Rhymes with Duck

I’ve never watched an episode of Duck Dynasty … but I’ve a pretty good idea about why it is so popular (the #1 cable show of all time).  It, like Sarah Palin, appeals to vast Middle America, fly-over country, the family-values backbone of an otherwise increasingly squishy anything-goes Gomorrah.  And this show also espouses Christian values (gasp!) … something that makes cable executives cringe.  If it weren’t for the astronomic ratings and the sponsors’ fat checkbooks, Duck Dynasty would never have made it out of season one.

Now Phil Robertson, the patriarch of this clan has pissed off the Arts and Entertainment (A and E) Channel execs with his frank comments just published in GQ Magazine … for the straight skinny see: Hollywood Reporter Story.  Now, I can see why our increasingly (in)tolerant zeitgeist cannot cotton such hetero speak out of a born-again Christian and so Phil has been put in the network’s penalty box. But a gay male couple, also on A and E (Storage Wars, New York), has stated just the opposite … in equally graphic terms … and remains in good standing at this network … see: TMZ Story/ ... not surprising to me in the least.

I don’t know the terms of the Robertsons’ contract with A and E, but I think that, if at all legally possible, their true Christian witnessing would require the Robertson tribe to quit A and E en mass and suggest, in a benign and loving Christian way of course, that the executives of this network participate in some contortionistic auto-erotic behavior.

Afterwards: Here is the response from the Robertson family: Robertson Statement. However it contains no family suggestion for the A and E execs.  Drat.

High-Wire Marco

In an effort to nip the 2016 Presidential candidacy of Marco Rubio in the bud, a “gotcha journalist” from GQ magazine recently asked him “How old is the Earth?” (see: LA Times Story). Here is Marco Rubio’s full reply:

I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.

I say “gotcha journalist” because I have yet to see the same question asked of a leading Democrat even though, according to the referenced LA Times article, 41% of Democrats are creationists and believe that the Earth was created by God within the last 10,000 years. I thought Rubio’s answer was quite reasonable, albeit political, considering that he doesn’t want to offend those voters who might not believe the scientists who say that our orb has been around for about 4.5 billion years (which I believe). He was walking a high wire between these two diametrically opposed views and, I think, did a fine job of avoiding this “journalist’s” gotcha trap.

And of course, the echo chamber of the national media has jumped on Rubio for his response ... as to be expected.  The Democrats and the left-leaning press do a fine job of respecting diversity except when it comes to Republicans and fundamentalist Christians.  Now I have a suggestion … let this same "journalist" travel to Iran and ask Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (or even Barack Obama for that matter) if he believes in that the 12th Imam will someday re-appear and herald in the Apocalypse. Or maybe he could just ask Joe Lieberman if one should eat meat cooked in its mother’s milk. 

What passes for journalism today is shameful.