Do the folks at Media Mattress -- sorry, Media Matters -- really
believe in giving a pass to adult-child sex?
Let's walk through this v-e-r-y slowly for Eric Boehlert over at
Media Mattress, where sleeping with the state run media is the
achievable aspiration today and everyday.
Here's the link to
Boehlert's story in which I, yes, moi, am called
"monumentally dumb." Why might this be Mr. Boehlert's view? Well,
because I did not note that the now famous "Brewster" in the
Kevin Jennings situation (or "witch hunt" in Mattress parlance)
was really 16, not 15. According to no less than "Brewster"
himself, who has now stepped forward to say so. And, which, under
Massachusetts law, makes the formerly young Brewster not that
young at all for consensual sex but rather legal, barely. So to
speak.
In his indignation, Boehlert does the usual bodacious liberal
dance. As if, had he been defending O.J. way back when wifely
murder was accused, Boehlert would have suggested to the jury
that Mr. Simpson was really innocent because his murdered wife
had cancer and was surely going to die anyway. So what's the big
deal?
In other words, Boehlert the Bodacious, the issue here is not
Brewster's actual age at the time. The issue is what Mr. Jennings
thought his age was -- and thinking that thought, how did he
respond? More to the point, is he carrying around these thoughts
today and trying in some fashion to make them the official policy
of the U.S. Department of Education?
As all now agree, Mr. Jennings himself has been revealed on tape
-- a tape played on Sean Hannity's show -- saying this (relevant
remarks highlighted):
And I said, "Brewster, what are you doing in
there asleep?" And he said, "Well, I'm tired." And I said,
"Well we all are tired and we all got to school today." And he
said, "Well I was out late last night." And I said, "What were
you doing out late on a school night." And he said, "Well, I
was in Boston…" Boston was about 45 minutes from Concord. So I
said, "What were you doing in Boston on a school night
Brewster?" He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and
said, "Well, I met someone in the bus station bathroom
and I went home with him." High school
sophomore, 15 years old. That was the only way
he knew how to meet gay people. I was a closeted gay teacher,
24 years old, didn't know what to say. Knew I should say
something quickly so I finally said, "My best friend had just
died of AIDS the week before." I looked at Brewster and
said, "You know, I hope you knew to use a
condom." He said to me something I will never
forget, He said. "Why should I, my life isn't worth saving
anyway."
Boehlert responds to this by saying: "As anybody who's been
following the Kevin Jennings Witch Hunt knows, the boy in
question was at least 16 years old, the legal age of consent in
Massachusetts where the incident occurred. This has been known
for days. The Spectator, however, just doesn't
like that fact, so it opts for its own version of the
truth."
In other words, the "O.J.'s-wife-was-going-to-die-anyway"
defense. The boy was really 16, not 15, so no problem.
Well, hello? "Brewster" could have been 35 for all we care. The
point to all not blinded from too much time being rolled in the
Media Mattress is that the issue was what Mr. Jennings thought
the boy's age was. And quite clearly, as Jennings himself says on
the tape, he believed "Brewster" to be 15 -- to quote exactly
"High school sophomore, 15 years old." Which is to say underage
for consensual sex by virtue of the laws of the great
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Overwhelmed by the boy's gayness
instead of his childishness (would he have made the same
suggestion to a 15-year-old heterosexual girl?) Jennings dished
the condom advice.
Then, hilariously, Boehlert wants to know why I focused on the
silence of Speaker Nancy Pelosi when it comes to the Jennings
issue. I say hilarious because Boehlert knows as well as the rest
of us, but just hopes none of us will notice. Unlike GOP leaders
Senator Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner -- and for that
matter President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senator Harry Reid
and a slew of other Democrats -- Representative Pelosi is the
Member of Congress who demanded the ousting of GOP Congressman
Mark Foley and castigated him for texting underage male House
pages for sex. Foley, she cried, not to mention the GOP House
leadership of the day, had failed to "protect the children." She
labeled Foley's behavior "abhorrent." All the while during this
episode she kept under wraps that she had marched in a parade
celebrating Harry Hay -- quite famous for advocating exactly the
same behavior that was apparently desired by Congressman Foley.
Sex with underage boys.
In sum, as pointed out before, Mr. Jennings has felt the need to
say he would have handled things differently with Brewster, whom
he did in fact believe to be 15, not 16.
So the question for Mr. Boehlert is simple: Was Mr. Jennings
right in giving the advice he gave to a boy he believed to be 15?
Yes? No? Maybe?
Will Mr. Boehlert roll over in the Media Mattress and answer?
Will the Mattress speak on the advisability of sex between adults
and children? Should this in fact be the policy of the Department
of Education?
Stay tuned.
