Conservatives have found sympathy all of a sudden
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.
