While journalists were tripping over themselves last week to leave Obama's daughter Malia alone on her fancy school's trip to Mexico, and everyone remembers the great media blackout of Chelsea Clinton (including the removal of Saturday Night Live jokes), the liberal site Slate.com held a caption contest on their "Browbeat" blog.
Heather Murphy chose a picture of Santorum's daughters Elizabeth (born in 1991) and Sarah Maria (born in 1998). Sadly, liberal commenters predictably started mocking how these daughters -- yes, including the middle-schooler -- are on contraceptives, or wearing chastity belts, or touching themselves:
This was the picture, and captions included:
-- Ouch, Chastity - belt - too - tight!
-- Santorum: "I pledge my daughters to stay virgins until they're 35 years old."
-- Candidate claims daughters never ever touched themselves there.
-- Candidate's daughter caught fantasizing over Limbaugh's cigar.
-- His daughters listen while Santorum claims that their vaginas belong to the church.
-- "He still has no idea we're both taking the pill."
-- Every night he touches us just like that priest touched him.
Will protectors of other politicians' daughters, like Howard Kurtz on CNN, step up and decry this setup?
For a slightly different shot, there's this AP picture.
A few weeks ago, Slate was asking whether the home-schooled Santorum kids were "skipping school" too much tagging along on the campaign trail.
PS: Since the blog was posted yesterday, there are more examples of nasty comments:
-- Sister Wives for Santorum!
-- Republican Rick Santorum opens bidding for his daughters at slave auction, saying "Exodus 21:7. Look it up."
-- Santorum's Fembot Daughters' Emotion Chips Crash During Dad's Wacky Speech.
-- Can you believe my daughters are still virgins?
-- Once again, Santorum's daughters realize their dad has no idea how to hold a vaginal ultrasound wand.
-- My chastity belt is getting feedback from the speaker.
-- Santorum's daughters react to his proposed "Family Protection Act" that makes arranged marriages compulsory.
-- "My first act as President will permit fathers to LoJack their daughters' wombs."
When a commenter took offenses, one of the jokers replied: "The jokes aren't about the daughters but the fact that Santorum preaches sexism and patriarchy. It's reasonable to suspect from their expressions that they resent their father for believing that his god doesn't love females."
