Mike Huckabee is a former minister, former Governor of Arkansas, former presidential candidate and possibly a future presidential candidate. Mr. Huckabee finds himself in a bit of a tempest for having criticized Ms. Portman's single pregnancy, claiming that she is glorifying and glamorizing single pregnancy.
Huckabee is a fool and a scold, and he will not be President. I wish to go on the record now and throughout the coming election that this is one Republican I simply cannot support. Putting aside for a moment the likelihood that kabillionaire Portman can probably swing the single mother thing without recourse to state aid, the fact that she is affianced should make SOME difference. But even more to the point, Huckabee earned his chops as a social conservative sort of Republican, you know, the kind who thinks abortion should be banned. So lets set up a little thought experiment. What would YOU HAVE Ms. Portman do with the news of her pregnancy, Mr. Huckabee? Would you have rather that she aborted it?
He can't have it both ways. He can't criticize her for glamorizing single motherhood at the same time he damns the act that would have removed that which he believes she glamorizes. While single-motherhood is associated with all sorts of societal ills, if you're gonna walk the pro-life walk, then you don't get to criticize those who choose exactly what you would have them choose. And if you REALLY want to protect the lives of unborn fetuses, then maybe prominent women carrying theirs to term isn't such a bad thing.
The Republicans should stay away from cultural issues like this. People see it as judgmental and narrow-minded. Even still I happen to think illegitimacy is the root cause of many of our societal problems.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to bring up the issue, and I think it should be a major issue in the public arena, you have to make the case in the abstract, not point to some actress everybody likes.
Yeah, but there is a difference between carrying through with the illegitimate pregancy and glamorizing it. I do agree, unfortunately, that it is a losing political proposition these days. Frankly, I don't know whether this is a case of Miss Portman outwardly glamorizing it or a case of being glamorous and pregnant. Frankly, fine young woman (for Hollywood) or not, I really wish my fellow countrymen and women could, at least for one month of each year until they realized they could actually live without it, totally ignore every single thing that happens in Hollywood. What would it be like if nearly half our nation suddenly realized they had their OWN lives?
ReplyDeleteFar be it from me to defend Mike Huckabee, but he made a valid point. And it wasn't about Natalie Portman so much as it was about the culture or permissiveness that tells women it's okay to be single mothers. His "point" was that, while Ms. Portman can certainly handle it, most women cannot.
ReplyDeleteOk Mr. Monteith, I'll put aside your non-defense defense. But Mike Huckabee is not you or I in watercooler conversation. He wishes perhaps to be President of the United States. And silly "examples" like this one simply point out his unsuitability for the job. Should he wish to remain a chatterbox on TV, then I have no problem with his criticisms. I'll simply pay them no mind.
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