a closed mind like yours cannot and is not capable of believing that other people can think without your approval. I see that you conveniently didn’t print or comment on the rest of my comments. I will challenge you and any other closed minded person who has all of the answers and cannot listen to reasonable views of others. If you want an adviserary to your conservative speech you have come to the right place. A free mind can see both sides of any issue.Lets get it on.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Shawn - I will attempt to answer your question. If it were Obama’s daughter, I think McCain would avoid it just as Obama has, and I think O’Reilly/Limbaugh etc would have plenty to say about it. In other words, it would look just like what dems are doing now.
I totally disagree with your assertion that we are seeing a much more appropriate response from Democrats. (I know you said “Obama camp,” but I’m not sure what that means. Does that include media/blogs/pundits?) It has been pretty disgusting to watch the Palin’s get drug thru the mud by the party of tolerance. Plenty of dems have had a field day at the expense of a 17 yr old girl.
I’m not saying that Republicans are any better, but the typical dem assertion that repubs attack while dems take the high road is ringing REALLY hollow right about now.
At a personal level, one of the things I really like about Obama is his committment to family. If it were Obama’s daughter, would I question that committment? I have daughters of my own. I think I would have to have grace in that situation, even though I don’t agree with the political views. At least that’s how I hope I would respond.
I see the Palin and Obama families in a similar light in regard to family committment. So let me ask you guys (Shawn, Jazzy, Earnest, etc) do you look at the Palin situation and conclude that she failed somehow in raising her daughter? That she is not fit to lead? Are you using it to justify your opinion of her? I’m not insinuating anything. I’m just curious.
“Conservatives have never thought of teen pregnancy as honorable, courageous, or of any value before yesterday.” I’m not sure I know anyone who thinks teen pregnancy is honorable, but I do think the Palin’s response to the situation is honorable. Do you?
I know your main question was about hypocrisy, and I have not addressed that. To me, there is so much hypocrisy floating around on both sides that to point the finger at one side and yell “hypocrite” is just a waste of time. I learned a new phrase recently… one of those that makes you look smart when you use it… “Ad hominem tu quoque.” I think it applies here.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Bill,
I’m glad you posed your question and I appreciate the opportunity to elaborate on it. Teen pregancy is a big problem in the African-American community. A HUGE PROBLEM. As is abortion. Now I don’t plan to start a pro-life/pro-choice debate and will probably not moderate such a debate, but I’ve been told by the anti-planned parenthood crowd that abortion is genocide on the black race. I get that.
But I’m of the mind that there are a lot of Bristol’s out there that don’t make it to Planned Parenthood but still have the procedure. Think Dirty Dancing (Penny’s in trouble). And if Roe v. Wade were overturned, the numbers wouldn’t change because the Bristol/Penny types will still get it done.
That’s not really the point. The point is I see 13 and 14 year olds African-American girls having babies ALL THE TIME. I see plenty of 30,31,32 year old grandmothers (and younger). No one calls them “courageous.” What’s courageous about it? Excuse me, what’s honorable? I don’t think about it one way or the other except that these are people who have to make the best of the situation -and they try as hard as they can to provide for this child. I respect them for it -a lot actually- but no one is putting a camera in their face and calling them courageous or honorable.
I watch “conservatives” black and white turn up there noses at teens who get pregnant. I heard the words that I referenced about from Rush and his caller. They knew, as I hear everyday, that they were better people than Jamie Lynn Spears and her parents. Rush said Jamie’s parents were the PROBLEM, while Sarah Palin is HONORABLE.
That’s what makes me sick Bill. That’s what I hate about this whole dang thing. I hate J Mac saying Hillary Clinton’s health care plan was putting lipstick on a pig, but Obama says it and it’s two days worth of media fodder. I hate it.
I don’t hate conservatives and I don’t hate their beliefs. I think a pro-life stance is honorable. But I do hate the hypocricy that often seeps out of the “conservative movement.” And there has been no better illustration that I can think of than the prenancy of Bristol Palin that I have not talked about on this site.
I have not talked about when it happend, I have not talked about where it happend, I have not talked about what type of parent the Palin’s are, I have not talked about whether the time is right for her to leave her family. Have not, check the records, I haven’t.
But I would be willing to bet my last two dollars (one’s for my bus fare and the other’s for the juke box), that had Barack Obama had a daughter who had a child out of wedlock, it would be issue number one. And if J Mac wasn’t saying it, you can bet the Stop Obama Express and Rush Nation, - I’ll give Mark Davis a pass on this one- would be leading with it everyday.
They pick the young man up out of nowhere, give him a shave, put a suit on him, and take down his hateful, fowl mouth tirade that would have him called a thug if he were black, and put him on stage at the RNC convention. Brilliant. See above comment about the characterization of Jamie Lynn’s parent. As a matter of fact, let me just past the point I’m referencing.
Rush - Plus, the real sick thing about it is, at the end of the day — I don’t care what the Britney Spears camp says or the Jamie whatever-her-name Spears camp — they love the attention.
Bill, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
P.S. Ad Hominem Tu Quoque - too cool Bill. No, I’m not saying that Sarah’s take or her values are fallacy by any stretch. But in the true spirit of Ad Hominem Tu Quoque, “the fact that a person’s claims are not consistent with his actions might indicate that the person is a hypocrite but this does not prove his claims are false.”
September 11th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Beautiful. Seriously. Thanks for speaking from the heart. I think I’ll chew on this a while before I respond.
September 12th, 2008 at 6:17 am
For Bill,
Shawn, pretty much summed up my feelings as well but, I will add my two cents.
I have often heard the terms baby momma, welfare queen, and loose morals, associated with teenage and young adult mothers of color. I have heard people viciously rip these women for making the same choices as Bristol Palin and never once as Shawn, said has the term “honorable” been used in conjunction with their situation.
Bill I have no children of my own so I can not presume to know if she failed in raising her daughter. However, it is my belief that Mrs. Palin might be feeling that herself as most parents tend to take the actions of their children as a direct result of their parenting.
I do not believe a mother of five that essentially preaches family first should hit the campaign trail with a 5 month old child. This is a critical formative developmental stage and she is missing out. Her words and actions do not meet up.
Also I don’t think the Palin’s handled this well at all. I personally felt repulsed by the fact that they decided to parade young Levi across the stage of the RNC. I truly do feel compassion for Bristol at one of the most critical points in her life her mother has decided to throw her under the bus (I think I have heard this term before).
My opinion of Mrs. Palin is justified by her leaving a town of 6500 in tremendous debt, charging rape victims for rape kits, for her claiming false hoods (bridge to nowhere, eBay), possible troopergate, and violation of ethical power. Her church’s extremists views regarding homosexuals, God’s judgment on Israel, and the holy war that we are fighting in Iraq; are all more than enough reasons for me to know that placing her in the White House coupled with McCain could possible land us in WWIII. With her above mentioned history she is the exact replica of the last years of Bush/Cheney just on a smaller (much smaller, 670,000 population of Alaska) level.
I don’t want the abuse of power in my White House anymore I don’t want a government that feels they are above the law or who feels justified in the misuse of power. She is unqualified to lead which was evident in her response to Charles Gibson interview; she is uneducated regarding foreign policy and as I said previously does not know how to run a domestic budget.
Now to address the original premise of the post regarding hypocrisy. At some point in time we are all hypocrites I just truly believe no one beats the conservatives at hypocrisy. Yes, I have a low opinion of Mrs. Palin but it has little to do with her daughter and more to do with she is the exact clone of the last 8 years under Bush/Cheney. I say no more!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
BTW, the research doesn’t seem to support you:
Haidt has conducted research in which liberals and conservatives were asked to project themselves into the minds of their opponents and answer questions about their moral reasoning. Conservatives, he said, prove quite adept at thinking like liberals, but liberals are consistently incapable of understanding the conservative point of view. “Liberals feel contempt for the conservative moral view, and that is very, very angering. Republicans are good at exploiting that anger,” he told me in a phone interview.
Perhaps that’s why the conservatives can so successfully get under liberals’ skin. And why liberals need to start working harder at breaking through the empathy barrier.
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/no-laughing-matter/index.html