Telling Stories

I Love America!!! But . . .

. . . I'm really getting fed up with our puritanical obsession about sexual matters.  I'm talking about Gov. Mark Sandford.  In my opinion, the only thing he did that's worth taking him to task over was leaving for Argentina without leaving someone in charge while he was out.  That's just plain stupid and irresponsible.

But what's making news - of course - is the affair.

This is why I have so much difficulty with the GOP.  Was he wrong to have an affair?  Was he wrong to cheat on his wife?  Was he wrong in trying to conceal it from everyone?

The answer is: who the heck knows?  If you are married or have been in any kind of serious relationship, you know that the only people who know what's going on in that relationship are the two persons involved in it.  They - and, unfortunately, the kids - will have to deal with this issue.  It's an intensely personal matter that does not belong in the public arena.  Period.

If you want him to quit because he flaked out, went to Argentina, and didn't leave anyone in charge, I'm OK with that.  Love may make you do stupid things, but if you're a governor, you can't afford to do dumb stuff like that for love, money, or anything else.

But if you just think it's immoral that he's running around having an affair and it offends your sensibilities, remember this:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  Matthew 7.1-2

Conservatives Engage in CENSORSHIP (as Defined by a Fellow Conservative)

In response to my last post, a fellow blogger and I had the following exchange (relevant parts only):

El Loco:   I don't think the original comment was a personal attack, but rather, a bad joke. A really ill-conceived bad joke. But again, that stuff happens when you're a public persona.

Offensive? Yes. But lets move on to something a little more substantive, shall we? If the right is so bent out of shape, it can boycott Letterman's sponsors, and it can use the power of the remote to watch something else.

Oh, wait. I forgot you call that censorship and not free speech.

Conservative Blogger's Response: No Loco, we call it censorship if NOW (the group not the time) all of a sudden would ask for Letterman to be fired, the way they fired Imus.

He can say whatever he wants, and he can be boycotted, there are responsibilities for your actions.

Unless my fellow blogger suggests that it's only censorship when NOW does it, and I know she's too smart to suggest that, it appears that Conservatives are engaged in censorship.  Via The Raw Story:

In spite of Letterman's apology, conservatives have launched a Web site calling for his job. The site, FireDavidLetterman.com, appears to mimic the layout of The Drudge Report. The group responsible is planning to protest outside New York's Ed Sullivan Theater on Tuesday afternoon.

Emphasis added.  If you feel compelled to check out their site, by all means.  But it only goes to show that, for some people, freedom of speech only applies if you say stuff I don't find offensive.

The moral of the story?  There are way too many people with waaaaay too much time on their hands out there right now.

"Sarah Palin & David Letterman : Dan Quayle & Murphy Brown"?

I really don't know what to make of this. To me, it was clear from the first time I heard Letterman's monologue that he was referring to Bristol Palin.  Sarah Palin's older daughter whose out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy became something of an issue during last year's presidential campaign.  And who is also over 18.  And the reason I thought so is that nobody else seems to care about the other Palin children.

It's particularly revealing that this person, who many consider a "front runner" in the GOP for the '12 presidential election, is choosing to spend this much time and effort on such a small issue.  It's really not Letterman's fault that while Palin was advocating abstinence-only, her daughter was not abstaining and because she did not practice or believe in using prophylactics she got pregnant.  And it's not Letterman's fault that it became revealed to everyone because her mother agreed to become the GOP's vice-presidential nominee.

Politicians should know that picking fights with entertainers is not in their interest: they have very little to gain, and the entertainer gets better ratings.

Let it go, Sarah.  There's so much work the GOP must do to pick itself up and become a meaningful alternative to the Democrats for you to waste it on this.

Nothing to see here.

Moving right along . . .

The Most Adequate Representation of New York State's Senate

 

I don't think we need to elaborate . . .