Dr. Gina Loudon is the guest on The Palin Radio Update with Kevin Scholla! Loudon recently appeared on Wife Swap and as expected the liberal program attempted to make her look bad for being a conservative Christian, even though the other family consisted of a couple that shares a girlfriend. Dr. Gina tells Kevin why she went on the show and why she believes we must infiltrate pop culture just like Sarah Palin has suggested. Governor Palin is loaded for bear! A new SarahPAC video has been released. Plus Palin remembers a fallen hero and delivers messages for Passover and Good Friday. Steel Resolve, our weekly commentary with Sarah Steelman is featured as well.
Wife Swap Episode Featuring Loudons, Envys
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“We knew what were were signing up for,” Dr. Gina Loudon said about Wife Swap, an ABC reality show, she and her husband John participated in. According to the show’s producer, “In this new series, the mothers in two celebrity families with vastly diverse values switch homes (but not bedrooms) — embarking on a journey like no other and revealing the various ways some controversial celebrities live their lives.” Conservatives “need to take on the culture,” said Dr. Gina, co-author of Ladies and Gentlemen: Why the Survival of our Republic Depends on the Revival of Honor. “We need to be on the front lines of the culture conversation,” she said adding that John and her prayed long and hard before going on the show.
People Can See Through the Edits
“We knew there would be edits, but we also knew people would see through it,” Dr. Gina said. The comments on the show’s episode page appear to bear out her assertion. Despite portraying the polyamorous family with whom the Loudons were swapped as heroes and the Loudons as “right-wing extremist nuts,” comments toward the polyamorous Envy family are running highly negative. Dr. Gina said she could not discuss the reasons why the Loudons did not go to the round-table meeting that concludes the Wife Swap episodes, for contractual reasons but said she would divulge as much as possible on her own show throughout the week.
“I was thrown out,” she said. She used the “pearls before swine” analogy and continued, “sometimes you say what you have to say. It’s either falling on open minds and hearts…I wasn’t getting through…conservatives need to know when to say when and how to spend time wisely.”
Scholla said, “the guy they paired you with had all sorts of anger issues and called you all kinds of profane names. Him and his wife shared a girlfriend. I thought it was their daughter at first.” Indeed, many of the negative comments on the episode’s page are related to the polyamorous husband’s behavior toward Dr. Gina, and the women in his life – even among leftists who panned Dr. Gina and the Tea Party.
Rush Limbaugh on Dr. Gina’s Portrayal on Wife Swap
If we Don’t Take Risks, we are Certain to Lose
“I take Rush’s comparison of me to Gov. Palin as a compliment, but disagree with Rush about staying out of the culture. We need to engage. We might win, we might lose, but we have to take risks. We are certain to lose if we don’t do it,” Dr. Gina said. “They will always laugh and criticize conservatives….People are now talking about this who weren’t talking about politics before. I think that’s a good thing.”
Don’t Have to Compromise Conviction to be Compassionate
Dr. Gina said her quote “if you can’t defend your rights, you don’t have any rights” was quoted back to her at least a dozen times, so it’s resonating. “If you aren’t offending somebody, you aren’t saying anything,” she said. She harkened back to Pastor Rick Warren who said the following two statements are lies: “if you disagree with someone’s culture or lifestyle, you must fear or hate them,” and “to love means you agree with everything they believe or do.” Both are wrong, Dr. Gina said. “You don’t have to compromise conviction to be compassionate, and we can love people even if we disagree.”
Scholla noted that on the episode “saying anything about homosexuality was no good, but mocking Christ as a ‘comic book figure’ was just fine.” He continued that Mr. Envy – the wrestler husband – was shocked about Dr. Gina’s rules – “no one tells my kids what to do!” – but he signed up for that by doing the show. As part of Wife Swap, the swapped wives draw up rules for how the house runs during their stay there.
We Must Be Culture Warriors
Dr. Gina said there was a lot of editing on both sides. For instance, the polyamorous wife laughed at a lot of John Loudon’s jokes. The job of a reality show producer is to entertain, Dr. Gina said, not to be accurate. “We have to know that and not be afraid to laugh at ourselves.” She said it is not fair for Palinistas to compliment Gov. Palin for being a culture warrior and not be culture warriors ourselves.
Scholla said the narration of the show was dishonest – for instance the “inconsistencies” in Dr. Gina’s record and in John Loudon breaking a rule that was never broken. Dr. Gina said she thinks Mr. Envy was emotionally and mentally abusive – something the negative comments on the show’s page also extensively point to. “There were definite differences in how he runs his household and how I do,” she said. “John helps around the house, and I’m used to that.” Dr. Gina described her Wife Swap experience as being a culture clash. “No one seeks to live in an uncomfortable situation. That part of Reality TV is very real.”
Scholla also pointed out that the polyamorous wife who was paired with John Loudon barred all talk of religion and politics in the house. Mrs. Envy’s husband, meanwhile never voted in his life. “Not merely a low-information voter but a no-information voter,” Scholla said.
Differences About Citizen Engagement, Not Family Structure, Relationships
“When you are here and enjoying the freedoms – which by the way he (the polyamorous husband) was enjoying – because of this Constitution and the teeth it has because of the Second Amendment, it’s his obligation as a citizen to be involved…take part…and be able to speak about it in coherent terms,” Dr. Gina said.
She said the greatest difference between the two families was not family structure and relationships as the show led viewers to believe, rather it was the difference in attitudes toward civic involvement and engagement.
“To each his own. I respect the right for people to have freedom of religion, but you have to the responsibility to know where those freedoms are based. That’s what I was trying to get through about the Constitution and the Second Amendment. With that piece of paper, he has the freedoms he was trying to get me to condone. It’s not my business to condone it, but without the Second Amendment, that piece of paper has no teeth,” Dr. Gina said.
“The conversation became circular. Why was it okay to say ‘no’ to politics and religion but not okay to say ‘no’ to polygamy?” Dr. Gina asked, following up with, “Liberals will use this. We need to be prepared, not afraid.”
Scholla chuckled that Dr. Gina – who adopted a child with Down Syndrome – was called “evil” He said, “Dr. Gina kept her cool and didn’t flinch, while the wrestler dude screamed at a woman.” He said Dr. Gina was very “Palinesque.”
Change Happens When Lives Touch, People Communicate
Dr. Gina said she did not get to the meet either Mrs. Envy or the girlfriend. “I wish those women all the best. I saw some changes were made. It always happens when lives touch and people communicate.”
No Issue is an Island
Scholla asked when gay marriage suddenly became the most important issue. Dr. Gina said no issue can be isolated – ultimately, they are all inter-related. Gay marriage has economic implications. So does abortion, especially when taxpayer funding is involved.
“Sarah Palin has illustrated how we can engage the culture,” Dr. Gina said, adding that Reality TV is a “fertile battleground,” in which to do that and “we have an obligation to fight.
Steel Resolve: Politics, Supreme Court Decisions Doth Make Strange Bedfellows
“Politics makes strange bedfellows as they say and sometimes so does the Supreme Court justices,” Sarah Steelman said as she opened her Steel Resolve segment. “Thankfully, there are conservatives who still believe in protecting our Fourth Amendment rights. The Supreme Court correctly ruled this week that using a drug sniffing police dog on a suspect’s property without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches.”
Steelman continued, “Scalia was joined in the majority by Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonya Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer all dissented. The ruling said there is an expectation of privacy in your home and police officers can’t bring a trained drug sniffing dog to your front door. They have to obtain a warrant first.”
“‘When it comes to the Fourth amendment the home is first among equals,’ Justice Scalia wrote. This right would be of little practical value if the states agents could stand at a home’s front porch or side garden and trawl for evidence with impunity which is what the Miami-Dade police force were doing in this case with trained dogs.” She concluded, “it is good to say that at least two conservatives Justices Thomas and Scalia were not afraid to join with the liberals on the court when it comes to protecting the Bill of Rights. Like I said, sometimes politics or Supreme Court decisions make strange bedfellows.”
Complete Audio Transcript of Interview with Dr. Gina Loudon
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Dr. Gina Loudon Tidbits on Wife Swap – April 1, 2013
