The Focus on the Family ad airing during tonightâs Super Bowl on CBS is, frankly, quite tame. But was it the original ad that FOTF had put together? Perhaps not, based on what weâve seen.
The spot below, which one uploader says was already removed by the group once, is âVersion 2â of the Super Bowl spot, weâre led to believe. And it paints a much more doomsday approach to deciding whether to keep a growing fetus. (The editorializing on James Dobson at the end is, we assume, the work of the uploader.)
[stream provider=video img=x:/www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2010/02/tebowsuperbowllg.jpg flv=x:/www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2010/02/Tim-Tebow-and-James-Dobson-Super-Bowl-Commercial.mp4 embed=true share=true width=650 height=340 dock=true controlbar=over skin=dangdang.swf bandwidth=med autostart=false /]
Either way, the Super Bowl version points to FocusOnTheFamily.com, where this additional video (warning: auto-play) featuring Pam and Bob Tebow appears. And itâs a doozey.
So: Whoâs watching the big game today?
dan j
Anyone who know Focus, knows they want to criminalize abortion, and use the law to maintain the taboo on gay people. While the ad may not call for any laws, that is the goal of the organization behind it.
Alex
At least there goes $2 million that they aren’t spending on suppressing us. If Focus on the Family drops its anti-gay b.s. in favor of going after abortion instead, I’m all for it.
mac mcneill
If you really want to make waves is call or write the FCC and complain about the contents being offensive. Whether they are or not is beside the point. Anytime some one gay does something the religious right does just that, now it’s time for payback.
James
@Alex
what a stood thing to say. If you think they will just drop the anti-gay agenda you are dead wrong.
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak outâbecause I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak outâbecause I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outâbecause I was not a Jew;
Then they came for meâand there was no one left to speak out for me.
Mike L.
Lol I bet Tebow’s mom rubbed it in his face all the time, “I could have aborted you, do not tell me you are gay boy. God would not have wanted me to keep you if you were gay!” Then he stays in the closet LOL J/K!
Could he be a big xtian closet case? It looks as though he has an overbearing mother (HAHAHahahaAHhahHAhaha!)
Mike L.
Oh and yes I’m watching the game, dont have a fave team but I like Manning so I’ll go Colts I guess.
Same Crap
@Alex: Right. Because trying to take away choice from women is so much better.
Pazmateo
What the FUCK is an “abortion survivor”. If that asswipe is an “abortion survivor” so are the other 7 billion people on this earth. Jesus Christ himself would do one of those jack-off motions in the air if he saw that bullshit.
Swellster
Is it just me or does Tebow have the gayest gay-face ever? I mean he might have well as sucked dick on national tv. He is gayer than Richard Simpson.
Freedom of Speech Advocate
@James: You do realize that you just unintentionally proved Alex’s point, right?
Freedom of Speech Advocate
@James: I owe you an apology, I misread your comment and I feel like a moron and I can’t delete my comment. Sorry!
Mike L.
@James: I’ve read that quote b4 it’s so true.
ksu499
I saw the commercial. It was a good commercial. It focused on making a choice, not on some message about how horrible abortion is and how horrible anyone who supports the ability to have an abortion is. Remember, no one really likes abortion. It’s a tragedy when it has to happens and most Americans realize it. But because we also realize the danger of trying to legislate morality, most Americans oppose making it illegal.
BUSSY
No. 12 ¡ ksu499
This is a moral issue, son. A woman is killing a life. Murder is a moral crime.
As for choice, please spare me. Your mom had a choice to abort u…arent u glad she didnt?
Its sick.
mikeandrewsdantescove
I decided not to watch the Super Bowl because they allowed this ad but not Mancrunch’s. CBS’s policies are not consistent.
JJ
Mitch Branson, Brandon Lewis & Rod Daily OH MY
http://jjadams928.blogspot.com/
hephaestion
Focus on the Family laid off 275 employees in 2008-2009 due to lack of funds. So who did James Dobson screw to pay for this expensive ad on the Super Bowl?
hephaestion
@mikeandrewsdantescove: ManCrunch does not exist.
Peter
Mrs. Tebow HAD A CHOICE; But Focus on the Family wants to TAKE THAT CHOICE AWAY. That just shows how pathetic their thinking really has become. They want to make it impossible for other women to have the ‘right’ that Mrs Tebow had.
“CHOICE” is what Democracy ‘means’. Without ‘choice’, some of our democracy disappears, and Theocracy begins.
Matt
@ Peter….we are actually a federal constitutional republic. Just saying.
romeo
CBS was VERY stupid to open this Pandora’s Box. Generally people look to TV to get away from all the contention in the real world. Also, now that this has been done, it will be almost impossible to deny other points of view to be shown in these kinds of formats on the basis of their being “too controversial.” There is very little that is more controversial in America than the abortion issue. As for CBS and the rest of the media, I don’t think there’s any question that currently there is a crisis of intelligence and talent in that industry.
Peter
Matt::: and does the Constitution and it’s amendments, say that there is to be a separation and our national policies and that of all religions???? just saying.
PADude
@BUSSY: Well, at least in my case she didn’t. I was born slightly before Roe v. Wade.
However, if she had I never would have noticed, having no more ability to respond to my environment than a clam until month 6 to 7 of gestation.
What most wingers fail to realize is that it happens anyway. The proverbial coat-hanger isn’t the best method, but does occasionally get used. A hot bath and a quart of gin (elderberry extract) got used more. Pennyroyal. The list of abortificants is almost endless–those are just two common ones.
The world ain’t perfect, sweetheart. Far better that it be done in a sterile, safe environment that preserves the life and health of the mother than some back-alley procedure where neither is respected.
…Unless, of course, you’d like to say they deserve it, in which case hypocrisy is definitely your forte.
terrwill
Pro Choice does not mean Pro Abortion. Abortion sucks (sometimes literaly) however if a woman doesn’t wish to embark on one of the most intensive journies like offers it is no ones business to force her to make that journey. As strange as it seems the abortion wars are actually a good thing for the Gay community. Because the lunatics now have two holy wars to join, abortion and Gays. The rightwing lunatics raise millions of dollars per year in the name of both battles. Remove abotion and they spew all their hatred and funding towards the Gay communities…………
edgyguy1426
I think this commercial was so tame because Gloria Alred stepped up and threatened to sue if there was one iota of misinformation in the commercial.
romeo
@ PADude: My mom told me that in pre Roe days, Mexico was one big abortion mill for Americans with clinics lined up just over the border. I’ve heard that most abortions are by married women who have had all the children they want and are terminating unplanned pregnancies. I’m sure that single women who don’t want a child make up a significant number of abortions as well. Those are all legitimate uses of the option. It’s nobody else’s business. However, there should be some sense of responsibility on the part of the individual. We now have highly effective contraception available that makes abortion virtually a non-issue, provided the education is there, which is the real problem. In any case, the option of abortion is overwhelmingly supported, that’s why the Supremes allowed it back then. If the Supremes went back on Roe, who would enforce it against the majority? As for the Supremes themselves, their power is pretty much unique to America and I don’t regard them as a democratic institution. They were just a trick by the founding fathers to ensure the status quo. An amendment could abolish them, too, or severely limit their power.
PADude
@romeo: Actually, the Judiciary was set up as a counterbalance to the Legislature and Executive branches. In a theoretically perfect world, the Judicial branch would make sure that nothing the other two did was in violation of the Constitution.
The world, as I keep saying, ain’t perfect. But as a whole the judicial stuff keeps the legislatures from running amok.
I am Unsurprised that other countries took our outsourced women…in the instance that it becomes illegal again, expect many, many visits to Canada, Mexico, the UK, and France for a “Weekend of Shopping.”
The one issue with contraception is that in no case is it 100% effective (neither is abstinence, for that matter, as rape and incest may certainly still occur, as can a simple “slip” [and slide?] with your current swain). And the education behind it is, as you noted, awful.
On the up side, gay sex has a 0% pregnancy rate. Maybe the right-wing should start promoting that! đ
DR
I actually doubt that Gloria Allred had anything to do with the nature of the ad. CBS provided guidance on the ad, and FotF acknowledged that CBS asked them to pull back parts of the ad.
I think that FotF punked the ad world, and like “Mancrunch”, created a bit of controversy to get some free advertising. Especially knowing that today, many people would be saying “folks were complaining for two weeks about THAT?!?”
alan brickman
not that big of fan of abortion…but Tim could have chose a diferent way or organization to say this….
tjr101
It’s quite obvious that the main objective of Focus is not just to limit abortions but to make it illegal in all cases. The objective of the right-wingers is to overturn Roe v Wade and make abortions illegal across the board. Hence their crazy obsession with the supreme court (just one more justice they say they need…ONE MORE).
The right takes a literal interpretation of the bible which is to be fruitful and multiply. Which is why they are against same-sex marriage (we can’t multiply), sex education and the use of any kinds of contraceptives. Personally I think they would like nothing less than a christian version of Iran, a theocracy.
They (religious-rightwingers) also tend to prefer their women to be submissive, stay at home, baby-making machines. Which is why you tend to see only the males being overzealous pro-lifers e.g. George Tiller’s killer Scott Roeder.
By doling out a 2 million dollar ad Focus on the Family is slightly squeezing the door open and CBS just gave them a hand. There will be more ads like this to come.
daveinthe805
I saw the Superbowl ad. It was nicely put together and didn’t proselytize pro-life in a fire and brimstone way. It was better than I expected given the outrage by so many when the ad was first announced. What I wish the Tebows did instead was not have the ad underwritten by Focus On the Family given their anti-everything nature. The Tebows have a right to believe in pro-life just as I have a right to believe in pro-choice. Also, if we in the LGBT community were serious about placing an ad during the Superbowl that was going to counter Focus On the Family, we would have done a lot better than Man Crunch. Also now that CBS has opened the door to hot button issues, it is going to have a hard time denying future potentially controversial issues during the game when all people care about are the game and the funny commercials.
Tessie Tura
I’ve thought he was a big old closet case all along. I mean, let’s get serious here. He has a body like that and went through college and remained a VIRGIN?? Dude’s got issues. I knew a guy in college who was a total jesus freak, saved himself for marriage, and graduated a virgin… wait. That was me. Seriously.
KirilleXXI
I am pro Choice, but not pro Abortion per se.
I think it’s important in our society to inform women that abortion is one of the toughest decisions in their lives and they should not take this decision lightly. It is good to promote the pro-life arguments, tell people that life is always a better choice, that abortion is some kind of a murder, because it is, no point to argue that. Moreover, women must understand that many times abortion goes wrong and complications of that procedure may end up pretty badly leaving this woman barren for the rest of her life, she will never be able to give life to a human being.
On the other hand, any pregnancy carries dangers, too. Many things can go wrong, the mother and the child may not be compatible by blood type, multiple pregnancies are significantly more dangerous. The mother and the child may die because of some pregnancy complication or because of difficult delivery. Happens all the time, and more often then some people think.
The bottom line is, Focus on the Family must focus on promoting life, promoting the CHOICE of life, talking about complications of abortions, making it clear that the focus in making this decision must be always on choosing life as opposed to death; and only when a woman doesn’t really feel like she is ready for the journey of parenting, or even for giving life to a child only to give it up for adoption (which is always a better compromise), or there is some really important reason why she doesn’t want to go through the pregnancy, â that’s when the only option is abortion. This decision should be hard, and all the options should be made clear beforehand, all the dangers explained. But the choice should never be taken away!
Daniel Edd Bland III
Recently I wrote an “Open Letter” to Dr. James Dobson asking the question, “Does Christ’s Church truly stand for TRUTH & JUSTICE?’
http://blandyland.com/?p=459
Here is the “official” response I received in return.
http://blandyland.com/?p=513
Please help spread the word!!!
Daniel Edd Bland III