You can always count on conservatives to crank up the faux outrage machine over some irrelevant little story, and their latest fainting spell involves an Obama campaign ad that encourages young woman who are voting for the first time to make their choice wisely. The references to losing ones virginity are obvious:
And the right predictably clutches their pearls, led by Erick Erickson:
If you needed further proof about just how much the President has cheapened the Presidency, consider his latest ad, which not only compares voting for him for the first time to losing virginity, but also ridicules those who might not want to lose their virginity to just any politician…
But our President is adopting it as a last minute campaign strategy. If you need any further proof we live in a fallen world destined for hell fire, consider the number of people who have no problem with the President of the United States, via a campaign ad, ridiculing virgins and comparing sex to voting.
It’s an outrage. You know, like it was when Ronald Reagan made the same comparison in 1980:
On Thursday night, at a working class bar in Bayonne, N.J., Reagan said, “I know what it’s like to pull the Republican lever for the first time, because I used to be a Democrat myself, and I can tell you it only hurts for a minute and then it feels just great.”
ZOMG! St. Ronnie did it too! Whatever will they do? That’s an easy one. They’ll keep up this idiotic narrative as long as they think it helps them. Consistency or coherence simply does not matter.
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Gretchen
October 31, 2012 at 11:09 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The ad– and Reagan’s comment– is a turn-off. I wouldn’t want to vote for the source of either one, frankly. But calling them “proof we live in a fallen world destined for hell fire” is just a touch overreacting.
matty1
October 31, 2012 at 11:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Tacky and mildly offensive but no more than most political advertising.
leftwingfox
October 31, 2012 at 11:33 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“The nation loses the only goat fucking child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court in David Souter’s retirement.” – Erick Erickson
Please Erick, lecture us MORE on what’s causing the nation’s moral decline. It doesn’t sound hypocritical at all from a man who said this and still managed to score a gig on CNN.
andrewjohnston
October 31, 2012 at 11:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They’re claiming it’s not a sex joke. Nope, can’t fathom how that could be a joke about sex.
Ophelia Benson
October 31, 2012 at 12:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well they have to fill the hour somehow.
Wait, is that suggestive?
matty1
October 31, 2012 at 12:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“What are you doing in the bathroom”
“I’m pulling the Republican lever and it feels great”
No, not suggestive at all.
jonathangray
October 31, 2012 at 4:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Except that, according to the quoted source, Mr Reagan made his remark “at a working class bar”. He didn’t broadcast it to the nation using an adolescent girl as his mouthpiece.
matty1
October 31, 2012 at 5:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If the young woman has voted for Obama before she was a minimum of 18 in 2008, which makes her 22 now. I think that counts as out of adolescence.
Kudos though for working in ‘using her as his mouthpiece’. It’s like a carry on film in here today.
arakasi
October 31, 2012 at 5:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lena Dunham is 26 and built her reputation by writing and directing her own short films.
Good job there on belittling and infantalizing her. It’s a good thing that we have jonathangray here to put her in her place, otherwise we may mistakingly believe that a talented young woman might actually have and present an opinion of her own in such a memorable fashion.
dingojack
October 31, 2012 at 6:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
arakasi – but, but, but she a woman! She should sit quietly and submissively at the back of the bus, out of sight and out of mind, right Mr. Gray?
@@
Dingo
jonathangray
October 31, 2012 at 6:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A woman, then. But certainly no lady.
I guess I assumed she was younger because her manner – brittle in-your-face self-righteousness – is characteristic of a certain type of adolescent. In this, she’s a child of her culture, which encourages people to prolong the adolescent mind well into adulthood.
arakasi:
I daresay she does have opinions. Who doesn’t? And perhaps she is talented at something or other. Opinions + talent ≠ wisdom. She should learn some humility.
dingojack:
It would probably do her the world of good.
dingojack
October 31, 2012 at 7:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jonathon – and what’s the first rule of holes?
Dingo
jonathangray
October 31, 2012 at 7:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Out of sight if not always out of mind.
Stacy
October 31, 2012 at 8:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
‘Cause ladies don’t make jokes referencing S-E-X, amirite?
Hey, jonathangray? How ’bout you sit submissively at the back of the bus, and see what it does for you. And for the world.
Go fuck yourself.
dan4
October 31, 2012 at 9:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@8: “He didn’t broadcast it to the nation…”
Reagan said his suggestive comments while a reporter (Lou Cannon) was following him on the campaign trail; thus, the soon-to-be-president had to have known that anything he said in Cannon’s presence would be reported in the Washington Post (Cannon’s newspaper)…so yes, in a way, Reagan did broadcast his comments to the nation.
Stacy
October 31, 2012 at 10:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ah, but don’t you understand, dan4? Reagan was a man. A man, and he was in a working class bar (hint: probably full of men. Working class men. You know. Manly men.)
This ad, on the other hand, features a woman. A young woman. Probably not even married.
A young woman flaunting her sexual awareness. How dare she? Whatever are we coming to? Cats living with dogs, etc.
Gretchen
October 31, 2012 at 10:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t like the ad at all. But at this:
Yeah, I’m on the “go fuck yourself” train as well.
dingojack
October 31, 2012 at 11:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Gretchen – and definitely not sitting demurely silent at the back.
:) Dingo
——-
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ reminds me of the venerable old story:
It seems in the early seventies a computer scientist invented a computer to translate English into Russian.
‘What a boon for diplomacy. No more dangerous mistranslations or misunderstandings. Why this could bring world peace!’ he thought to himself as he put the final touches on the machine before showing it at a press conference.
Just as he was about to pull off the huge sheet covering it to reveal it to the assembled journalists, he looked out and realise there were only English speaking newspapermen covering the story.
‘How will they know it works if they don’t speak Russian?’ he muttered to himself.
It was then his assistant had a brilliant idea: ‘Why not translate to Russian, then reverse the machine to translate back to English again?’ she said.
‘Genius!’
So they called up one the the journalists got him to type in a common English phrase on the keyboard, it translated onto a punched card. They fed the card into the machine, it whirred and hummed for a few minutes, then a bell sounded and a translation card popped out.
They reversed the settings, fed the translation punch-card back into the machine, it whirred and clicked for a few minutes more, then the bell sounded and the English translation card popped out.
The Scientist proudly showed them to the amazed journalist, who read them – and laughed.
‘Why are you laughing young man, this is science!
The journo handed the cards to the scientist so he could read them himself.
The input said ‘out of sight, out of mind’; the output read ‘invisible madman’.
Raging Bee
November 1, 2012 at 9:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
She should learn some humility.
So show her an example already, you hypocritical woman-hating twit.
Pierce R. Butler
November 1, 2012 at 11:01 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
arakasi @ # 10: Lena Dunham is 26 and built her reputation by writing and directing her own short films.
So modeling for The Third Annual 2012 Portland Humanist Film Fest ad is just a sideline?
jonathangray
November 1, 2012 at 5:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Stacy:
Ladies joke about sex freely, they just do it with decorum. And they don’t have hideous tattoos.
I do. I’m well aware of my humble station in life. You could say I’m an honorary woman in some respects.
You have a problem with the concept of manliness?
Then and now:
Helpless brutalised slaves of the heteropatriarchal misogynocracy.
Modern young women freely expressing their sexual awareness.
Raging Bee:
If I say I find someone’s demeanour emotionally and intellectually immature, does that necessarily indicate a lack of humility on my part?
I’m not a woman-hater. There’s no shortage of opinionated, talented young men out there who strike me as equally emotionally and intellectually immature.
Homo Straminus
November 2, 2012 at 1:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Ladies joke about sex freely, they just do it with decorum. “
Last I looked, this argument was high on the list of “oblivious mysogenistc statements”. Is it still?
Voting is hot.
October 31, 2012 at 3:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] even want to vacation there.This video confirms that voting is hotter than hell. Do it. (Via Ed Brayton) /* Filed Under: Faith, Politics Leave a Comment « Seriously, Romney’s a scumbag. [...]