Anderson Cooper takes on Mormons over Prop. 8 tonight

Here's the teaser on Anderson Cooper's Web page for tonight's show:

They make up just 2% of California’s population, but Mormons more than pulled their weight in the battle to ban same sex marriages. How they made Prop 8 pass, tonight at 10 ET.

Although I admittedly have not seen much of Cooper's coverage of Prop. 8 for CNN (I'm more of a glued-to-the-Web kind of gal than a glued-to-the-TV type), I've heard that his reports have been overwhelmingly against Prop. 8 (surprise, surprise - after all, Cooper has never "come out" but is reported to have made veiled references that he is, in fact, gay).

Here's a clip from the show last week, when protestors targeted the Manhattan LDS Temple:



A friend made the point to me that we Latter-day Saints should be willing to take some of the heat since we were very actively involved (the fact that I'm out of cell phone minutes on my 900-minute plan attests to that - thank you, Prop. 8 calls!), it still rubs my journalistic instincts the wrong way to hear reporters get the facts so wrong or to be so blatantly biased.

Do we notice that he refers to the LDS Church as "spearheading" the efforts? That's incorrect - the Church was invited to participate in a broad-based coalition of faiths. He also talks about how Yes on 8 had a "massive" ad campaign, but in all reality, the No on 8 side had more ads, more money - and, in fact, more money that came in from out of state, too.

Cooper's guest, Dan Savage, says that you have to expect a reciprocal punch if you go into the public square and "slime people, malign people, demagogue against people"; he also says that the Church "politicized" itself. Again, this is totally wrong. The Church has never said anything that maligned gay people but has constantly encouraged kindness and respect for all.

(PS: Notice how he totally also messes up the vocabulary... not to nitpick, but if you're going to discuss the Church, know what you're talking about. The "First President" didn't have a letter read in temples - it was read in meetinghouses or chapels. I know I'm just being particular here, but I'm an editor/writer. So sue me.)

Savage refers to the gay community as a "vulnerable minority" - this sets the Church up to be a bully. Cooper and Savage turn a blind eye to the violent protests; Savage continually interrupts Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council (and when Cooper steps in to stop the overtalking, Cooper lets Savage finish his thought - not Perkins).

Also notice how Savage rips on the Church as "shoving" this through, and that older people basically are homophobic and need to die off. He even goes as far as saying straight people redefined marriage from being a patriarchal contract to a love relationship!

And then Cooper asks if we're on the "wrong side" of history, and that the majority of young people favor same-sex marriage.

Well, when you've got a liberal education system that has indoctrinated Gen. X and Gen. Y for the last 40 years, and decades of so-called "liberation" that has created a tremendous social experiment that has promoted individual selfishness at the expense of children, then how can you blame my generation for not being able to see the forest from the trees? We don't remember what it used to be like in the "good ol' days" - not to say that every family was like the Cleavers or Bradys back in the day, for sure, but once upon a time, marriage lasted, families were a haven where children were nurtured, and parents cared about their families more than about "having it all." Now people wonder why Gen. X/Y can't figure out the basic traditions of courtship and marriage. We threw the baby out with the bathwater and are just beginning to see the overwhelming mess that has left.

Sorry for that last little rant. Anyways, tune into Anderson Cooper tonight - I'll blog what I can from it!

For more information go to http://whatisprop8.com