Post Goes for the Jugular of Roberts' Children - (how tacky, but how predictable!)

TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION.ORG ^ | JULY 25, 2005 | Editor, TVC

[CHARLITE]

Washington, DC – Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty complained today that an article in the Washington Post about the clothes worn by Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ children was “unfair and disappointing.”

Mrs. Lafferty said in a letter sent to Post Editor Leonard Downie, Jr. that the Post has now set a new pecking order for “unfair journalism which ignores substance and slides right into chortling about form.”

“If you can’t come up with something disgusting about the actual nominee or his wife then rough-up the kids some and see what happens,” Mrs. Lafferty said today.

Post fashion writer Robin Givhan complained about “the nostalgic costuming of the children” at the President’s announcement

“Just when it looked like there was an opportunity for a substantive debate over Mr. Roberts qualification for the Supreme Court, the Post drags it down to ‘your mother dresses you funny’ school yard banter.

“Maybe the cynics over at the Post are not impressed with the President or the White House but a family about to see their father nominated by the President of the United States for America’s highest court will probably want to dress-up for the occasion. Most Americans would understand what the Post views as some sort of cynical ploy and deception.

“There are clothes you wear to the playground and clothes you wear to meet the President, Mrs. Roberts and her adorable children understand that which has apparently eluded the Post.

“Let’s raise the bar on this debate back to where it is the nominee who is given a vigorous public examination. And let’s leave the rest of the family alone.”

[CindyDawg]

Spiteful media reports aside, I wonder how many of the legitimate concerns about boys wearing short suits are coming from guys. My husband doesn't like them either but I have an adorable picture of him , dressed in one when he was little boy.

[Shawndell Green]

"I wish the little boy had been helped to tone it down...I must be getting impatient with age."

I would have helped him with a cuff up side the head. It always settled me down when the old man caught me with one.

[Old Professer]

[CindyDawg]

The little Alphas running around here learned real fast that you don't bite Momma though:')

[BigLots]

There's nothing like some goober writing about something like this when it's obvious he or she doesn't know what's going on. I have church pictures and other portraits made when I was the age of Judge Robert's son in very similar clothing. It's classic and proper. The author was apparently very limited in the attire proper for a 4-year old. I guess this person expected a 3-piece? (Come to think of it, I had one of those at a fairly young age as well).

[CindyDawg]

Too many cameras around nowdays. It's hard to find a private place to "get um" now. You ever hear little boys protest about going into the ladies room? It's not a male thing. They know it's a safe butt busting zone.

[Republican Wildcat]

The left is upset the kids were adopted instead of aborted.

[keats5]

I agree. I've had three four year olds over the years, and although I'm no slouch at discipline, they do act like kids at the most inappropriate times. Although we'd all love our kids to stand still for long political speeches, they simply don't have it in them at that age. There's a reason kindergarten doesn't start until kids turn five.

If the mom tried to restrain her son, folks would be yelling about how repressive she was. It really is a no win situation when your on stage for the whole world to see. This incident (if one could even call it that) hardly represents the way those children are raised in more natural circumstances.

[Shawndell Green]

She lives in New York and has is a dog.

[tioga]

thanks for the pic, the little ones are adorable. only a low life takes pot shots like this at innocent young children......

[Past Your Eyes]

"It always settled me down when the old man caught me with one."---Yup. That always worked real good for me, too.

[Shawndell Green]

"If a man can not control is own house, should he be trying to guide a whole nation?"

No. The little boy needs discipline. If the mother is not up to the job, the father has to step in and do the job. Letting the little boy run wild is doing him a very great disservice. No matter how smart the guy is, he is not intelligent enough to set the tone in his own family. Sad, really.

[Cougar66]

what a shock! another scummy left winger in NY. Grrrrrr

[MichiganCheese]

The little girl looks like she KNOWS the little boy is going to get it when they get home.

[Shawndell Green]

"Have you ever had a four year old??? "

I have had a four year old. I have been a four year old. I have seen plenty of them run wild when their mother's are too weak willed to draw the line and the father was absent. I have also seen plenty of four year olds who behave themselves in public. We attend Mass at a conservative Catholic church where Mass is still said in Latin. Needless to say, there are lots of families with more than ten kids. In the serious, conservative, families, all the children are well-behaved, polite, and respectful of adults. The did not get that way by accident. They were raised that way.

[Dionysius]

They should be dressed like hip-hop ragpickers as if they're going to school?

[Past Your Eyes]

What did you expect him to do, pick him up by the ears? I agree the boy needs discipline but I'm not sure that was the place to make a scene.

[ozzymandus]

Saw this on TV. The "critic" sounded extremely bitchy.

[Go Gordon]

To call having the children appropriately attired for such an important occasion as the President’s announcement of John Roberts for the SCOTUS as“nostalgic costuming of the children” shows the depths of depravity and total lack proper decorum of the left.

I think the writer was trying to suggest they were dressed for Sunday School or church. You know, the religious fanatics, the Roberts Family, want to overturn Roe v Wade.

[Shawndell Green]

"I just want him to be able to read and follow the Constitution."

Yes, and be willing to do the unpopular and necessary thing in the process, knowing that it is our long term interest. If this parent is not willing to risk being unpopular with his child and is thus not willing to discipline him in the short term for the child's own long term interest, it shows a lack of character as far as I am concerned.