Appearing today with George Stephanopoulus, Barack Obama defended his recent criticisms of the McCain campaign, whom he accused of feeding rumors that he is a Muslim. Watch the video:
To those with a modicum of integrity, Obama’s minor fumble – in which he uses the phrase, “my Muslim faith” – is nothing more than unfortunate slip of the tongue, a clear mistake clarified by context. Even RedState and TownHall are staying away from this one.
To those with absolutely zero integrity, though, the slip becomes Freudian. While thankfully none of the mainstream media are covering this – let’s keep it that way – smear politics makes strange bedfellows (Conservapedia, its stormtroopers, American Thinker… and Israeli Insider?!).
Barack Obama is a Christian. The only evidence to the contrary is a slip of the tongue – immediately corrected and clarified from context – and his middle name. Kos had more compelling proof that Trig was Sarah’s baby. Can we all, as a nation, learn not to trust thirteen-second sound bytes? We can make fun of political gaffes, but to draw substantive conclusions from them would be as foolish as thinking that George W. Bush wanted to put food on your family.
Nobody’s going to be convinced by this slip. Anyone “persuaded” by it was already a moron.
Weekends are slow, for law school, for politics, and for blog hits. And, it’s been a busy couple weeks for politics. So let’s take a break: watch this!
If you love any of the following – musicals, supervillains, superheros, Joss Wheedon, Neil Patrick Harris, or ex-Firefly characters – this is for you. If you’re a fan of CurrentTV’s “Target:Women,” you’ll also want to see their latest take on women voters.
According to local wisdom & casual observers, Sarah Palin’s vitriolic Wednesday rhetoric was no accident: in private she’s a little more, ah, outspoken, and in government, wildly vindictive. The small-town mayor who ruled with an iron fist became the governor who did the same, and now threatens to bring her wedge politics, fringe beliefs, and fiery temper to an office where, thanks to Dick Cheney, they would fit right in.
Societal pressure to conform, fear of intolerance, and the private nature of sexuality combine to make young life – and the decision of whether or how to “come out” – difficult for gay men & women. ((Since I myself am not gay, to a large extent this statement comes from second- or third-hand knowledge, and I tentatively establish this premise only for the purpose of what follows. I welcome others who’ve actually lived this to correct or clarify my statements.))
Some look at this uncertainty and feel compassion, or sympathy. At my Atlanta private school, welcoming teachers took to affixing Human Rights Campaign stickers to their doors to signal a “safe place” and a willing ear to students who, especially in the privileged circles of the South, may have otherwise lacked any emotional support.
Others, though, ignore sympathy and see only opportunity: a chance to nip the “gay problem” in the bud. Enter “reparative therapy programs,” where questioning teens are coerced, tricked, or forced to undergo various degrees of physical and emotional violence in an attempt to “pray the gay away.” The premise, of course, is that homosexuality is unnatural and evil, and can – and should be – cured. By any means necessary.
Some programs take the form of simple interventions & prayer meetings: “we’re worried about you; why can’t you choose to be straight?” Others employ brainwashing & starvation to force “patients” to change their sexual orientation. Whatever the methods, South Park’s parody of the all-too-frequent results – psychological trauma & suicide, brought about by the self-hatred cultivated by reparative therapy – is no laughing matter. By torturing their “patients” to change what they cannot (their sexuality), reparative therapy amounts to a shocking distortion of compassion & “Christianity” to eradicate a nonconforming, ergo perceived evil, minority.
Sexuality is immutable. To pretend it’s not, and to attempt to meddle with it, bespeaks cruelty, intolerance, disrespect, and a willingness to put theology before the well-being of others.
By now you might’ve guessed the punchline: Sarah Palin’s church supports this inhumane practice.
