***UPDATE: Gov. Huckabee’s released a statement:

“I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar trophy and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not “slam” or “attack” Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country.”

I agree that the use of the terms “attack” and “slam” go too far — which is why I was careful to use “criticize” in the headline. I also agree he didn’t criticize her or anyone else for being a single mother. I didn’t criticize either the Governor or Medved for that. My issue was their contention that Portman was somehow promoting single motherhood. Furthermore, I also think singling the Governor out as most outlets have done is unfair, which is why I included Michael Medved in both the story and the headline. However, if you read the transcript, Huckabee does make it sound as though Portman “boasted” about her situation, which I found unfair and which lays the rest of his statement at her feet, at least in part. This was the focus of my criticism.

***END UPDATE

In the past and with great relish I’ve criticized Natalie Portman on this site for her political musings, and I couldn’t agree more that glamorizing single motherhood and downplaying the necessity of the father is as destructive to our society as anything. Dan Quayle was absolutely right in criticizing “Murphy Brown” and after all the snotty left-wing snarking quieted, I think we can all agree that history acquitted Quayle — even Murphy Brown herself admitted the former Vice President was correct. Natalie Portman, however, is not Murphy Brown. She never glamorized single motherhood. If anything, she glamorized motherhood, and that’s all the difference in the world.

And so, as much as I respect and personally admire Michael Medved and Governor Mike Huckabee, it’s impossible for me to defend either against the criticism they’re facing. Their misguided attack on Ms. Portman wasn’t only unfair, it played right into the hands of almost every negative stereotype of the social, religious conservative there is.

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For starters, unlike Murphy Brown, Portman is not a fictional character. She’s a living, breathing human being who has just been unfairly singled out and held up for a public shaming. Secondly, she’s been with the father of her child for two years now and the two of them are currently engaged and appear to be very much in love. Only in its narrowest meaning does the term “single mother” even apply here. In the real world, Portman is not on her own and the child does and will have a father in its life. 

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When Whoopi Goldberg appeared as a guest on Fox News’ Huckabee show on November 21st, except for being a bit more caustic than normal, she was her usual arrogant self. For example, after making it clear that she was unapologetic for storming off the set of The View on October 14th, when Bill O’Reilly dared use the words “terrorists” and Muslims in the sentence, she also added that she’s never said anything “on television about somebody or an issue that [she] wished [she] hadn’t…said.” (I find such positing untenable because Whoopi is known to state one thing as her bona fide position at 5 o’clock, then turn around and state the complete opposite as her position at 6.)

She’s done this with racism, and now she’s doing it with the distinction between fact and opinion.

For instance, when Whoopi told Governor Mike Huckabee she doesn’t regret anything she’s said, she was at least willing to admit she’s said things that were controversial. But she said she stood behind them because they were all representative of her “opinion.”

Goldberg’s defense of her statements, admittedly based on “opinion,” proved ironic at best, considering the FACT that she spent a considerable portion of the Huckabee interview attacking bloggers for “[saying] endless stuff” for which they “don’t have to fact check.” In other words, she attacked bloggers for making statements based on opinion.

Moreover, when Goldberg appeared on Fox News’s O’Reilly on November 23rd, she rejected facts O’Reilly presented to her. From the fact that the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; to the fact that “90 percent of the terrorists” in the world are Muslim to the fact that Jews are still a more persecuted people group than any other, Goldberg sidestepped all by regurgitating the same liberal talking points again and again. She finally dismissed O’Reilly’s points altogether by saying that she and he “disagreed.” (Ironically, in her appearance on Huckabee two days prior to O’Reilly, Goldberg said: “I think fact outweighs assumption. So if you have facts in your hands, then you can talk.” Yet when O’Reilly had facts “in [his] hand,” Goldberg rejected them because they weren’t congruent with her worldview.) (more…)

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After a week that will go down in history as the moment Republicans finally stood up for themselves, comics are not laying off John McCain’s former running mate just yet. Bill Maher said that Iran was propped up by oil revenue and run by a religious whacko, just like Alaska. Letterman, despite frequent jokes about the amount of hate mail he has been receiving, couldn’t help mentioning that Gay Pride week was the only time of year when you can see hundreds of men dressed up like Sarah Palin.

The big topics of the week were Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the presidential fly killing:

The election of Mahmoud was compared by the talk show hosts alternately to the 2000 Presidential and the 2008 Minnesota Senate elections. Fallon claimed that now that his opponent lost, he’ll go on to make a documentary about Global Warming.  David Letterman actually did a joke almost every single night, changing the punchline from Florida voting machines, to Pat Buchanan, Al Gore, Al Franken and Jeb Bush.  Bill Maher used Norm Coleman then criticized his audience for not knowing who he was talking about. The funniest line was Ferguson’s who claimed that Iranian politics have finally gotten as corrupt as Chicago. (more…)

I have just lost one of my best friends to cancer. He was a great guy and a great friend. One of the things that made him a great friend was I could count on him to tell me the truth even when I didn’t want to hear it. He would tell you straight up that the girl you were dating wasn’t all that great for you or that your golf swing had more flaw than swing. He was sort of like a hillbilly Socrates in that he usually sent you the cold hard facts by asking you a question. There is an old saying that the truth without compassion is brutality and Bill usually had compassion but when I was being stubborn he could be a brute. When I was being a little big for my britches or getting ready to have a, “Hey watch this!” moment he let you know it. I was watching the television last weekend I had three occasions to ask myself, “Where are their friends?”

The first was while I was watching a guy I really like, Governor Mike Huckabee on Fox News. After watching Gov. Huckabee do a lot of guest spots on its other shows, Fox decided to give the Governor his own talk show. Being a great guest and an outstanding leader doesn’t mean you are automatically a great host. I watched the show the first time it was on and cringed but figured he was a good speaker and was used to talking to folks after being a pastor so he would grow into the role. After this weekend with the three Miss Americas and Rosie Perez someone should speak to the Governor. Does he know anyone who will tell him he makes a good talking head but if he ever wants to be taken seriously again for any major political office he should stop doing his talk show? Two of the Miss Americas singing “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was ironic in that that it is exactly what Fox should do with this show, send it somewhere on vacation. Does Fox not have a budget for writers? If the monologue jokes were any lamer they would have to come out in a wheelchair. Please, Governor Huckabee, for the sake of all conservatives everywhere stop being a third rate Jimmy Kimmel and start putting your organization together for 2012. (more…)