Senator Idunno

I really like Tucker Carlson. I used to watch him with Bill Press in 'The Spin Room' on CNN during the 2000 election. This was back in my uber-political junkie phase. I just read this article that sites a recent study that revealed, "the greatest consumer of online pornography are children between the ages of 12 and 17." Ok, that's a bad thing. So, Tucker conducted an interview with a Senator sponsoring a bill to tax internet pornography as a way to discourage underage consumption. the topic itself is not the issue. I certainly agree with the spirit of the Senator's attempt. The part that absolutely flabbergasts me is how amazingly inept the person is. She cannot complete an argument, make a point or defend her position AT ALL. If you were to sum up the conversation, it would be something like this:

Carlson: I don't think this a going to be a successful deterrent because of [fact, fact, fact].

Stanebow: Well, I have several things to say about that. Firstly, [illogical rambling on a single point that does not address any of the mentioned facts]. Do it for the children.

Behold my favorite examples (underlines are mine):

CARLSON: As I understand it, this will tax monthly memberships to porn sites. I don’t think most children have monthly memberships, because most kids don’t have credit cards. So, how is this going to protect kids?

DEBBIE STABENOW, MICHIGAN SENATOR AND BILL CO-SPONSOR: First of all, it does three things. It would require that children have to verify that they’re at least 18 years of age, in other words, not be children, to get onto adult pornography sites. Pornography sites right now, I should mention, according to a study done by the Third Way, an independent group, says that the fastest-growing consumers on pornography sites are children ages 12 to 17. It’s really astounding. It’s very concerning to me as a parent, as well as a senator.

Tucker goes on to talk about how most of the porn that these kids are getting IS FREE!!! or labeled as 'art'. Debbie (bless her heart) doesn't even get it.

CARLSON: OK. But, at some point, somebody is going to need to make a hard determination.

STABENOW: Not at all. We’re talking about somebody who says, I’m selling pornography. I have a pornography site. I’m signing up as a business. And, right now, we know that children ages 12 to 17 are the fastest consumers of those sites.

CARLSON: Right. But I support keeping online porn away from children. Very much including my own. However, here’s the problem, it seems to me. As soon as you tax it, then you give website operators a real incentive not to declare themselves pornographers, right? You have an incentive for these people wanting to escape the tax to call themselves artists and to call porn art. So, at some point, you are going to have to decide. You’re going to have to regulate this even more. And somebody from the government is going to have to decide what is porn and what is not. Are you prepared for that?

STABENOW: Well, first of all, child pornography is already illegal.

ROFL!!! WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT!?! Tucker makes this home run argument, he exposes a loop hole in her thinking that is big enough to drive a mack truck through, and she doesn't even address it!

I wish this woman success. She's doing something, I guess, and her heart is in the right place. This article is just an shocking reminder that sometimes our leaders aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.

Here's the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8742696