Megyn Kelly's interview of the Duggars was not as well-received as she may have hoped. Amidst public outcry, she defends what many considered to be a softball interview with the Reality TV World's most prolific parents. She claims, as a moderator, that she couldn't wag her finger in their faces and reprimand them for how they handled the whole tragic situation. To validate her claims that they simply told 'their story' and now it's 'out there,' she turned to Media Buzz host, Howie Kurtz.
Kelly equated the backlash from liberal outlets as part of the Red/Blue ideological wars, much the same as conservative backlash over Lena Dunham's admission that she acted inappropriately with her sister when she was a seven year old (much different than Josh Duggar's 14 years). Kurtz decided that a story of child molestation and the cover-up that ensued was much like the reaction from 'family values' Republicans over the Caitlyn Jenner revelation. The false comparison is Howie trying to compare a heinous crime with someone changing her identity based on an internal conflict she has been suppressing all her life.
From Newshounds:
KELLY “This feels like it’s splitting into some sort of an ideological battle! Why?”
Kurtz: “(because it's) the latest round in the sexual culture wars.”
KURTZ: Some people on the right at least expressing sympathy for this family but many liberal media types denouncing the Duggars in part because they did give some weak and troubling answers to some of the interview questions and that’s fair game. But also in part because they’re viewed as overly preachy and now hypocritical Christian conservatives.
Fair enough. But then Kurtz reached around for a “both sides do it” way of de-legitimizing the Duggar criticism.
KURTZ: And we see the same pattern, Megyn, with Bruce Jenner who also is doing a reality show. Hailed by the mainstream media as a hero for becoming Caitlyn Jenner but at the same time - I have absolutely no problem with that. At the same time, some conservative pundits viewing that story and that movement as an assault on traditional values.
So Megyn Kelly claims,
the Duggars went through something terrible and are going through something terrible again...Why must it go to the red/blue place every time?
Instead of acknowledging this as the horrific crime it is, we are told to have sympathy for the Duggar family, even though they don't seem to have real sympathy for their own daughters/victims. It is not a matter of Red or Blue, it's simply knowing the difference between right and wrong. Kurtz somehow believes that child molestation is part of modern day sexual culture wars, and that's insane.
Both Kurtz and Kelly think that this is part of aberrant sexual behavior, similar to how they view transgender people. To the rational, this is simply outlandish because Josh Duggar committed criminal acts, nothing like the struggle LGBT people go through every day, which is NOT A CRIME. They are fighting their own battles to be accepted by a society poisoned with right-wing ideology that demoralizes and dehumanizes them. They are not molesting children as a result of their identifying as LGBT, like Michelle Duggar still believes.
Michelle doubled down on her comments, erasing the very experience of transgender people’s identities by saying, “I think that protecting young girls and not allowing young men and men in general to go into a girls’ locker room is just common sense.”
It's almost a backhanded compliment to the Left, courtesy of Howie and Megyn. The Left seems to defend what conservatives call aberrant sexual behavior (as they see LGBT Americans) while the Right lines up behind those who commit actual crimes. Between Denny Hastert and the Duggars, the GOP is having a tough time defending the actions of all these 'model Christians.'
The compassion on the Left for our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters is incomparable to how the Right defends their criminals by invoking religion. Liberals are not endorsing any criminal activity, while conservatives are claiming first that LGBT is itself, a crime and second, that their god forgives these criminals, so you should too.
The crime of Caitlyn Jenner, in my opinion, is her identification with a political party (GOP) who believes she has no right to be the person she is inside. That seems like it should be illegal. (snark)
