Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on August 11, 2009

Is the above ad a problem? I do believe that children of politicians should NEVER be used to hawk goods and services, be smeared, attacked, ridiculed, or mocked in the media (no, Joe Biden, I’m not planning on making fun of your daughter Ashley’s drug addictions and multiple arrests, even though she is getting close to 28), unless permission has been granted by the child (of adult age) or the child’s parent(s). Even if the lunches the Obama daughters eat at Sidwell Friends School are far more healthy (cost to attend, per child: $30,000 per year, so you know they aren’t eating baloney sandwiches and succotash) than that of the little cutie pie in the ad, the Obama daughters should not be used in any ad campaign or print media unless it is of genuine news.

The Obama girls being referenced in the school lunch ad falls, however, into a gray area as far as I can determine. Their photos are not being used, their names are alluded to, and no criticism or attack is being lodged against them. It’s more a PSA than a sales ad poster. I’m going back and forth about whether or not the poster actually violates the Obama daughters’ privacy or puts them into a slanderous/libelous arena. I’m leaning towards “no.”

With all that said, this conventional wisdom, protection, and decency seem to only apply to Democrats’ children/the current president’s children… however, if they’re the children of… oh, let’s say, an Alaskan Republican, now-former governor with the surname Palin, hey, no worries… no restraint… pile the cow patties on! Just ask Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Andrew Sullivan, David Letterman, or Bill Maher if you’re not sure. (FYI: Excellent post on the hypocrisy of the left media on the attacks on Sarah Palin’s baby, Trig vs. Obama’s grandmother: Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Is Obama’s Grandmother Now a Prop?)

White House Objects to Poster That Invokes Obama Children
Washington Post
By Kate Kilpatrick and Ruth McCann | August 11, 2009

The posters went up last week, 14 in Union Station. On each of the large displays, a thought bubble rises up from a picture of a beautiful 8-year-old: “President Obama’s daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don’t I?”

A Washington nonprofit that advocates nutrition-policy reform paid $20,000 to get its message across and carefully maneuvered Metro’s tangle of regulations to display its posters. Metro gave it a go — but the White House did not, according to the group. Within 24 hours of the signs’ appearance, the White House asked the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to take down the ads, which feature Jasmine Messiah, a vegetarian who attends a Miami-Dade County public school that, she says, offers no vegetarian or vegan lunch options.

The Physicians Committee has declined to take down the posters.

PCRM President Neal Barnard, a nutrition researcher, says he received a phone call regarding the posters Aug. 4 (a day after they went up) from Associate Counsel Karen Dunn and Deputy Associate Counsel Ian Bassin.

“They’re very nice people. I like them a lot,” Barnard says. “But they called and said: Please take those down, you can’t mention the kids and so forth. . . . They felt that mentioning the president’s children was off-limits. They said [they're] not going to allow the use of their daughters as leverage.”

The fact that the poster mentions the president’s children has been the main point of contention, though neither the children’s names nor their images appear. That reaction doesn’t come as a complete surprise; when Ty Inc. marketed dolls in January named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia, the first lady made her objections clear, and the toy company stopped using the girls’ names. The First Lady’s Office declined to comment for this story.

To Frank Luntz, a Republican political consultant, the White House’s response to the posters is hardly shocking.

“The children of the president are always off-limits. Always. No exceptions,” Luntz says. “No ifs, ands or buts. And while it may draw short-term attention to the issue, the White House will hate the organization for it. And I assure you they will be punished. You don’t mess with the president’s children. It’s an unwritten rule.”

Luntz says that the added publicity from the White House’s response will not benefit PCRM’s agenda. “What matters is not whether people are aware of your campaign,” he says. “What matters is your success. And if the White House hates you, then it’s not successful.”

Blast from the past (June 2009): NewsBusters: Olbermann: Palin’s a ‘Delusional Lunatic’, Letterman’s ‘The Victim’:

“Countdown” host Keith Olbermann Friday evening accused Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of using her daughters, as well as the brouhaha surrounding jokes made about them by “Late Show” host David Letterman, to further her political career.

In a twelve minute segment about the former vice presidential candidate, Olbermann called her, “Sanctimonious, holier than thou, exploitative, undignified, pedantic, childish, self-inflicting, insipid, backwards, embarrassing, over-reactive, overreaching” as well as a “delusional lunatic.”

Potentially even more disgraceful, in Olbermann’s almost unimaginably perverted view, Letterman is actually “the victim” who has “continued to take the high road” in this sordid affair…

[...]

RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Keith.

OLBERMANN: Comedians joking about your children is wrong. What makes using your children as pawns in a drawn out media war that you have drawn out well pass it sell-by date, what makes that OK?

WOLFFE: Well, let`s talk with what we can all agree on. If you`re a self respecting parent and someone makes your child — whoever it is — the butt of a late night joke, then you`d be offended and you would be well within your rights to go out and say you were upset about it. But, of course, Governor Palin went well beyond that. And knowing the limits of where she should be and what she should talk about, has never been her strong point.

And here`s a person who has tried to make this argument — as we just heard — about the culture wars or about the media or about double standards. And that raises also some questions about her. She could have taken the high road and been the offended parent. But instead, she tried to broaden out.

For a person who wants to show she has policy chops, this is not a wise move, because, in the end, this isn`t about culture. David Letterman isn`t responsible for the decline of American culture if there is such a thing. This is overblown and actually poorly executed for anyone who thinks think they have presidential ambitions.

OLBERMANN: My understanding was, the Republicans were against and particularly, Mr. Steele was against political correctness. Would this not be the definition of political correctness not only run amok but essentially franchise made permanent?

WOLFFE: Well, it`s a little bit rich to hear Republican complained about political correctness, because, I think, the definition of that was lipstick on a pig — which, incidentally, was offensive both to cosmetic manufacturers and pigs.

You know — it`s a spurious argument. As I said, a parent taking offense of this kind of joke is one thing. But trying to broaden it out into something that has become a well-hashed tactic in the last campaign and for many years for Republicans, is just so out of touch of what politics is right now. Never mind what the, quote-unquote, “liberal media” is doing to this great country.

OLBERMANN: I mentioned Mr. Steel, who seemed to defend Governor Palin today. But also he said, “If you don`t like what Letterman said, don`t watch Letterman.”

And I can`t believe I`m saying this, but doesn`t that actually kind of make sense instead of, you know, having to apologize to every woman in the country or every flight attendant in the country or whatever Governor Palin`s demands are today? Is it not as simple as — if you don`t like what someone on television says, you know, go ahead, your remote probably works or if it doesn`t, just get a new battery?

Another fine piece of disingenuity, for Olbermann basically makes a living bashing conservative television and radio personalities such as Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. If the solution is “If you don’t like it, don’t watch or listen to it,” shouldn’t the same hold true for Fox News and conservative talk radio, Keith?

Click here to read this excellent NewsBusters piece in its entirety >>

Based on Olbermann’s assessment, if you don’t like what David Letterman or the news makes up about you, or if anyone spreads lies or rumors about you and your family, buck up and take it on the chin. Just don’t read or listen to it.

Back to the healthy lunch ad. So, Keith, should the White House just buck up about the healthy school lunch ad using the words “President’s Obama’s daughters”?

If Mr. and Mrs. Obama don’t like it, but the ad isn’t hurting anyone, where’s the harm? If we can ignore or make fun of Palin’s hurt and anger about her child being sullied and attacked, then what about this innocent-looking ad? Left-winger Olbermann’s solution would be/should be, based on his remarks about Palin, “Hey, just don’t read it, Barack and Michelle.” Would that be acceptable?

No, emphatically no. Because politicians’ kids are OFF LIMITS for attacks and exploitation, period. Even if their last name IS “Palin.”

Attacking a parent, as Olbermann insanely attacks Sarah Palin for defending her child who was humiliated in the media, demonstrates an even more-than-normal nasty, warty-toad, left-wing extremist mentality… one that we’ve grown to expect and loath in Olby. Olbermann, you’re one dangerous, deranged knucklehead.

From Power Line: Too quick to cry “foul”:

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh notes that, according to the advocacy group, the White House Counsel’s office implied that that there could be legal action if the ad wasn’t taken down. As Volokh explains, the speech in question is protected by the First Amendment, and in any event not an infringement of the so-called “right of publicity” on which the Obamas would have to base a legal claim.

Children of politicians who aren’t minors and have willingly thrust themselves into the “spotlight of celebrity” have relinquished their “child protection” status. Yes, I’m talking about Meghan McCain… that “twittering/blogging” nitwit and basher of Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, and other conservatives. People listen to her about as attentively as they listen to Joe Biden or Sean Penn or Janeane Garofalo, because they’re waiting with gleeful anticipation, thinking, “When’s the next idiotic gaffe gonna come flying out of her mouth?”

Snippet from Conservative Punk:

…Meghan delights in taking on conservative critics, but when liberals make a fool of her in public, as Paul Begala did on Real Time with Bill Maher, she’s got nothing to say. Bashing conservatives is obviously her comfort zone, as she has yet to prove that she has talent in doing anything else…

A brief look at the comment section of any one of her Daily Beast articles would tell you that even her readers understand that the droll she commits to writing is generally empty, purposeless, and boring. Her only message seems to be, “look at me, I think I’m an atypical Republican.”

My guess is that Meghan is smart enough to know this, but unwilling to confront it. Until she does, Conservatives and moderate Republicans alike will fail to view her as anything other than the spoiled, vacuous daughter of a former presidential candidate. Being attractive and having thousands of Twitter followers might make you popular, but it in no way lends gravity to what you say.

The latest, quite clueless stupidity from Meggie McCain’s blog:

I don’t know exactly what about me threatens them so much, other than that people are listening to me. Malkin has the No. 1 book on The New York Times bestseller hardcover nonfiction list, but I have nearly twice as many Twitter followers as she does. And trust me, Twitter is more of an indication of where young people are than books published by the hyper-conservative publisher Regnery—which will be bringing you Carrie Prejean’s new book and published one of Ann Coulter’s.

Gloves are coming off, Meggie…

More related reading:
Michelle Malkin: Leave Obama’s kids alone…except when POTUS & FLOTUS need them for Obamacare and First Lady drags daughters into obesity campaign and and Socialist Bernie Sanders: We need more liberal media! and David Letterman: Perv and Letterman to Palin: Now that I’ve trashed your family, come on my show! and Media Malpractice: The documentary and Introducing the Royal Captain of Calorie Consumption
BV Black Spin: Healthy School Lunch Ad Blasts Obama Girls
Vegetarian Star: Vegetarian Ads Targeting Obama Children Serves Up Controversy
To My Friends, With love…Sincerely, Toddy English: First Daughters Pulled Into School Lunch Debate!
Wordsmoker: Obama Kids’ School Menu Will Make You Hate Your Brown Bag Lunch For The Rest Of Your Life
SnagWireMedia: Obama Girls Eating Well!
Political Byline: White House Whines about Ad about Healthy School Lunches, Because it mentions the Presidents Daughters
Inspiring Sisters: Healthy Lunch Ad Insults Obama Girls.
Gribbit’s Word: Leftist and Media Attacks on Bristol Palin [UPDATED]
DBKP, Death By 1000 Papercuts: Hillary Supporters Enraged Over Attacks on Sarah Palin’s 17-yr-old Daughter
Stop The ACLU: AP Attacks Gov. Palin EVEN in Birth Announcement of Grandson
Riehl World View: Kindergarten Guru: Trip Palin Will Get His Ass Beat
The Daley Gator: Lying Lefty exposed?
Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-MI) , Big Hollywood: A Health Dirge Night: President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band
Hot Air: The obligatory “Meghan McCain dumps on Michelle” post
WordPress Plain Blog: Is The Father Of Bristol Palin’s Unborn Baby Actually A Sasquatch?
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood, Daily Gut: Letterman Should Apologize for Being Lazy and Letterman’s Obsession with Sarah Palin
Ashley Herzog, Townhall: Liberal Sexist Pigs
John Nolte, Big Hollywood: Top Ten Possible Letterman Reactions to Fallout Over Willow Palin Rape ‘Joke’
The Salty Pundit: McCain’s Daughter Thinks Republicans Should OK Gay Marriage
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Michelle Malkin to perv David Letterman: Dear David Letterman will you tell your son its funny to talk about teenage daughters “getting knocked up”?
Hot Air: Video: Letterman non-apologizes to Palin; Update: McCain scolds Letterman and Video: Palin on Today and Video: Ziegler gets his mike cut off by MS-NBC and Video: Letterman doubles down, makes prostitute joke about Palin’s daughter; Update: Both Palins rip Letterman and Letterman: When I joked about Palin’s daughter having sex, I meant Bristol, not Willow and Letterman Top Ten: Palin has a “slutty flight attendant look”; Audio: “Pathetic,” says Palin
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Letterman Is Scum, NBC Contessa Brewer Meltdown: Angry That John Ziegler Said Positive Things about Sarah Palin>
Josh Painter, RedState: David Lecherman’s weasel excuse not accepted – Gov Palin was right – even his excuse is pathetic.

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