I’m only covering this because I think that it’s necessary. A lot of people were upset by Mike Huckabee’s comments about Natalie Portman being a shameful “unwed mother” last week, and since his comments have dominated political AND gossip blogs for the past few days, Huckabee has issued several statements about it, in an effort to get more attention, I suppose, and help shill his book and raise more money for what I’m guessing will be his run for the Republican nomination in 2012. First, his blog post on Friday:
In a recent media interview about my new book, A Simple Government, I discussed the first chapter, “The Most Important Form of Government Is a Father, Mother, and Children.” I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar 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. My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.
[From Huckabee’s Blog]
Eh. It still doesn’t make any sense to me, mostly because I think Huckabee picked the wrong “example” of an “unrepentant” celebrity single mother. Portman is in a relationship with her baby-daddy, and as of this moment, they are planning on raising the baby together. But I guess I’m glad that he’s trying to roll back any insinuation that he made that he was “criticizing the hardworking single mothers in our country.” Still, Huckabee continues to neglect the baby-daddy angle of the issue – why is it only the women who are criticized for having babies out of wedlock again?
In addition to his blog post, Huckabee also released this statement to Us Weekly: “These people should read my book and they would know what I said instead of what some left-wing partisans are attempting to put forth. I do appreciate the attention to the book as it is sparking interest in it dramatically.” So, basically, it’s just about him selling his book. Nothing to see here, folks. Especially since Natalie hasn’t said anything about the manufactured controversy… and I really hope she doesn’t bother. No need to give this dude any more air time.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I for one, am very happy that she didn’t waste her breath on making a statement about this. Huckabee is still a pos in my opinion. Not all is forgiven or forgotten.
What he said is true.
Obviously does not apply to Ms Portman.
I doubt she will be in line for a food card.
Lets move on to new biz please.
i like the fact that Natalie has not deigned to respond. he’s out there all by himself talking to his lonesome.
Most single mothers, Huckabee? Do you even know any single mothers? What an ignorant idiot. There are so many things wrong with what he said and his ideas on families and family values. And I’M a Republican.
Guy probably didn’t expect all the shit he stirred up to land back on him. Call in the damage control squad.
Somebody tell her to buy some real maternity clothes. That blue dress is hideous.
She should send him a bill for leeching publicity off her recent Oscar fame.
What a douche. He sucks.
What he said was totally blown out of proportion. He’s right. Being a single mother is a struggle for the average woman. I probably wouldn’t have picked America’s favorite actress (this week, anyway) to use as an example though.
What I find repugnant about this situation is that this petty individual, who is little more than an illiterate religious fanatic with money, would feel the need to villify women who are forced to bring a family up on their own, just to justify the misogyny and moral prejudices of his potential electoral base. Also, he’s anathemizing women to promote his book? Seriously? Despicable SOB.
Instead of complaining about poor, uneducated women having to suffer TERRIBLY with their children, why not talk about the implementation of educational programmes, affordable daycare, rising the minimum wage and giving equal workplace rights and opportunities to women, so that they will be able to escape poverty? Why not ask for effective social programmes that will help the poor to find alternatives to the misery and deprivation that they face every day?
Natalie Portman is not the issue, as he has said himself. The real problem is the fact that some utterly stupid and ignorant people (i.e. Mr Huckabee himself), are always looking for a facile and simplistic answer to very serious problems. Sadly, some of these idiots eventually manage to reach positions of power or prominence, from where they can pollute the media with the uneducated points of view: that’s the truly shameful thing.
Wow, that’s a really jackass thing to say about single mothers. ‘Undereducated?’ I know lots of single moms and every single one of them are educated, some are in college, some have returned to college. What about the single fathers? I notice he didn’t say boo about them! What a tool. So far-removed from reality.
I agree with what he said about the hard reality of poverty and single motherhood. Too bad he didn’t follow up with something like, “When I’m president, I promise to support these women and help their children get a better future.” Because let’s face it, the women he’s talking about are very rarely white and Yale educated. Or Harvard, wherever she went.
Octomom would be a much better target for unrepentent single moms sucking off the government teat.
I wonder if he thought at all about the innocent child he was bringing into this, to sell his book.
so, huckabee’s kid was raised in a 2 parent, wealthy family and is still a psychopath:
“(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David litickabee [sic], the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.”
ok, mr. family values.
Still out there stirring the pot isn’t he.
Had he really wanted to give support to his claim, why not pick on those girls from MTV Teen Mom. (that MTV is making a fortune off of not sharing with the teens who need it)
That show is packed full of bad decisions. I probably would have understood his sh*tty comment then.
Where as Natalie has a career which pays her very well. And a education to fall back on if she needs a new career.
So using her as his example just makes him look dumb and uneducated.
As a poor, uneducated single mother I just want to respond to a comment to say that raising the minimum wage hurts way more than it helps. Businesses such as grocery stores, etc, just raise their prices in response. It’s just a vicious cycle that provides no benefit from what I can tell. We’re still in the same place we were several years ago when minimum wage was raised last.
Also, most businesses don’t adjust pay rates for their long-standing employees, so someone who has worked hard for raises for five or ten years ends up making the same amount as an entry level worker. I hate when the minimum wage gets raised. Stop saying it works, trust the people who live with it, because we hate it.
Great. Isn’t this one of the idiot republicans trying to also take away birth control access for primarily the poorer women in America? Morons.
Pont Neuf, well said.
I absolutely agree that raising a child on one’s own (whether you be an unwed mother OR father, which Huck apparently doesn’t believe happens and blames only mothers) is very difficult and, at times, MORE difficult than raising the child with two parents in a healthy relationship. But the way huck presents it, he paints it with such a broad brush that ALL single mothers are poverty stricken crackheads who leech off the government and wouldn’t survive without it. My dad died when I was 16. So for all intent an purposes, my mom raised me in the tougher times as a single parent, and she was brilliant. I never wanted for anything, she was more parent than I could have ever asked for. Nobody is “glamorizing” single motherhood. But I don’t think it’s “glamorizing” it to acknowledge the reality of the fact that sometimes, in a lot of cases, children of single parented homes DO turn out okay. That is the reality of the world! Just like some kids who are raised in dual parenting homes with married couples turn out horribly wrong.
Why I hate Republicans like Mike Huckabee is because they set up this “religious ideal” of A Father, Mother, a son and daughter, a labrador and a white picket fence. That is what his world is made of. And if someone isn’t like that, it automatically goes against his ideal and therefore is automatically WRONG. This is the ame guy who will never, ever concede to giving gays and lesbians the right to wed or to adopt, even though it’s been proven that children raised in loving, functional gay headed households do just as well if not BETTER than those in hetero homes! It falls outside Mike’s ideal, therefore he will never acknowledge the reality that hey, some lesbians and gays will make great parents!
I’m not the biggest fan of Obama, but the day this guy gets elected to the white house, I’m moving to Canada. I refuse to live in a theocracy that refuses to acknowledge the full spectrums of reality of the world.
um he shouldn’t have had to fix up what he said if he believes it and it’s true most normal single mothers aren’t very educated. Just because Natalie won an oscar doesn’t mean she has a long film career ahead of her she’s gonna get typecast as the Character she played in black swan like most stars that win oscars do for the part they win for. and not everybody in the system gets an ebt card when they apply for foodstamps I should know because I’m on foodstamps because of my vision limitations
Poor Natalie Portman, she’s getting heat from the Right for being an ‘unwed mother’ and heat from the Left for her comments about how she mentioned her pregnancy during her acceptance speeches. (one blog said that her acting excited about being pregnant diminishes all the hard work she’s done).
Kaiser, if you read what he said, he said he was ASKED about Portman. He personally didn’t pick her as an example, someone asked HIM about HER.
When Politicians spew out this kind of crap it tends to go over my head because they really can be vile, but this one really annoyed me. Had he not gone after Natalie Portman, a hard-working actress with a good education and a present baby daddy and instead may be focussed on ‘Teen Mom’ ‘stars’ or something, his point might have been slightly less offensive. However, calling most single mothers uneducated, poor etc. is just incredibly offensive. If ‘most’ single mothers are these things then I’m sure it isn’t a life they would have chosen and where the hell are the men who fathered these children?
The double standard when it comes to absent fathers and single mothers is something which infuriates (too strong a word?) me. Anyway, this guy needs as little attention as possibly so I won’t say any more.
He actually discusses the fathers that walk away from their responsibilities extensively in his book.
“Still, Huckabee continues to neglect the baby-daddy angle of the issue – why is it only the women who are criticized for having babies out of wedlock again?”
EXACTLY. Exactly that.
Can’t stand this idiot.
***He actually discusses the fathers that walk away from their responsibilities extensively in his book.***
and, that, is what it’s all about. sell those books to the teatards — gotta pay for that million-dollar mansion being built in florida somehow. and you sure as hell can’t do it on a gubmint salary.
THe Procrastinator-I agree. He wasn’t the person who initiated the conversation about Portman, it was the interviewer. Why aren’t people asking why the interviewer elected to single out Portman??? People really should read his entire book before commenting.(But I guess reading an entire book is uncommon these days.)
so then has he since brought up the fact that he does talk about fathers in his book? it’s a bit disengenuous not to at this point, imo.
@garvels – Wrong. No one needs to read an entire volume of this man’s misogynist, fundie BS to be able to comment on his misguided verbal spew. The interviewer asked a topical question. If he can’t answer that without lambasting the hardest working, least appreciated segment of our population (single moms) then he’s in the wrong business.
It’s interesting that the right wants to defund planned parenthood so underprivileged women don’t have access to affordable birth control or information on how to prevent pregnancy then when they get pregnant they shouldn’t get an abortion because it is “wrong” even though they know they cannot provide for their child, then when they have the child and try their best that is wrong too because the child does not have both parents. We just can’t win
Guess he realised that some of us poor, uneducated single mothers can read and write and yes, even vote. A$$hole.
I’m really not in the mood for this debate, but I’m going to throw this out there:
The people telling us abortion is wrong are:
A) Men;
B) married “religious” women; and
C) “religious” women no longer of child-bearing age.
See a pattern here? I’ll take “None of Them Have Any Business Telling Me What to Do with My Body” for $1000, Alex.
The original bellaluna-To be technical, the unborn baby or fetus is really not 100% your body, until you or humans in general, are able to reproduce assexually.
I am a republican woman who has no problem with what he said, he is right in regards to single mothers. He probably talks about single mother because in many cases they are the ones who raise the children. I am very against abortion. Although as a “religious” person, IF someone, say a friend asked me about abortion, I would tell them my thoughts, and if they asked I would still go with them and hold their hand while they had the procedure. As a “religious” person, it is not my right to judge them, when they die they have to answer to whomever (God to me) they believe in for their actions alone. I am against abortion, but until the day that ALL the assholes in politics can get their shit straight, I don’t believe they have a right to tell me what I or any other woman has a right to do with their body.
I saw a poll on the news this morning that said Huckabee was the preferred option by republican voters to run in the 2012 election.
As I said in the other thread, he’s basically saying the exact same thing but now says “society” glamorizes it instead of “Natalie Portman” glamorizes it. In both cases, the basic sentiment is the same, and IMO, an unfair and sexist generalization.
This goes to the basic reason I will never vote Republican. I am not in support of a welfare state but to put down single mothers at the same time that you attack Planned Parenthood, and do your best to limit access to abortions, birth control, sex education etc. etc. is just despicable. The ‘Moral Majority’ has every right to judge those who are different than them but absolutely no right to legislate based on their uptight bullshit. Especially since every time you unearth a rock in the political world there is a Republican Senator/Governor/Congressman with a sex secret ( I am not saying Dems aren’t pervs too just not as hypocritical).
He chose to pick on Natalie Portman and not Bristol Palin – another Republican hypocrit.
That idiot should have sent his comments to Sarah Palin for her daughter.Those hypocrites seem to pick and choose who to bash.
@ garvels (and absolutely no disrespect intended) – Yes, but what I choose to do with said baby (because I think of it as a baby from conception) is my choice, since my body is host to said baby.
Because I’ve lost a baby and I’ve always wanted at least 4 children (and many other reasons I’m unable to articulate on this thread), I’ve never chosen to have an abortion. Operative Word: CHOSEN. As in, it is “my choice.” NO ONE has a right to tell me what to do with my body. Until humans are able to reproduce asexually, I reserve the right to do with my body what I will. (I don’t think I’m capable, as a person, to have an abortion. And I WON’T judge women who’ve had abortions. But I absolutely don’t want ANYONE telling me I can’t have one if I so choose.)
I’ve chosen to have my unplanned babies (both as an un-married teen-age mother, and as a 38-year-old married woman faced with a completely unexpected pregnancy); I can’t imagine my life without them. I don’t want to. I love my children.
But I don’t want A.N.Y.B.O.D.Y. to tell me what I can or cannot do with my body. PERIOD.
What Bellaluna said.
Good stuff, Bellaluna.
What? Single mothers “can’t get a job?” Watch their children starve to death? Wow, exaggerate much, Huckabee?
What an idiot. Why the hate?
@Betty: I agree. Most politicians don’t stand for anything other than getting elected or re-elected. The values they champion are nothing more than meaningless slogans.
Eh, I’m no Mike Huck fan, but his point is valid. Single mothers are usually poor, uneducated, and and lack the social mobility that two-parent households have.
To Original Bellaluna:
“The people telling us abortion is wrong are:
A) Men;
B) married “religious” women; and
C) “religious” women no longer of child-bearing age.”
That’s funny, because I’m not any of those things. It’s sad that that’s the only way that you can argue with the pro-life argument. You know, instead of actually talking about the points at hand you just insult or generalize us away. Nice, really shows your intelligence. Not.
Tried to comment on his blog and it wouldn’t let me. Hmmmm…..
It’s my opinion that it takes a whole tribe of people to care, support, respect and love a child and mold them into well adjusted, productive adults – from extended family to teachers etc.
It is both a rather simplistic argument and a sexist one to point the finger at “unwed” single mothers as the root of all child raising evil.
Kaiser, you bring up an excellent point:
“why is it only the women who are criticized for having babies out of wedlock again?”
We never hear men slammed in the media for knocking up multiple partners and spreading their seeds. Why not? As much as I love America, one thing that always bugged me was that men and women are supposedly equal. Supposedly! We may have the same jobs but men get paid more. And if a woman stays single and raises her kids (or becomes single) then something is wrong with her but not with the men that do the same. Double standard suckiness!
God forbid a 29 year old woman can make her own choices in life!
People like this idiot want us to go back to 1950. Women in the kitchen and bearing children, being dependent on their men, while the men work and when they come home they expect a submissive housewife who doesn’t question them, serve them and let the men make decisions in her name, like about her body.
@Blank: Where do you get off calling yourself pro-life? What does that make people who believe in giving a woman the ability to make up her own mind — pro-death?
You’re not pro-life; you’re anti-choice. Pure and simple.
Yes, many single mothers are college-educated. I went to college with several of them. They all got to go for free – because they had children. I worked two jobs and paid my own way.
Ok, Mr Huckabee, while you are in your delusional high horse, why not add a statement about the so called fathers of the children raised by these single women you have targetted, asking them to be responsible too.
Most single mothers I’ve met did not, in fact, have an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. They are usually women who divorced after having children. What are these moms (and dads) supposed to do, Mr. Huckabee? Lay down and die? Or take care of their kids the best they can, even if they need some help? Now that is MY idea of “family values”.
I’ll listen to what the anti-choice movement has to say about abortion when I see them fight for health care, education and a decent life for kids with special needs like my sister. My parents used to be anti-choice until they had her and saw how almost all abortion opponents they came into contact didn’t care nearly as much about my sister after she was born as before she was born. My dad calls them all pro-birth because the huge majority of them have nothing of substance to say once the child has been born.
I agree with the poster above who asked, why are the mothers villified and hated on…when in most cases they are not single mothers by choice? How come the deadbeat dads get off scott free and are never accused of “ruining the country” by skipping out on their responsibilities?
By the way, Mike Fuckabee thinks the Earth is 6,000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs co-existed together. So take his brain dead opinion for what it’s worth.
@ Blank – Nor am I. I don’t wish to engage in a theological debate (probably due to my obvious lack of intelligence), but I will say I am a married Christian woman.
I am pro-woman; pro-life; AND pro-choice. I refuse to be lumped into one category or another. Just as I don’t want to be told what to do with my body, I don’t want to tell another woman what to do with hers.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Until you’ve been in the same situation as another woman, you’ve no business telling her what is right or wrong for her, or casting judgement on her.
@ CB Rawks – Thank you. It’s nice to be understood! 😀
Huckabee sucks, just like ALL politicians. I am against abortion, just as I am against the death penalty. Not OUR choice who lives and dies. But to each their own. Most single moms do have it hard out there educated or not, poor or not, but I don’t think they willingly chose that. There is a much deeper set of issues here that cannot be fixed with a quick answer. It is funny because I am married and have a 5 month old and people tell me what a great dad he is and act like he deserves a prize. I always tell them, yes he is a great dad, but he doesn’t get a parade for doing what he should do. Women have been doing it since the beginning of mankind.
Well, there are several ways to eliminate the scourge of the un-wed parents
1. Forced marriages, though that could get tricky in cases of rape and incest.
OR…
2. Provide sex education and make birth control available to anyone who needs it in a safe and anonymous way.
3. Stop cutting funding for things like head start and after school progams so that those ‘undereducated’ mothers can get a better education and join the workforce at a higher wage where they won’t need ‘handouts’.
But going beyond that, perhaps if society stopped for a moment and realized that single parents and their children are stigmatized as if they are somehow ‘less’ than everyone else, I would imagine it would be hard to pull yourself up when it feels like people are pushing you down.
I had a long rant on the related post about Huckabee on Friday, so I’ll try to keep this short. To all those defending Huckabee because ‘most single mothers are very poor and uneducated and unemployed’, just google the phrase ‘single motherhood poverty’ to access many statistical breakdowns that disprove this theory. Here’s just one that succinctly summarizes the truth:
http://singleparents.about.com/od/legalissues/p/portrait.htm
It shows that most single moms are gainfully employed and are not below the poverty line. Only 27% of single parents (and their kids) live below the poverty line. That’s a far cry from most.
I know that it’s easier to believe the simplistic picture that has been posted alluding to welfare-abusing teen moms, etc. But, it’s just not that simple.
http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/
The above study and questions/answers also debunks the ‘most single moms are poor’ meme. I know that single-mom households, on average, have less available income than two-parent, two-salary household (duh!), but that doesn’t mean the kids from single parent homes are all living in abject poverty either.
This is so typical of the Huckabee demographic. They just love to be sanctimonious and judgmental of people who don’t fit into their narrow worldview. Huckabee is ranting about single motherhood because, like his base, he believes that such hussies deserve to be shamed publicly and punished for what they have done. Forget about the whole “it takes two to tango” business. It’s never the father’s responsibility because fathers have nothing to do with the virgin/whore dichotomy these reactionary evangelical neocons (totally different from traditional conservatives, which are a dying breed judging from their total lack of representation lately) are so comfortable with. There is no reasoning with them.
Only 27% of single parents (and their kids) live below the poverty line. That’s a far cry from most
_________
Oh, and what’s the number for married women? I’m betting they’re doing far better economically.
I don’t like Huckleberry’s pro-Zionist/pro-illegal alien views but he’s right on this issue.
@Original Bellaluna
I’d like to add “religious, married women who have HAD abortions but due to misogyny, social pressure within the church to be vocally anti-choice and a heaping dose of denial, try to take that same right away from other women.”
I’m from the South. These women are *everywhere* around here.
Good discussion. Even if it had to start because of an idiot like this one, but I think it is important to talk about this issues and make people question the standards that society makes us believe about what it means being a “good woman”.
JQ commented:
Kaiser, you bring up an excellent point:
“why is it only the women who are criticized for having babies out of wedlock again?”
We never hear men slammed in the media for knocking up multiple partners and spreading their seeds. Why not? As much as I love America, one thing that always bugged me was that men and women are supposedly equal. Supposedly! We may have the same jobs but men get paid more. And if a woman stays single and raises her kids (or becomes single) then something is wrong with her but not with the men that do the same. Double standard suckiness!
Good points to rise today and tomorrow that is the 100th international women day.
“You’re not pro-life; you’re anti-choice. Pure and simple.”
THIS. This x 1000. Anti-woman is not pro-life.
“We never hear men slammed in the media for knocking up multiple partners and spreading their seeds.”
this.
TheBobSter@61: I mentioned in my post that if you have two working adults contributing to one household, chances are that household will have more money. Is your general comment alluding to the opinion that married women (in general) fare better than single women (with or without kids)?
What I was directing my comment to was the much-ballyhooed (and quoted) meme that most single moms are raising their children in poverty. The statistics don’t support that assumption.
One other thing that I had to add to this discussion is that the way that it’s phrased it seems like the single women (unwed) initially have the option of marrying the father of their child and raising their child in a wonderful home. That’s the underlying assumption when you place a heavy dose of negative blame on the woman only. Like the man has presented a beautiful ring and promised fidelity and joy ever after and the women are walking away like, naaaah, I’d rather struggle with my kid in poverty. Most single moms are attempting to make the best out of a difficult situation; usually when the ‘smarter, stronger’ man has walked out of the picture.
What exactly does Huckleberry have right about the issue? Everyone knows that single parenthood (like any type of parenthood) is a difficult task to take on. I’m annoyed at the apparent shame that his sermons heap on women opting to raise their child under difficult circumstances.
@JustBe:
I would like to nominate you to run in 2012. If only to watch you debate with this turd!
Well, he could have gone after this woman but she managed to get her abortion in spite of him (from the NY Times): LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 9— Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas today refused to authorize a Medicaid payment for an abortion for a 15-year-old girl whose stepfather has been charged with incest, despite a Federal judge’s order that such payments were required by Federal law. Here’s the link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E5DF113EF933A2575BC0A960958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fI%2fIncest
Oh, and one more thing: any sex workers out there willing to sleep with this man and talk to the press, so he will shut up already?
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