Friday, September 19, 2008

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT


This brilliant post is from Bill Marjenhoff, a South Carolina native. He has a wonderful pro-Obama blog.

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight:

* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 2 years in the United States Senate representing 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Just wanted to say that I'm a lefty/progressive living in Bay Ridge and I'm a big fan of your blog. I loved this post! Brilliant.

Mark said...

Hey, a lefty in Bay Ridge!? Whoo hoo! I'm glad you like my blog.

I wish I could take credit for this post. It's all Bill Marjenhoff. I merely found it. It's pretty brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Nothing like stabbing babies in the back of their head, then sucking their brains out with a vacuum cleaner. It's not murder, it's called "partial birth abortion," so long as the baby's big toe is still in the mom's birthcanal. It's celebrated by the eugenisists at NARAL and Planned Parenthood and endorsed by Obama as the highest expression of a liberated woman's "choice". So keep making fun of what community colleges someone goes to while little defenseless babies die in such a horrible way. I'd expect such "enlightened" and "progressive" policies more from China than the USA.

I ain't saying McCain's an angel, but I'll be damned to cheer a supporter of such blatant evil.

Mark said...

Dude, you've got to reconcile somehow that not all of the issues come back to abortion. You and I differ on abortion. I believe it's a woman's right and shouldn't be mandated by the government. I think your comment "the highest expression of a liberated woman's 'choice'" is a distorted comment based on your views of abortion.

And why must it always come down to partial-birth abortions? It is an extreme case. As long as we continue to dig our heels in on the extremes, we'll never come to a middle ground.

As for Obama being a supporter of blatant evil, you should read this:

"On an issue like partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I've said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother, and many of the bills that came before me didn't have that.

Part of the reason they didn't have it was purposeful, because those who are opposed to abortion have a moral calling to try to oppose what they think is immoral. Oftentimes what they were trying to do was to polarize the debate and make it more difficult for people, so that they could try to bring an end to abortions overall.

As president, my goal is to bring people together, to listen to them, and I don't think that's any Republican out there who I've worked with who would say that I don't listen to them, I don't respect their ideas, I don't understand their perspective. And my goal is to get us out of this polarizing debate where we're always trying to score cheap political points and actually get things done."

That doesn't sound like a supporter of blatant evil to me.

But if your only criteria for an elected official is abortion, then McCain/Palin is your ticket.

Anonymous said...

Glad I got your attention!

Of course not all issues come down to abortion.

But when I see a big circle-jerk over how "brilliant" an at-best "witty" article that both sides are capable of tossing at each other is, I can't help but point out a blatant evil like partial birth abortion that too often is swept under the rug of comic theatrics.

Your readers deserve a small dose of realism, even at the extremes, amidst all the hero worship I've been seeing here lately.

I mean, look at that picture of Obama, it's divinizing like the ones of Mao!

The best way to find middle ground is by stopping with the hero worship. That goes for both sides.

Mark said...

I disagree with you. I feel the article is a dose of realism and I think the article is brilliant. It cuts right through the hypocrisy of the Republican party. Obama has been attacked on every item listed and Palin has been praised and lauded for every item.

If you want to find middle ground by having people stop the hero worship, then you must be responsible to stop the "blatant evil" talk. It's not factual, it's not true and it's extremist.

Both sides. Even Libertarians.

Greg! said...

Anonymous - no one LOVES abortion (yay!! abortion feels good!!), but seriously, if more sex ed was taught & condoms & birth control weren't seen as "perverting God's diving plan" or "turning young people into raving sex addicts" (which, frankly, they ARE young - it's somewhat programmed UNLESS you are educated on the ramifications and option), we might actually HAVE LESS ABORTIONS.

A dear family friend had sex three times: first two with condoms, the third they figured, what the hell - surely there's no sperm left to make a baby. They were smart kids, but they were 17. They made a baby. It was a VERY VERY tough life for them for years. Had they been a little more educated, perhaps they'd made a better choice.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah.. I forgot Americans have a very short term memory.

It seems you all forgot about the Reverend Wright incident.

Mark said...

And it seems you have forgotten about Reverend John Hagee.

But I suppose since John McCain repudiated him it's okay and Obama repudiating Wright is not okay?

Anonymous said...

Mark,

All politicians are cut from the same cloth. When they're not kissin' babies, they're stealing their lollipops. The Republican's are only as hypocritical as the Democrats. You're voting for one set of special interests over another... and BOTH rely heavily on the ignorance of the consumer (i.e. the American voter).

I fail to see how Obama being a 'community organizer' is an asset, any more than McCain being an ex-POW much less help Obama navigate the murky waters of Washington Lobbying. Which, if he isn't bringing a handful with already (remember Biden's son is one of the most powerful in DC right now) he'll have plenty by the time he moves his stuff into Pennsylvania Avenue.

AndSheWas said...

I'm late to the discussion, but to the anon commenter who's anti-choice:

Just because you outlaw abortion doesn't mean it will end. If conservatives and the religious right want to stop abortion, they need to help prevent unwanted pregnancy (birth control promotion, comprehensive sex education) and give aid to mothers who struggle to provide for their children. That is simple, common sense, yet I don't see the religious right or conservatives making those strides.

Also: Partial-birth abortion is a misnomer. 99% of the abortions that occur in the third trimester happen because the mother's life is in danger. You can't expect anyone to take you seriously if you talk erronously about the issues.