Bachmann pwnd by 8 year old 'activist'

Madalch said:
Do you think that, years from now, he'll regret not thinking that his mommy didn't need to be "fixed"?

I doubt it.
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I doubt it as well...But what is your point?

Years from now he will not be used by somebody else. This was not his opinion on this issue. I doubt he has one. He was not telling Bachmann what he thought, he was telling her what mommy told him.

Years from now he will at least be able to understand certain issues (Indeed, he will better understand WHY this is important for his mommy and so many others. He will better understand WHY people like Bachmann need to be so vigorously opposed.).

I am really not sure what you point is here Madalch...I said I don't think 8 year olds should be used in this way. I don't think that is a controversial view.
 
Checkmite said:
Very obviously staged, and I do not approve of any people using children for any political purposes.
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Agreed.

It does not matter how much I agree with the particular point being expressed, you should not being using kids as tools. Let him come back when he understands better.

Does anyone here think that this kid said, "Mommy, please take me to see Michele Bachmann so I can give her a piece of mind concerning LGBT rights"?
 
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Antiquehunter said:
But I'm also not inspired by the mom, who clearly is using her son as a pawn in her own battle. As empathic I am about gay rights, I don't think its appropriate to set your 8 year old son up to confront a politician, when you just HAPPEN to be filming the encounter, to make a political video for posting on You Tube. Its rather self-serving, and I don't think many 8 year olds appreciate becoming an overnight media sensation.

Meh to the whole situation.

-AH.
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Perfectly said. I watched the video expecting something very different. I was embarrassed for the kid. Not cool.
 
Magyar said:
The point you seem to be missing is that it is BROUGHT up all the time ...
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It is brought up all the time.

But because it's "normal" it's glossed over. It's only because his mommy is gay that the 8 year-old is discussing her sexuality. But any other 8 year-old could talk about his mommy and daddy and how much they love each other and that would be okay.

"Normal" sexuality is okay. Gay sexuality is pushing it in our face to fulfill some political agenda and achieve special rights.
 
ponderingturtle said:
So protest anything a politician does with kids. Like the first ladies gardening with school kids. Or reading to them
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Come off it. The kid was blatantly put up to it by his mother. She took her child to a Bachmann appearance for the sole and exclusive purpose of pushing him to ask Bachmann a question she told him to ask so she could film it and put the video on YouTube, whatever the response turned out to be. Just like that sad, sad individual who prodded her child to ask Rick Perry "why he doesn't believe in science". These very young kids are clearly asking questions they were told to ask. You can invent whole biographies out of thin air about how these small children are probably bullied daily for having lesbians or science-fans for parents and demanded to be taken to see these politicians so they could personally confront them for perceived political ignorance - but applying a modicum of critical thinking to the situation exposes such fanciful BS for what it is. It's wrong. It's as wrong as Westboro Baptist Church bringing their children to hold up signs saying "God hates fags". Or are you under the impression those kids don't understand exactly what the signs they're holding and the slogans they're chanting mean, unlike those well-informed, tragic anti-Perry and anti-Bachmann children?

When a politician's wife reads to kids, it's not a political statement unless she's reading them a Glenn Beck book or something. It's not a remote comparison.
 
Magyar said:
The point you seem to be missing is that it is BROUGHT up all the time BY people like Bochman and other right wing looneys and THEY usetheir children all the time.
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Then it is also wrong.

Or do you believe that the 10, 12, and 14 year olds that bullied the gay kid till he killed himself all independently decided that being gay is evil?!
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I doubt Bachmann personally made them homophobes. If you want to argue people like her made them homophobes, and she is therefore responsible, you are employing what's known as a "bigotry". It is equivalent to arguing any given black person should be viewed with suspicion because black people are more likely to commit violent crime.

Conservatives use their kids for political purposes every time they drag them to church on Sunday or force them to go to private or catholic schools to keep them away from the "bad elements" they could encounter in the public school system.
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And Athiests and Liberals don't do the same? Never? Ever?

The crime rate, I believe, is actually higher in public and secular schools. If you disagree, please provide statistics.

As bookitty stated, in today's US with all the busy body buybull thumpers it is almost UNLIKELY that this kid at 8 has not heard at least a few disparaging remarks about his mother. 8 may be a bit too young but I don't see any difference between this and all the African American parents who put their kids on school buses to force de segregation when all the white rednecks were out screaming N***** go home.
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Nonetheless, this was a coerced remark, used to gain a petty advantage over someone by publicly making them look bad. Those black kids had to be protected by the National Guard, as I recall. Are you saying that was a positive experience? To know that so many people hate you the government has to actively protect you?

Feel free to keep making points about random things only tangentially related in an attempt to provoke an emotional response rather than a logical one, though.
 
Checkmite said:
Ah, so that's why non-conservatives should be able to use their kids for like purposes. I stand corrected.
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Tu quoque rears its head. You are right Checkmite. I think there are times when pointing out the hypocricy of the other side has some merit but only if one concedes that the actions are wrong regardless. In this instance, no, no chance whatsoever. At least that's my opinion.
 
citizenzen said:
It is brought up all the time.

But because it's "normal" it's glossed over. It's only because his mommy is gay that the 8 year-old is discussing her sexuality. But any other 8 year-old could talk about his mommy and daddy and how much they love each other and that would be okay.

"Normal" sexuality is okay. Gay sexuality is pushing it in our face to fulfill some political agenda and achieve special rights.
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Umm... I dunno about this citizenzen - and if you've seen my posts on other gay-related threads, you'll note that I'm very much on the 'pro-gay' side of things, being gay myself.

I would think that any random 8 year old, in a public venue, approaching a stranger or indeed, a 'public figure', one wouldn't EXPECT the conversation to be about mommy/daddy and their relationship / sexuality. Straight couple, gay couple, whatever. As I said earlier in the thread, I probably would be a little taken aback if I was doing a book signing or making an 'appearance' and receiving fans, and some little kid decided that their opening line was to talk about their parents in that regard.

Especially after being nudged forward by their mom, who is holding a camera.

Anyways - I'm not defending MB here - she's still not my cup of tea on any level. And I suppose her response is to be admired in that she didn't take the bait. I'm not sure if that is because she has an ounce of poise, or because she is so clueless she didn't know what just hit her.

Oh - and thank you Randfan.
 
Antiquehunter said:
Umm... I dunno about this citizenzen ...
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I wasn't speaking specifically about this incident. (which I already condemned in post #3) I was making a general point.

But if an 8 year-old walked up to MB and said, "my mommy and daddy love each other and made me 8 years ago," I'm sure it would elicit a different reaction than "my two mommies love each other and adopted me 8 years ago."

Yet I would contend, the two statements are morally equivalent and equally appropriate for any 8 year-old to say.
 
FWIW, Bachmann is no Sarah Palin. I have a feeling that if it were an adult who said that to her, it's possible she might have had an immediate or near-immediate response. I think her hesitation and/or confusion was based partly on trying to figure out how best to "rebut" an 8-year-old. Bear in mind that fundies in general believe sexual matters aren't to be discussed with young children, even political ones, and even when the children raise the subject themselves.
 
000063 said:
It didn't "come up", it was specifically bought up, in a manner meant to put Bachmann on the spot. I'd still be confused whether the kid had said his parents were straight, black, white, asian, transsexual, purple, polka-dotted, whatever.
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Or male and female.
 
Checkmite said:
Come off it. The kid was blatantly put up to it by his mother. She took her child to a Bachmann appearance for the sole and exclusive purpose of pushing him to ask Bachmann a question she told him to ask so she could film it and put the video on YouTube, whatever the response turned out to be. Just like that sad, sad individual who prodded her child to ask Rick Perry "why he doesn't believe in science". These very young kids are clearly asking questions they were told to ask. You can invent whole biographies out of thin air about how these small children are probably bullied daily for having lesbians or science-fans for parents and demanded to be taken to see these politicians so they could personally confront them for perceived political ignorance - but applying a modicum of critical thinking to the situation exposes such fanciful BS for what it is. It's wrong. It's as wrong as Westboro Baptist Church bringing their children to hold up signs saying "God hates fags". Or are you under the impression those kids don't understand exactly what the signs they're holding and the slogans they're chanting mean, unlike those well-informed, tragic anti-Perry and anti-Bachmann children?

When a politician's wife reads to kids, it's not a political statement unless she's reading them a Glenn Beck book or something. It's not a remote comparison.
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It is a political photo op, of course it is about politics. But I guess that is all good. No big deal right?
 
Barber Shop said:
Gimme a break...He is not being raised as a 'political activist', he is being used as tool by his mother so that she can push a political issue (an agenda which I fully support by the way).

I doubt this 8 year old understands the issue at all. Did he come up with this opinion on his own? Did he think up what he would say to Mrs. Bachmann? Not bloodly likely.


I really dislike Bachmann.
I really dislike suggestions that homosexuals need to be (or can be) 'fixed'.
But, I also really dislike people using kids in this way.

Beyond just being ethically questionable, using a kid this way is not a pragmatic move (IMHO). It only turns people off and makes them less sympathetic to this woman's position.


Finally, calling people silly names (Ms Guano) only makes people take you less seriously.
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I'm sure an 8 year old can come up with that his mother is good the way she is on his own.
 
ponderingturtle said:
Or male and female.
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If you are implying bigotry or prejudice on my part, Turtle, speak plain. If not, please explain your point.

I still maintain confusion when confronted with a non-sequiteur is normal, regardless of content, and believe that I would react in a similar fashion given an equivalent statement. I maintain the child's mother was using their kid to embarass Bachmann in public. I have very carefully not defended Bachmann's political beliefs as a whole, and I have observed that I differ from her beliefs in several areas.
 
I don't know what kind of reaction she was hoping for, but I don't think pwned sums it up.

That said, I have zero problems with her sending her child up there to say that. I have a an (almost) 8 year old son, and I wouldn't have any problem having him parrot something I wanted him to say to a politician just to get a reaction. Maybe she explined to him that the bachmanns think gay people need to be cured (fixed) and he legitmately wanted to tell her that. I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible.
 
Yeah making your kid "mic check" politicians you don't like. Awesome.
 
To put it in another perspective...

If lesbian mom had asked the 8 year old kid to hold the camera, while SHE went up to Bachmann and said 'Listen up Toots, I'm a parent, and I'm gay - my son is fine, and I'm fine, so why don't you take your bigoted, homophobic agenda and shove it where the sun don't shine' - she would be lucky to get 500 hits.

Dragging her son into the fray makes the whole incident a sensation. And I bet the kid REALLY appreciates all the attention he is now getting at school. Frankly, the only winner in this really is Bachmann - she is irrelevant at this point in the race. At least media outlets are covering the story - whether or not its positive spin or not is immaterial. She's at least getting some airtime.
 
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