He Had the Right to Remain Silent...But Not the Ability

It appears that's it's time to take the mic away from Dr. James Dobson. What the heck was he thinking? Perhaps his inhibitory neurotransmitters are decreasing with age. As humans age the mind reverts to a more juvenile thought process, where right and wrong and black and white become monolithic and not tempered with good judgment. It's like three year old Ben being in the doctor's waiting room and blurting out "Dad, that lady's fat". Technically, he is right, it is true, but that uninhibited three year old mind can cause a parent a lot of anxiety. It's like the day on the rifle range when I ran into the husband of Ben's second grade teacher, my first reaction to him saying "you're Ben's father" was the thought "On no, what did Ben say now." It wasn't that bad, his wife said that he often sang Rush parody songs in class. At least a child can be excused for the occasional faux pas because they have no guile. Dr. Dobson's remark had guile.

"[He said,] 'I want to tell you that I've gotten to know Karen [Santorum] and she is just lovely. She set aside two professional careers to raise these seven children. She would make a fabulous first lady role model. And Newt Gingrich's wife, she was a mistress for eight years."

As my own inhibitory transmitters decline I compensate with a five-second-delay and a plethora of apologies. The only thing Dr. Dobson forgot to add was "bless her heart." He also forgot to apologize. In his childish reasoning, an apology wasn't necessary. After all, it was true.