Wednesday, March 22, 2017

In over her head

I first became familiar with "conservative" commentator Tomi Lahren about 20 months ago when she received nationwide attention for her sharp criticism of the Obama administration in the aftermath of the Chattanooga shootings of four U.S. Marines. At the time, she was a 22-year old host of a program with something called One America News Network.

With the video of this monologue having gone viral, Lahren parlayed that newfound popularity into signing on with Glenn Beck's online conservative network BlazeTV in the fall of 2015. As such, I would occasionally watch clips of her show On Point. To be honest, I was often left woefully unimpressed. While Lahren is a beautiful, impassioned young lady, her commentary was a classic example of symbolism over substance. My concern was that if she were dubbed the millennial voice of conservatism, her presence would do little (if anything) to advance the movement among that demographic.

Her appearance on the leftist women's show The View last week was the proverbial train wreck we pretty much saw coming.

Appearing on “The View” on Friday, Lahren admitted that she supports abortion rights, saying it would be hypocritical of her to believe the government should decide what women should do with their bodies.

“You know what? I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well,” Lahren said.

Even the show’s hosts appeared shocked to hear her. Across social media, antiabortion advocates said it was impossible for Lahren to be both conservative and in favor of abortion rights. They criticized her interpretation of the Constitution and called her out for seemingly contradicting previous remarks about abortion. Some claimed, as they have before, that by rising to prominence so young she lacked an understanding of political philosophy and ideology.

But the provocative commentator defended herself, tweeting Saturday, “Listen, I am not glorifying abortion. I don’t personally advocate for it. I just don’t think it’s the government’s place to dictate.”

This is an utterly incoherent rationale, especially saying conservatives are "hypocritical" for defending life.

Part of me believes that Lahren was pandering to the mostly left wing audience which indulges in those female vipers on The View on a daily basis. Despite all the success she's obtained in a short period of time, Lahren's clearly not equipped to engage in nuanced arguments (Labeling herself a "constitutional" emphasizes that point).

The following Monday, Lahren was suspended from her show.

Lahren’s show is suspended for at least one week starting Monday, according to TheDC’s sources. A source with direct knowledge of the situation previously told TheDC that Lahren’s contract with the company goes until September, but that she may leave the company before then.

Lahren’s inflammatory style placed her at odds with other employees at The Blaze, as previously reported by TheDC. Tensions were high between Lahren and her coworkers at The Blaze even before she called pro-life conservatives hypocrites in an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Friday.

It would be far too simplistic to say this is The Blaze showing intolerance for those who dare have differing views from Beck et al. Why Beck himself has said when his network first got started, there was an unabashed pro choice woman hosting one of their more popular programs. It's one thing to have a respectful disagreement with one of your bosses. But to imply they're "hypocritical" to believe what they believe does not make for a harmonious working place, especially since Lahren's declared pro-choice stance seems to be an about-face from what she's said previously.

In the end, this appears to be your standard employer reprimand of an employee who was insubordinate. To attempt to paint this as "sexism" or "intolerance of differing viewpoints" is to ignore the history of BlazeTV itself.

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