South Carolina politics is in a right-wing sexual bloodbath, at least if such a thing existed. Gov. Mark, of course, was caught cheating on his wife when he told his staff he was “hiking the Appalachian Trail,” coining overnight a fantastic new sexual euphemism. Then, it was discovered the anti-gay second-in-command Andre Bauer was having sex with men.
And now we come to Kristin Maguire, who recently stepped down as Chairwoman of South Carolina’s Board of Education — appointed by Mark Sanford himself — due to “family matters.”
It ends up this homeschooler mom is also an alleged erotic fiction writer:
She long touted teaching abstinence and intelligent design in schools, a stance that made her popular with the right-wing set. Those same family values groups, one of the GOP’s most loyal constituents, also have a long history of using children to induce panic when it comes to the gays, because homos can’t control their rampant sexuality and then seduce and transform the nation’s children. It would be hard for those groups to ignore Maguire’s alleged prose, like a tale entitled “Continental Cuisine,” which features a woman blowing a man while his pal wanks one off. (Sample line: “The rhythmic sway of the train car added to the bobbing of my head as I sucked deeply.”)
Another tale goes by the name, “Lauren’s Masturbatory Musings.” You can only imagine what that one concerns. Both are available at FITSNews’ site and are quite tawdry, trashy and downright raunchy, which means they’re great.
That really shouldn’t be a big deal — except for the hypocrisy. Maguire is all about family values, yet she’s writing erotic material about things she publicly would rail against. They puff themselves up and think they are morally superior to others, when they are just like everyone else (and, as we often see, worse).
I love it when this kind of hypocrisy is exposed. Now I just wish people would learn something from it.
… sadly my first thought was, “man, she’s bad. I’ve read better-written fanfiction.”
Why do Americans keep electing these douchebags?
because they tell them the things they want to hear, namely that the reason their lives suck is because the Lie-berals are trying to turn the US into a communist state full of those awful homosexuals.
Because democracy is a weird beast that rewards politicians that lie to us and punished politicians who tell us the truth. If you look at our political system as an ecosystem, it becomes pretty obvious that the natural selection pressures on politicians pretty much mandate them to be people who will tell voters what they want to hear instead of what they really believe to be true. Otherwise they don’t get elected/re-elected. The incentives in the system are completely screwed up to get good people into office.
But if you want better politicians you need a better electorate.
Then you have them giving opinions on issues that don’t even relate to the position they’re going for. Like the last presidential election, asking their stances on gay marriage. The president has no power over that whatsoever, so why does it matter?
in case Congress and the Senate suddenly have a sanity pandemic…
still got veto powers
I still love the George Carlin riff: “One thing you never hear me complaining about is the politicians. Why? Because the politicians come from American homes and American families and attend American schools and American churches and belong to American clubs. Maybe it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe it’s the people.”
America is falling apart at the seams – mortgaged to the hilt; lagging behind the industrialized world in everything except rhetoric and bullying; a majority of their population religiously delusional; and becoming more and more politically divided and polarized by the week.
I give it 25 years before it is 1861 again.
You’re probably right. But that sure as hell has not cheered me up.
America has fundies, Europe has muslims, we’re both screwed.
I don’t think the 20-40% percent fundies in America (depending on the specifics) are quite on the same level with the 7% of muslims – who are by far not all fundies – in Europe. No, Europe is not screwed.
That 7% is raising fast!
Europe has an immigration wave of muslims and they all have ar more children than European’s.
Big city schools have typical 80% muslim children now in classes.
Some positive news is that in The Netherlands the numer of really religious muslims are lowering but the extremists are here too.
This is the “dark side” of Democracy. People who have opinions without any foundation for them are STILL allowed to vote.
Now I just wish people would learn something from it.
They do. The lesson they learn is “don’t get caught”.
I wish I wasn’t so petty as to find this delicious.
I also love the exposure of blatant hypocrisy. Unfortunately many fundies just view these people as anomalies & refuse to see it for what it is, ergo, no lesson learned.
“Maguire is all about family values, yet she’s writing erotic material about things she publicly would rail against.”
Well duh! She’s serving her own interest. If such material were not “forbidden fruit,” it would lose some of its appeal.
Elected officials: it’s a circus!
Interesting point how if they kept it to themselves it wouldn’t be such a big deal. One imagines they rail so hard against the issue because they feel guilty about doing it themselves.
All she needs is a good, stiff rogering, and it’s right back on the morality wagon.
LOL! She’d likely pray to Jeebus for forgiveness, and then write down all the tawdry details and post them on the Internet.
In her own words: She sucks — deeply.
I wish people would just realize that there is nothing wrong with a healthy sexual outlet such as that. By stepping down, she is transmitting the message, “there is something wrong with what I did.” There is nothing wrong with what she did, in itself. Yes, she’s a hypocrit if she’ll write that stuff, then publicly speak out against specifically this type of material.
If the more conservative folks could just accept their sexuality, we could really progress the way sex is thought about. I think that would be more important than just stepping down and saying “family issues.” It doesn’t do anything to change people’s perspective.
Like PZ said when talking about the story on Pharyngula. All the wrong reasons for stepping down.
cdesignproponentist-good reason to step down
abstinence ed advocate- good reason to step down
writing some dirty stories- her own private business.
@ Nathan: Exactly. The problem with all the right-wing fundie stuff is that it is an impossibly high standard. You have to be the perfect man, the perfect woman, the perfect husband and father, the perfect wife and mother, etc. As time goes by, they box themselves in, tighter and tighter, until something has to give – most of the time in a sexually hypocritical fashion becuase they have been repressing that as “evil”.
Ironically, their own theology states that it is impossible to be perfect. Hence, the need for Jeebus.
If the fundies would just relax and live a little bit rather than tallying all the sins of the rest of the world, then they would probably be happier. Instead, they choose to implode – oftentimes wrecking their lives and the lives of those around them.
Well said, Trey.
Censuring someone for hypocrisy is a shallow condemnation.
Hypocrisy and Subjective Morality
I am unimpressed with your analysis.
I read it…. morality systems have tenants? What is the rent like?
LOL. Axioms are always late with the rent.
Daily, Politically Incorrect Musings on Race, Culture, Intelligence, and Politics
Is there anybody who uses the phrase “politically correct” un-ironically anymore? Was there ever? It’s become a phrase like “secular humanist,” defined and used only by its detractors.
Pop over to the website of The Daily Mail where it’s one of its most popular topics along with persecution of Christians, Muslims taking over the UK, immigrants doing ‘bad’ things and house prices..
I like the phrase Secular humanist. I consider myself to be one.
I’m trying to move to South Carolina. Maybe they’ll elect some Democrats to fill all those empty seats? Maybe I should run for office (being one of the only Democrats in the place and all).
I don’t see why this news story is a big deal for ANYone on either side of the political mud fight. It’s not like she’s writing gay porn. Sounds pretty vanilla. Hell, in “Masturbatory Musings” the two partners are even husband and wife, and the story seemed quite wholesome. Not to mention, these stories are fantasy; Maguire’s not lucky enough to have actually taken part in such sexual adventures, (as far as we know.) Is this really hypocrisy?
Maybe I’m just not in touch with the degree of sexual repression and denial involved here, but it seems like our standards for controversy are rather lax.
I’m with you OOCAI. I don’t see the hipocrisy. Being pro “family-values” and pro “sex fantasy” aren’t mutually exclusive.
She’s got one with a threesome (wife, husband and wife’s best friend) and one with incest (son takes father’s place in a threesome).
Must be modeled after bible stories…
Song of Solomon?
Haha…I just got a horrible image in my head. Here’s a little clip:
“Whose your savior, whose your savior…!”
I think she’s cute.
Seriously? :( Not me. Ew.
I’m sure you’re much much cuter.
Don’t be jealous. :)
ditto. not supermodel beautiful, but not bad looking.
I agree she is cute.
People continue to vote for these folks for a number of reasons:
1. Unwillingness to admit error: People continue to vote for these hypocrites, because voting for their opponents amounts to an admission that they probably should not have elected them in the first place. But this isn’t an admission they’re willing to make … so they keep re-electing the creeps.
2. Fear of the opposing side more than the hypocrite: If one is terrified enough of “the Left” winning an election, than one will vote for almost anyone who isn’t from “the Left” … even if they’re flaming hypocrites. The hypocrisy, in this case, becomes insignificant, compared to the official’s overall ideological identification. (Even if the hypocrisy itself tends to undermine that identification.)
3. Rationalizing the hypocrisy: Historically, Christians are very good at rationalizing away their hypocrisy or making it appear not as bad as it is. Of course, this is in spite of the fact that the founder of their religion made it clear … in explicit and unambiguous terms … that any kind of hypocrisy is thoroughly unacceptable, under any conditions. Perhaps this is because they’ve been known to be hypocritical a time or two, themselves.
4. The “Two Wrongs Make A Right” principle: People are very susceptible to the idea that “two wrongs make a right.” The moral and ethical failures of the Left, therefore, become justification for the moral and ethical failures of the Right. The example of Democrat Bill Clinton, for example, is frequently used as a defense for Republicans who stray in their marriages (e.g. the comparison was made of Mark Sanford).
5. Selective thinking: People tend to pay attention only to those aspects of people they find most attractive, and ignore the rest.
Note that it’s not just Republicans or folks on the Right who continue to support these creeps. It happens on the Left too. The Left has the example of Marion Barry, a convicted felon while in office who was again elected mayor of D.C. … in spite of his felonious status.
You forget one, most people are plain stupid to realize what politicians promise are lies wants they get that position. Thos people that complain about corruption of politicians actually voted for them in the first place.
Just look at all the conspiracy theories right now, we clearly live in the ages of stupidity. It all started around 2000 and get worse by the years.