September 10, 2008

John McCain: "Above the fray"

Marquette University law professor Rick Esenberg, at the conclusion of a comic rationalization designed to portray Sarah Palin as the sole occupier in the field of lipstick imagery and metaphor, confidently pronounces: "And all the while, John McCain remains above the fray."

Is that so.

If by "above the fray" he means baldly lying about Barack Obama as favoring "comprehensive sex education" for kindergarteners, a bogus trope exhumed and recycled from Alan Keyes's abysmal failure of a 2004 Senate campaign, then I guess that counts as "above the fray."

Here's some information on the "Age Appropriate Sex Education Grant Program," the latest — as in, most legible — version of a State bill that Barack Obama, while an Illinois senator, deliberated on (neither sponsored nor, as John McCain's "approved message" falsely puts it, "accomplished") in committee, including a link to the full text of the proposed legislation.

For example:
Requires all instruction to be age appropriate

Requires teaching that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases

Allows for local control — local schools and other community groups still decide what they teach while this program gives them more choices

Arms youth with information on how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical and sexual advances, and in addition, on how not to make those advances
Horrifying, yes?

The last point, in fact, was Obama's main concern with the kindergarten set, and most definitely not that they would be treated to "comprehensive sex education," as he explained several years ago.

Indeed, the same concerns addressed in comic books distributed to the Cub Scouts. Is John McCain going to lie about them next?

Above the fray? Not quite. More like headlong into the gutter.

7 comments:

Display Name said...

McCain still remains above the fray of using a computer on the Internet, though.

Apparently being a pit bull means filing a dozen complaints about your ex-bro-in-law to his employer, and stopping when the judge notices.

illusory tenant said...

Nice. And you better be careful what you say about pit bulls, also. Don't you know they've been wholly appropriated by the McCain campaign.

Anonymous said...

I was going to say, in response to John Foust's link, that America clearly needs a VP who skirts the law of the land in order to further personal agendas, just so nobody misses Dick Cheney once he's gone.

Then I realized that, among the candidates, only Palin wears a skirt, so my use of this common expression would be a heinous attack on her.

Anonymous said...

"means filing a dozen complaints about your ex-bro-in-law to his employer,"

I think when you are governor you are the employer of the state police. Nevertheless, I think this kind of crap goes on everyday in every county.

For example, anyone that thinks a wimp, growing up in school is not going to use his position, if he becomes a judge to retaliate on someone that he perceives deserves it from school, is very naive.

Rick Esenberg said...

Tom

Do you understand that the bill that you linked to is not the bill that the ad refers to? Some of your criticisms are valid, but the ad is not as off the wall as you think it is. Link to - and read - the right bill. SB 2267 was certainly not deliberated upon by Obama because it was introduced after his election to the United States Senate.

illusory tenant said...

SB0099. Yes, it's a dog's breakfast of additions and revisions.

However, that's not really the point. "Comprehensive sex education" refers to the entire proposal; it doesn't mean that kindergarteners are to receive the whole works. Far from it.

It's clear from either version that when it comes to individual modules, as even SB0099 puts it, "all course material and instruction shall be age and developmentally appropriate." In fact similar admonitions appear throughout.

Anonymous said...

Some of your criticisms are valid

Bravo. But it falls well short of "I'm going to stop posting that sort of thing."