Maybe Palin's kid could have used some of this.

Reading the NY Times this evening I was honestly looking for the "pig in lipstick" article but I stumbled across another one that I just couldn't help blogging about.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/us/politics/11checkpoint.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

The headline is, "Ad on Sex Education Distorts Obama Policy"

The short and long of the article is that McCain is lying about Obama's history with education. In a new ad McCain claims that Obama supports "comprehensive" sex ed for kindergartners. Obama never actually sponsored this bill, only voted for it in committee, and even then it was never actually passed into law. The legislation called for an overall comprehensive plan for sex-ed, not comprehensive sex-ed for kindergartners.

Playing with rhetoric. The oldest trick in the book.

The only sex-ed that the plan proposed was for five and six year olds to learn about bad touching. How could you possibly attack the idea of teaching kids "Stranger Danger" What type of terrible parent are you to not want your kid to learn about that? Obviously the ad isn't trying to dissuade anyone from educating our youth about the potential risks they may encounter (I'm totally fighting a Larry Craig joke).

What the ad is doing is playing on the fears of many that sex-ed somehow leads to massive orgies between an entire class of 7th graders. Hey - at least they'd be using protection. So many people (the conservatives especially, but I honestly don't wish to discriminate based on partisan lines here) have such a twisted view of sexuality that they fear even whispering to people who aren't 18. In full disclosure I grew up in Northern California, so a strong sexual education program seems natural to me. Studies show again and again that abstinence only education does more harm than good. We see increases in the number of unwanted pregnancies and higher STD rates, where ever these plans are implemented. Not to mention the emotional harm done to teenagers. Imagine if you swore something to god and then were unable to keep up on your end of the promise? How awful would you feel for literally breaking a covenant with god (remember what happened to the Hebrews?) when in reality your doing something completely natural. I'm not saying that sex is a good idea while you’re in high-school, but it happens. And kids shouldn't have to deal with that type of guilt at that age.

So what does all this say about the candidates? Well Obama, years ago once voted for a pretty good idea in committee. And McCain is willing to twist the intentions of a moderate bill to gain a couple of points in battle ground states. Not to mention that the unstated minor premise of the ad is, "Vote McCain, he never want anyone to talk about sex."