Tebow Critics: Going Out In Style

Well, the Tebow ads came and went.  Pam Tebow called Tim her miracle baby and talked about family toughness and love that pulled them through difficult times.  Never was abortion even mentioned.  I think that now would be a good time to reflect on some of the idiocy that has been thrown out in the last week or so.


1. Gloria Allred - Allred made big news when she boldly proclaimed that Pam Tebow may be lying about her story since abortion has been illegal in the Philippines since the 1930's, and even asked for at FTC review of the ad for illegal/misleading advertising.  Two comments on this: (a) isn't one of the principle arguments thrown out by pro-choice advocates the notion that if abortion is illegal, women will still find ways to have abortions, just unsafely?  It seems that if we buy this argument, then we would have to reject Allred's notion that abortion really wasn't an option for Mrs. Tebow.  This is definitely a fair criticism, since Allred herself draws the parallel between the illegality of abortion in the Philippines and the same in the U.S. pre-Roe.  (b) This is more important than that first point.  Allred is actually dead wrong.  According to this New York Times story from 2005, there are at least 400,000 abortions annually in the Philippines, and the WHO estimates that the number may be as high as 800,000.  They are typically offered for between $37 - $93 by real doctors (who have to do the procedures secretly).  Will she apologize?  I somehow doubt it.

2. NOW - The National Organization for Women.  Terry O'Neill, president of NOW, called this ad "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning".  I remind you - she did this without seeing it (which is obvious once you watch the video).  Will NOW (and Ms. O'Neill) apologize?  See below.

3. Planned Parenthood - Planned Parenthood was so offended by the pro-life theme in this commercial (that didn't one time mention abortion or pro-life) that they deemed it necessary to find some famous athletes of their own and do a rebuttal ad...to the ad they had not yet seen.  What's funny about it is that they had to get Al Joyner (who? oh...the guy that married Jackie Joyner-Kersee and was Flo-Jo's brother) and Sean James (who? some dude that made the Vikings roster for two years and never played a down) to make this rebuttal that didn't actually address a single thing in the ad!  Honestly, you know you're struggling when the only "famous" athletes you can find are a guy who's more famous for the female athletes he's associated with than for his own exploits and another guy who never saw a professional field.  This is probably more funny than it is pathetic.


Some media types have done the honorable thing in admitting they look dumb now for criticizing an ad they had not yet seen.  Sports blogger Mike Bianchi, for instance, writes, "If you got worked up over this Tebow commercial, you get a Dud nomination" and "there wasn't even a mention of abortion or pro-life in the commercial.  I know I feel stupid.  Do you?"

Others, however, continue to insist on looking more and more ridiculous.  Terry O'Neill, for instance, says the ad supported violence against women.  She says, "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," she said. "That's what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."  WTF mate?  Did you watch the ad?  Of course it comes across more strongly than the anti-abortion message...there wasn't an anti-abortion message in the ad.  


Now some wench named Amanda Marcotte, who is apparently well-known in the feminist blogosphere, tweets the following: "Hey Mom! Tried to kill you from the womb and failed. How about a blind side tackle? Violence against Moms."


Are these people serious?  Their initial attacks were preposterous.  Now that those fell to the floor with a resounding thud, they have to come up with some other poppycock in a last-ditch effort to save face for their initial criticism.  It's not working - it's having exactly the opposite effect.  




*Update* I didn't realize when I posted this, but K-Lo, over at The Corner, had posted on NOW's reaction as well.  I thought it was quite apropos.  Have a look. 

A Depressing List of Rock Songs

During halftime at the Super Bowl this Sunday, The Who will be rocking out to what is now known as the greatest conservative rock song of all time.  In 2006, John J. Miller wrote the list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs of all time.  "Won't Get Fooled Again" was at the top, narrowly edging out "Taxman" by The Beatles.

As I looked through the list, I found that it was definitely a stretch to consider some of them conservative.  Initially I thought the same of "Won't Get Fooled Again" until I found out that Pete Townshend agrees with the sentiment.  He says it's "right on the money" and that he never bought into "all that hippie (expletive) I so despise."  So there you have it - tune in to the Super Bowl at halftime to listen to the greatest conservative rock song ever.

In thinking about thi list, I find it quite sad that it's THIS HARD to find conservative rock songs.  I mean...they really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with 50.  I'm sure a quick glance through Green Day's discography alone would nearly be enough to fill a list of liberal songs.  Anyway, here are a couple that probably shouldn't be on there:

1. "Gloria" by U2 - it's on the list just because it's about faith and its title is in Latin...neither of which are inherently conservative things.
2. "I Fought the Law" by The Crickets - as far as I can tell it's only on here because the law won.  Presumably liberals like that too.
3. "Red Barchetta" by Rush - it seems that speeding is apparently seen by Mr. Miller as a conservative virtue?
4. "Small Town" by John Mellencamp - there are a LOT of liberals that live in small towns and nothing in this song is distinctively conservative as far as I can tell.
5. "Wake Up Little Susie" by The Everly Brothers - what? a song about falling asleep in school?

Anyway, I decided I should find a few songs to replace these ones that quite obviously shouldn't be on the list.  Here's what I came up with:

1. "Never Again" by Nickelback - say what you will about Nickelback (odds are high I'll say it with you), but their Silver Side Up album was actually quite good.  The conservative principle: hand-guns in the hands of defenseless women for the purpose of self-defense.  Here's a sample: "Seen it before but not like this / been there before but not like this / never before have I ever / seen him this bad / she's just a woman / never again." "He's drunk again, it's time to fight / same old S*** just on a different night / she grabs the gun, she's had enough / tonight she'll find out how F***ing / tough is this man? / pulls the trigger just as fast as she can / never again."

2. "Hollywood's Not America" by Ferras - it's no secret that virtually everyone in Hollywood is a raging liberal.  Leading men from Sean Penn to Brad Pitt.  Leading women from Angelina Jolie to Scarlett Johanssen.  Guys who play presidents from Martin Sheen to Harrison Ford.  Ocean's 11.  And pretty much everyone else not named Chuck Norris or Jon Voight.  Hollywood is decidedly NOT a representative sampling of America, and certainly doesn't represent middle-America in any way.  So this song's encouragement to "put your blue jeans back on" because "Hollywood's not America" should ring a loud bell for conservatives.

3. "Critical Acclaim" by Avenged Sevenfold - this is a song written by lead singer M. Shadows in his frustration at people who were critical of the war effort in Iraq, since a number of his friends were over there fighting.  A brief sampling: "So how does it feel to know that someone's kid in the heart of America / Has blood on their hands, fighting to defend your rights / So you can maintain the lifestyle that insults his family's existence?" and "All the way from the east to the west / We've got this high society looking down on this very foundation / Constantly reminding us that our actions are the cause of all their problems / pointing fingers in every direction / blaming their own nation for who wins elections / they've never contributed a F***ing thing to the country they love to criticize."

Jay Nordlinger suggests the Steppenwolf song "Renegade" as #1.  I think that actually sounds quite reasonable.  There's nothing conservatives hate more than Communism, after all.  Does anyone have any more ideas for conservative rock songs?

OneRepublic Meets Thomas Jefferson, Et.Al.

Southern Appeal had this fantastic little video up today.  I thought I'd pass it along - it's very well done.  Enjoy!

The Tim Tebow Kerfuffle

Several days ago, I mentioned the Tim Tebow Kerfuffle in passing.  At that time the news was still new and the story hadn't yet gotten out of hand.  Now it has.  The National Organization for Women (NOW) has officially called his forthcoming pro-life Super Bowl ad "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning."  Umm...did I mention that the ad has not yet been released?  To anyone?  Including NOW?

We are given a couple hints as to what is in the video.  Focus on the Family says the theme of the ad is "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life".  That is pretty offensive.

Tebow has come under fire from members of the sports media as well.  Both Doug Gottlieb and Tim Keown (both of ESPN) have been critical of Tebow's alignment of himself with James Dobson.

Well, I thought I would pass along an article that puts the Tebow issue in excellent perspective (tip o' the hat to Southern Appeal for the story).  This article is written by a fairly well-known sportswriter named Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post.  Ms. Jenkins is both pro-choice and a feminist...and she wholeheartedly supports the Tebow ad.  One highlight:


        "As statements at Super Bowls go, I prefer the idea of Tebow's pro-life ad to, say, Jim McMahon dropping his pants, as the former Chicago Bears quarterback once did in response to a question. We're always harping on athletes to be more responsible and engaged in the issues of their day, and less concerned with just cashing checks. It therefore seems more than a little hypocritical to insist on it only if it means criticizing sneaker companies, and to stifle them when they take a stance that might make us uncomfortable.
         I'm pro-choice, and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I've heard in the past week, I'll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the "National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women All The Time." For one thing, Tebow seems smarter than they do.
        Tebow's 30-second ad hasn't even run yet, but it already has provoked "The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us" to reveal something important about themselves: They aren't actually "pro-choice" so much as they are pro-abortion. Pam Tebow has a genuine pro-choice story to tell. She got pregnant in 1987, post-Roe v. Wade, and while on a Christian mission in the Philippines, she contracted a tropical ailment. Doctors advised her the pregnancy could be dangerous, but she exercised her freedom of choice and now, 20-some years later, the outcome of that choice is her beauteous Heisman Trophy winner son, a chaste, proselytizing evangelical."


And that isn't all.  I highly recommend reading this if you have 5 minutes on your hands.  Here is the link to the rest of the article.  Read it.  It's good.


Oh, and by the way - let's not pretend that this is the first time famous athletes have chimed in on the topic of abortion.  Have a look at this video from 1989:




Believe it or not, there is actually a whole organization for professional athletes (mostly former) that count themselves as pro-life called Life Athletes.  Here are some of the notables:

Steve Largent, Rebecca Lobo, Don Beebe, Wellington Mara (RIP), Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae, Derrick Brooks, Mark Brunell, Matt Millen, Gary Carter, Trot Nixon, Trent Dilfer, Dan Reeves, Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs, A.C. Green, Jason Hanson, Phil Simms, Mike Singletary, Brent Jones, Justin Tuck, David Tyree, Jon Kitna, Herschel Walker, Reggie White (RIP), Steve Wisniewski