Really Mike Huckabee? Bashing Natalie Portman?

Posted: March 5th, 2011 | Author: Peter | Filed under: culture, evangelical, feminism, fundamentalism, politics | 6 Comments »

First of all, I sort of have a crush (yes, yes, I’m married) on Natalie Portman, so I don’t appreciate anyone messing with Natalie. Not the Hitler-loving whack-job designer from Christian Dior (okay, his comments weren’t directed at Portman) but DEFINITELY not crazy Kevin-Spacey-look-alike-Mike-Huckabee!!!

I like Spacey, but...

The former governor and potential presidential candidate attacked the actress Monday on Michael Medved’s conservative radio talk show: ”One of the most troubling things is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet that boasts of, hey look, we’re having children, we’re not married, but we’re having children and they’re doing just fine.”

Huckabee, also a Baptist minister (surprise!!), said when wealthy actresses have children without being married, they set a bad example for the rest of America: ”There aren’t really a lot of single moms out there that are making millions of dollars each year by being in a movie,” Huckabee said. “I think it gives a distorted image that not everybody hires nannies and caretakers and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and would not get healthcare.”

Huckabee: I’d say don’t be a dick, but it’s better that you behave in ways that are authentic to your misogynistic, fundamentalist worldview. It’s very confusing when guys like you play nice on television, and folks aren’t sure what to think about what you think. Maybe a few jabs at queers will clarify things even further…

8416 Comments2011-03-05+06%3A08%3A53Peter on “Really Mike Huckabee? Bashing Natalie Portman?”

1 Wanderer said at 6:23 pm on March 4th, 2011:
Wonder what he would say to Bristol Palin…
2 Peter said at 6:31 pm on March 4th, 2011:
He wouldn't… until the primaries.
3 David Manning said at 6:54 pm on March 4th, 2011:
Peter,

I agree it seems a little random for Huckabee to single out Natalie Portman, but surely he has a point that influential people like her do set an example for society?

Does anyone actually think single motherhood is an ideal situation?

-David
4 KenLeonard said at 12:17 am on March 5th, 2011:
About that government assistance, too … doesn't Gov. Huckabee oppose that?
5 Peter said at 6:09 am on March 5th, 2011:
Ideal? Maybe not. But neither are loveless marriages, or marriages where the husband and wife yell in front of the children…

Or frankly, I'd say single parenthood is preferable to a lot of alternatives: like emotionally (or physically) abusive or unhealthy households that have two parent.

Huckabee's problem – and the problem IN GENERAL with Evangelical political posturing – is that they are ALWAYS spouting the rosiest of ideals (as if June Cleaver were a real person, and the 1950s could be divorced from Jim Crow, McCarthyism and female oppression, among other things) and the world isn't ideal.

I hear you, and a part of me relates, but "ideal situations" are why pastors still counsel battered wives to stay with their abusive husbands.
6 Peter said at 6:11 am on March 5th, 2011:
Ken, how do you get WordPress to let you choose your own graphic/icon (your little yellow WK)? I'm stick with the default, and haven't been able to figure it out.