Bachmann Confronted By Gay Mother Using Eight Year Old Child As Tool

[troung]

Just nasty.... :grump:

Michele Bachmann Confronted by Kid with Gay Mom
Michele Bachmann Confronted by Kid with Gay Mom - Yahoo! News
By Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 23 hrs ago

COMMENTARY | Using kids as political props, even for the most righteous of causes, is a tactic fraught with danger. Such was the case when 8-year-old Elijah walked up to Rep. Michele Bachmann at a book signing and proceeded to admonish her.

Elijah told Bachmann, according to Yahoo! News' The Upshot, "My mommy's gay, but she doesn't need fixing."

Taken aback, Bachmann managed a, "Bye bye" to mother and son as they passed on.

Bachmann, like many conservatives, is an opponent to same-sex marriage. Her family runs a faith-based service that allegedly uses prayer to turn people from being gay to being straight, according to the New York Daily News. Elijah is seen being encouraged to speak by the woman some have identified as his mother despite a reluctance to do so.

Agreeing with the idea one cannot "pray the gay away" and that in any case being gay is not something that generally needs fixing, one wonders what the point of pushing a kid into a confrontation with a presidential candidate. For one thing, it smacks of cowardice on the part of Elijah's mom. If she had a problem with Bachmann and her views on homosexuality, she should have spoken up herself and not hid behind her son.

In any event, staging a confrontation, with the video camera running, with Bachmann was pointless from a political standpoint. Bachmann is not likely to become president if the current poll numbers are to be believed. She is therefore no likely to be in a powerful enough position to-say-require mandatory counseling for gay people or whatever Elijah's mom was afraid she planned to do. All it did was embarrass the candidate, which was likely the real goal, and made Elijah an unwilling celebrity.

Setting up children as political props is a creepy thing to do anyway. One can only remember the video that was created with a group of young kids, fresh faced, well scrubbed, all of them in matching Obama T-shirts, singing a praise song for the then candidate in 2008. Even without the addition of similar footage of Hitler Young singing praises of their savoir, the spectacle was slightly stomach churning.

[gunnut]

I saw the video. The 8-year-old didn't know who Bachman was and wasn't really sure what he was asking.

[kato]

I find it funny how Americans find such things exasperating. Come on - it's politics, it's all about using other people to further your own position. On all sides.

Also: Godwin's law.

[USSWisconsin]

That is pathetic, the gay mother probably did more to harm her own agenda than advance it. It certainly didn't demonstrate any concern for her own son or her "quality" parenting, I'm sure it didn't physically harm him - but what psychological damage could it do? At the least, it was in bad taste and was poorly thought out - not an appropriate thing for a parent to do. IMO, sexuality is not something an 8 yr old should have to deal with, especially at the request of his own mother.

[kato]

sexuality is not something an 8 yr old should have to deal with

Let me quote something from a post on another forum for this - not on the same topic, but somehow it fits... at least slightly.

Ah, here:
Compare teen sexual activity and then pregnancy and STD rates between the US, UK and mainland Europe and you'll see where the real perversion is. Big clue - it ain't in mainland Europe.
(posted in a thread on early sex ed for kids, author is a Brit)

[bonehead]

That is pathetic, the gay mother probably did more to harm her own agenda than advance it. It certainly didn't demonstrate any concern for her own son or her "quality" parenting, I'm sure it didn't physically harm him - but what psychological damage could it do? At the least, it was in bad taste and was poorly thought out - not an appropriate thing for a parent to do. IMO, sexuality is not something an 8 yr old should have to deal with, especially at the request of his own mother.

Ah, but putting sexuality in the minds of 8 year olds is on the agenda of the homosexual community. Brainwash the kids early, before they are mature enough to pick a side is one of the best ways to sway the next generation.
Homosexual convention targets grade-school kids

[YellowFever]

IMO, sexuality is not something an 8 yr old should have to deal with, especially at the request of his own mother.

Let me quote something from a post on another forum for this - not on the same topic, but somehow it fits... at least slightly.

Ah, here:
Compare teen sexual activity and then pregnancy and STD rates between the US, UK and mainland Europe and you'll see where the real perversion is. Big clue - it ain't in mainland Europe.
(posted in a thread on early sex ed for kids, author is a Brit)

Besides...it IS Whiskey's opinion...

[TopHatter]

Agreeing with the idea one cannot "pray the gay away" and that in any case being gay is not something that generally needs fixing, one wonders what the point of pushing a kid into a confrontation with a presidential candidate. For one thing, it smacks of cowardice on the part of Elijah's mom. If she had a problem with Bachmann and her views on homosexuality, she should have spoken up herself and not hid behind her son.

In any event, staging a confrontation, with the video camera running, with Bachmann was pointless from a political standpoint. Bachmann is not likely to become president if the current poll numbers are to be believed. She is therefore no likely to be in a powerful enough position to-say-require mandatory counseling for gay people or whatever Elijah's mom was afraid she planned to do. All it did was embarrass the candidate, which was likely the real goal, and made Elijah an unwilling celebrity.

Hit the nail on the head

[Tarek Morgen]

I believe what Kato was referring to was the different way all things sexual are treated (wrt to children). In the US it seems (from a European perspective) like the preferred way of dealing with this is to shelter children & teenager from anything that has to do with it, until they are “old enough”. At best, even preventing them from knowing that something like sex (or different kind of sexuality) exist. Over here such matters are usually treated much more openly, in a way that many Americans would most likely call outright pervert (Just imiagen what they would say over things like the Bravo magazine). Yet the result is usually much lower teenage pregnancies, a higher average age for the first time, safe sex is far more common and spreads of STD is lower. Long story short, it looks from over here that the desire to shelter Kids & teens seem to cause the exact opposite of what it is supposed to.

That all is of course just an assumption on what Kato meant and I could be wrong.

[YellowFever]

I believe what Kato was referring to was the different way all things sexual are treated (wrt to children). In the US it seems (from a European perspective) like the preferred way of dealing with this is to shelter children & teenager from anything that has to do with it, until they are “old enough”. At best, even preventing them from knowing that something like sex (or different kind of sexuality) exist. Over here such matters are usually treated much more openly, in a way that many Americans would most likely call outright pervert (Just imiagen what they would say over things like the Bravo magazine). Yet the result is usually much lower teenage pregnancies, a higher average age for the first time, safe sex is far more common and spreads of STD is lower. Long story short, it looks from over here that the desire to shelter Kids & teens seem to cause the exact opposite of what it is supposed to.

That all is of course just an assumption on what Kato meant and I could be wrong.

I'll go along with that.

But there's also most of Asia where shielding kids from sex is more accute than in America and Europe and their teen pregnancy rate, STD, etc is much lower than Europe.

Not disagreeing with you....just arguing with an Admin......for no reason.

[Tarek Morgen]

True, (though the spread of STD seems to be rising thanks to a growing prostitution industry) but I would counter that due the complete different Asian and Western cultures we can't compare the numbers that easily. Sex before marriage in still rather uncommon in much of Asia, but rather an exception in America and Europe.

[USSWisconsin]

I am not in favor of witholding important sexuality information (particulary wrt to pregnancy and STD's) from kids when they are about to reach puberty - I believe they need to know about this. But 8 yrs old is not that point in most children's lives (they do need to learn about pedifiles as soon as they can, typically in kindergarden). I have two grown children and one 11 yr old, so I have first hand experience, kids start to demonstrate interest in sexuality when they are ready to discuss it. Talking to them everyday is a key factor, being involved in their daily lives and listening to them. Many kids don't get to have conversations with their parents, they get their "orders" from their parent(s) and go to their peers for answers.

[Tarek Morgen]

I don't have kids myself, so I can not talk as a father, but only as a former kid and at 8 not knowing at least the basics would have been quite unusual. One of my oldest memories is watching a french made cartoon called "Il était une fois" (Once open a time) which dealt with various subjects. History, evolution of man and also biology. Explaining this all in a fery kid friendly manner while still being very factual as well as entertaining. Here you can view the episode about birth(in English, the show aired in the UK but not the US):
(warning, contains brief cartoon nudity)

edit:

The English translation seems to be quite lacking in quality compared to the German one.

[USSWisconsin]

The "where do babies come?" from question is much sooner, perhaps 4 or 5 years old. I am referring to discussing the physical and emotional details of sexuality, this comes later, IMO. Most pre-school kids have an understanding that people and the animals they know about reproduce with a male and female, this is where babies, puppies and kittens come from. This is normally enough to satisfy them while they are still little kids, they need more information at puberty - the details about participating in reproductive related activity - risks and benifits. I know other cultures do things differently; some Pacific Islands used to have interesting practices with kids practicing sexuality all through their childhoods, but we need to teach our children what is acceptable and likely to be successful in the culture we are raising them in, so they don't have to learn the hard way.

[YellowFever]

True, (though the spread of STD seems to be rising thanks to a growing prostitution industry) but I would counter that due the complete different Asian and Western cultures we can't compare the numbers that easily. Sex before marriage in still rather uncommon in much of Asia, but rather an exception in America and Europe.

Also true.

However that would mean shielding kids from sex at a young age might or might not be working.

If kato's contention about exposure to sex at a young age is what you described, he would be wrong.

I wonder how the rates of abortion differ between the US and European teens as that would paint a more accurate picture.