I understand the kid and he is ofcourse 100% right.....I just always feel a little weird when so young children are being involved with politics, no matter how powerful it is. It always seems coached.

Bachmann is a piece of work, but I do at least credit her for having a good way with children. She is hampered by insane convictions but seems to be good with children....Imagine if she could show compassion for gays too.

Would her husband agree with that?

Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_e...

On the other hand Jane Schmidt of Waverly High School is another matter.

.

I can't believe so many read this as the parents insisting that the kid protest. Not according to the parents. The kid insisted on it, they say. Then he got shy when the woman was right there.

It's a conceivable interpretation of this clip, but it's really not necessary. I remember, I had my own political opinions when I was this age. Of course, a lot of them resembled my parents' views, but a lot didn't.

I'm wondering where this certainty that "the mother forced the child" comes from? From the same place that "Shut up, kid." comes from?

His mother's a lesbian. Think the kid doesn't feel that people are beating up on his mom?

I am by no means a fan of Michele Bachmann. I think she's crazy and I oppose pretty much any policy idea she proposes or gloms onto, but this video fails.

There is no way of knowing whether or not the child was acting without any encouragement from his mother. Nevertheless, it actually makes her look sweet and kind while she leans over the table so the child could whisper in her ear.

Right message, wrong tactic.

I had many loud and proud political convictions. My son, when he was 8, would have insisted on telling Michelle off. But my son is a born showman. I watch each year as my son's school does author's teas, where each kid reads their short illustrated work to a packed room. At 8, many of the kids- even knowing 90% of the people in the audience and having rehearsed their story- mumble and act uncomfortable. Here's how it would have played out in my family when I was 8.... there would have been a discussion. maybe stemming from one mom reading the newspaper and seeing Michelle B would be book signing. One mom reads it, the other says something like "well, I know where we aren't going". Kid asks, who MB is, and why mom doesn't like her. Or the kid saw the news clip with her saying one of her lovely statements about gay families. If mom explains that Michelle and her husband own a clinic that "fixes" gays so they won't be anymore, or says, MB thinks we are broken and need fixing, then I can well imagine MY son's reaction- precisely the words the kid used. He finds the whole problem folks have with SSM ridiculous. He went off about the guy who told me on line I didn't have a family, or kids, simply because I am female, and the boy's birth mother is female. This was years ago.

I can well see my son, or myself at that age, insisting on meeting this woman to tell her my parents are not broken, so don't need fixing. I know I would have practically freaked if this woman who says nasty things about my parents leaned in so close, and I would have been offended by the "my ears were too far away to hear"..WTF? Your average 8 year old is going to be nervous at challenging an adult, no matter whose idea it was, they are going to feel patronized by the "ears" comment, instead of a simple, "I'm sorry, can you speak up? There's too much noise in here", and is going to be horribly uncomfortable at having someone who said mean things about my parents leaning in close all friendly like.

I would guess the folks who are offended by this boy speaking out are of the sort that believe children should be seen and not heard. That children have no opinions of their own. I try really hard to be non-partisan and give no opinion when I tell my son about news items. I fill in all the facts I know, then state both sides of a political debate. I want him to learn to analyze things and form opinions for himself. I do note that armed with the facts, he tends toward beng a progressive liberal :-). Occasionally we disagree. I don't mind, it is healthy, My first GOTV effort was when I was 9 almost 10. Was I exploited because I wanted to knock on doors for Hubert Humphrey? There were no cell phones, You Tube. I assure you I was nervous and less than eloquent with a lot of the adults who answered the door. But I wasn't forced into it, nor was I "coached". My parents coached me at my request for our 5th grade election debate. But quit assuming the kid was either coached or exploited unless the kid tells you that is what happened. I think you are projecting your own belief that kids are dumb, and only do stuff like this if forced by an adult. I was raised to participate in dinner table convos with the adults as far back as I recall. Like under the age of 5. While my opinions tended to mirror my parents and friends, that's normal, and I could ask, and did, the why behind the opinions.

Would anyone be bitching if the kid had gone up and said "Jesus loves you"? Even looking obviously coached? No, y'all would be ooohing about how cute it was.

In 1972 I was 8 years-old, the same age as this little guy. I obviously didn't understand the war and certainly all the politics involved. But I knew the war upset my father, a WWII veteran, who called it "stupid." I knew what stupid meant. I knew what dead was. Had my mother set me up in something like this asking such a question about the Vietnam War - well, looking back I would have much preferred that instead of having to get up in front of the church to recite Bible verses.

One very early memory I have is my father taking me into the voting booth with him each election day (this was in the days when they were like confesionals, with curtains preserving the privacy of the ballot marking). He held me up with his left arm so I could see, and marked the ballot with his right, telling me the names of the people he was voting for and the offices they would hold. Later, if I had questions, he explained who these people were and what they did when they were elected. Sometimes, he even pointed at the names he wanted and let me make the marks (yes, it was illegal, but so what?). I also remember one dark election evening when I was the tender age of seven, A friend and I hid at the entrance of the park where the neighborhood polling place was and shouted out competing election slogans at people walking past - nobody put us up to it; we did it for fun.

Don't denigrate children by gratuitously underestimating them all. Some of them are quite savvy.

We didn't win here...We lost big time....

These are right wing tactics and now they have a youtube clip to push into over face. ´'