Every once in awhile you read something on an issue or event that reads like letting your breath out.

Sometimes media simply overdoes things to death.
Lots of other important things are going on, but tunnel vision, money, buzz and the demands take over. In the US debate is lively and loud in politics and the way it plays out, you’d think it was as important as the second coming.
Journalists tend to pack and herd. There is a lot of money at stake. We scrum, we trample, we go for crumbs. And it gets foolish.

So when I clicked over to Christianity Today’s weblog, what I read was just what I needed.
I don’t know how Ted Olsen was feeling, my guess is a tad bit annoyed.
Whatever it was, it makes for some sharp writing. Sometimes it takes a bit of anger or annoyance to speak truth to an obviously muddled process.

Those of us who use words for a living, don’t always have them when we need them. Objectivity in journalism isn’t a concept to me. We have feelings. We have boundaries. And we bring ourselves to whatever story we tell.
Today Ted Olsen had the right words for me.

It’s a microcosm of the larger picture I’ve been wrestling with lately.

But today, Weblog isn’t going to argue with Sullivan over thinly veiled politicking by religious conservative organizations. A press release from Family Research Council arrived at exactly the wrong time for that. The self-proclaimed nonpartisan organization, which “champions … virtue” and “promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview,” according to its mission statement, says it will “motivate the pro-family base” at the Republican National Convention by handing out fortune cookies. No, Weblog isn’t going to complain about the FRC use of occult objects—we’ll let others complain about the cookies. Weblog is more concerned about the cookies’ messages, which the FRC says “the Bush campaign should use to motivate pro-family voters.” Three of the four are mere sloganeering:

Real Men Marry Women: Support a Constitutional Amendment to Protect Marriage

Save the Constitution! Impeach an Activist Judge

Cures for Diseases - Know the Score: Embryonic Stem Cell 0, Adult Stem Cell 45

Does the FRC really think the Bush campaign should use these slogans? This is a clear departure from the serious, reasoned approach to public policy matters the FRC once took. Since its leadership change, the Family Research Council seems much less interested in research than it used to, but this press release in particular suggests a shift from reason to rhetoric. Why explain the heterosexual nature of marriage when you can just say that gays aren’t “real men”? Why make a case against human life as commodity to “motivate the pro-family base” when you can treat the debate as just a matter of scoring? Why advocate for families in poverty when you can rally for the impeachment of “activist judges”—something your own organization says is “extremely difficult” and hasn’t even suggested before this month?

Whatever. These three suffer from bad tactics. It’s the fourth that’s really troubling:

#1 Reason to Ban Human Cloning: Hillary Clinton

Disagree with Senator Clinton’s policies all you want, but there’s no justification for this kind of ad hominem attack. Here’s FRC’s first “core principle”: “God exists and is sovereign over all creation. He created human beings in His image.” Attacking Clinton like this, as a person, is an attack on the image of God.

There are days a really good rant is just the ticket.
Thank you Mr. Olsen.