Alan Colmes Is Beneath Contempt (Updated)

It’s one thing if he brought him home to have a funeral. But to cuddle with a dead body for the night is creepy. In this context, “How dare you! His son died!” is the equivalent of shouting “racist!” It’s using emotion to end a conversation without getting to the merits. If I said it was creepy for someone to make love to his dead wife, apparently Lowry and many here would be outraged.

It was Mark McKinnon – a Bush-McCain guy (who just couldn’t stomach voting against the Obamessiah and so left the McCain campaign)

I would not identify him o’er much with either Bush or McCain. There appear to be a certain number of insipid careerists that politicians hire because they have useful skills, including this fellow McKinnon (and ‘Steve’ Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, who also worked for McCain and have made public nuisances of themselves at odd intervals since, most particularly to Sarah Palin). Two generations ago, ward clubs were filled with people who circulated petitions and passed out palm cards and aspired to patronage jobs. (The difference being that ward heelers, per Ed Koch, tended to be passably likable as human beings, which I doubt is true of PR hacks).

About 25 years ago, Roger Stone, who did this sort of work for Republican pols of that day, was asked to state a political principle. He replied with, “you can’t work both sides of the street”. What is unusual about McKinnon is that he actually does.

Every time Colmes, or any liberal for that matter, opens his/their mouth(s) the sum of human virtue is diminished.

I have not had the stomach to endure him for years.

RR may have overstated his position, but I agree with his analysis. On a gut level, Santorum’s action strikes me as revolting, and I resent his implication that I’m less of a pro-lifer because of it. If I were Colmes, I probably would have decked Lowry.

Colmes is right. A lot of Republicans are going to get the willies after hearing about this. People aren’t going to study up on NICU advice for grieving families, they’re going to react the way that I did, running screaming away from their computer screens. Colmes is wrong that bombing Iran is outside the mainstream; he’s wrong that comparing homosexuality to polygamy is outside the mainstream. He’s right on this. I’m not saying that Santorum has to mourn the same way I would; I don’t know how I’d react in that situation anyway. But Lowry’s way off base if he thinks that the average voter is going to take this story in stride.

I respect Santorum. I’d vote for him. But this story will scare people off.

Note: Do NOT invite Foxifer to a funeral, let along a wake, cus it’s just like sleeping with a dead body, really.

Politically, I don’t think this is as big a deal as Colmes makes it out to be but it’s still creepy. On Lawrence v. Texas, I agree in principle with Santorum and Lowry but I acknowledge that I’m outside the mainstream and Santorum’s outspokenness on the issue turns off a lot of independents. On Iran, again, Santorum and Lowry aren’t wrong but Santorum is so outspoken about it that it almost looks like he’s itching to bomb Iran.

Kudos to RR and Pinky — all this reverence and tender caress for a dead body is downright revolting and should sicken us all. You’d think they believe the dead will be bodily resurrected some day or some other hooey like that.

Tolerance, let alone approval, of such bizarre behavior has no foundation in a Christian society. I mean, come on, people – Eew!

Thanks Pinky! Accepted, believe me. This whole thing makes my stomach churn. And Donald again many thanks. Every grief is different. What some think of as grotesque is needed for others. I was taught never to even touch a dead body, and then saw friends or family kissing them in the coffin. Now I would do so with no hesitation. Sometimes we just have to think, what is that person’s MOTIVATION, and respect that. RR comparing it to making love to the dead is revolting. And I do not believe I am the one being uncharitable here.

Never misunderestimate the insensitivity of a desperate liberal.

Like Pinky, I’m not criticizing. Many people think open caskets are creepy. I understand that and I don’t take it as mockery when someone points it out. Sleeping with a dead person is creepy! Absolutely nothing wrong with pointing that out! You guys remind me of the lefty PC crowd. Taking offense to something that isn’t offensive in intent, in fact, or in implication.

I can’t imagine what I would do If I lost one of my kids. Too painful to think about.

God Bless Rick Santorem, he’s a good man.

As a Catholic, and not a Kennedy or Pelosi type Catholic, there is of course going to be things about Santorum that the secular world opposes or views odd. For two thousand years Catholics have treated the dead as tenderly as we did when they were alive – then sometimes going as far as chopping their bodies into little pieces so many others can as well. I think it’s all a pretty marvelous thing actually.

Here’s the reason why Colmes use of this story is despicable: There are a lot of things which we do in private, for reasons that seem right to us, which are not immoral and yet would seem weird to other people. Especially when played out in the “will you belieeeeve this” tones of the news room.

Would a lot of people, even some people who are in fact pro-life, be initially alienated on hearing a brief, unsympathetic description like that of actions by someone they don’t know? Sure. But it’s precisely why we have societal taboos about dredging up people’s highly personal expressions of love, grief, etc. and using them as tools of public mockery in the public square.

And for violating those taboos, it’s certainly reasonable to consider Colmes a despicable pariah lacking any sense of decency who has no place in public discourse.

If the posts of Richard Evans and Donald were put in TV form with the whole nation seeing it, the issue would vanish as to hurting Santorum at least for millions. Their posts just did that for me. But alas….TV’s role is to take one or two steps into depth….then stop. That’s why it’s hard to find Kierkegaard on TV.

I think we’re kind of forgetting that this was a baby, not an adult. If we treat babies differently than we do adults in life, holding and cuddling and making goo-goo talk at them, it’s not really that surprising that we might treat them differently in grieving the dead.

Donna, you may have a point about privacy, but I think the question to ask there is, in what context did the subject originally come up? I can’t remember, if indeed I ever knew. Would he have brought it up if he knew it would be used against him this way? Is it that now the cat is simply out of the bag and he finds himself having to be constantly on the defensive?