McNulty: NOW attack on Tebow ad lurches into absurdity

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Pathetic? Desperate? How about ridiculous? Or comical? Or, simply, wrongheaded?

Those are just some of the words we can use to describe the National Organization for Women's attempts to tackle former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and the benignly pro-life TV commercial that CBS aired Sunday during its telecast of Super Bowl XLIV.

It was bad enough when NOW, along with other women's groups that still pretend to advocate the concept of choice, spent the weeks leading to Super Bowl Sunday ripping CBS for making the choice to embrace the First Amendment, for standing by its decision to run the pro-family ad and for allowing its audience to make a choice of its own.

It was even worse when these supposedly pro-choice women's groups, without knowing the ad's contents, tried to bully CBS into not airing the 30-second spot, during which Tebow's mother, Pam, simply told us about a choice she made 22 years ago.

It was wholly hypocritical.

Now we get this? We get NOW president Terry O'Neil telling the Los Angeles Times that the Tebow commercial glorifies violence against women? "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," O'Neil said after the commercial aired. "That's what comes across to me, even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."

That's what came across to her? I think she should be ashamed of herself.

Clearly, O'Neil and her ideological allies are so agenda-driven that they're willing to stoop to any level to attack anyone who dares offer a different opinion -- especially if that opinion is being offered by a likeable, wholesome, successful young man and his courageous mom, both of whom are devout Christians.

These groups are not interested in dissent, or debate, or even discussion. Principles no longer matter. Nor does truth. And you can forget about reality, too.

Did you see the ad? If so, I ask you: How could any reasonable, rational, right-minded person watch that pro-family commercial and come away thinking, in any way, the Tebows were promoting violence against women? Only someone who was determined to find some sliver of an excuse to condemn the commercial -- on any grounds, legitimate or not -- could possibly see what O'Neil saw.

For those who haven't yet seen it: Tebow's mom holds up a baby photo of her son and says, "I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn't make it into this world." She later tells us: "You know, with all our family's been through, we have to be tough." Suddenly, she appears to be tackled and briefly drops from view before popping back up.

"Timmy!" she says in a mock-scolding tone. "I'm trying to tell our story here."

Tebow joins her, apologizes and asks: "You still worry about me, Mom?" "Well, yeah," she replies. "You're not as tough as me."

It was lighthearted, playful, sweet. It was a nice story about a mother and her son.

There was no mention of abortion or pro-life, only a tagline -- "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life" -- that directed viewers to the Web site for the commercial's sponsor, Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian ministry based in Colorado.

There was nothing that could be remotely construed, even subliminally, as glorifying or "celebrating" violence against women. Any perceived evil was in the eye of the beholder.

But NOW couldn't attack the ad for its pro-life message, because you had to go to a Web site to find one. So it concocted the "violence against women" angle. And that tactic was beyond feeble, beyond pathetic, beyond desperate.

It was Fonzie on water skis.

NOW has jumped the shark, throwing away what little was left of its credibility and rendering itself irrelevant as a force for feminism. And unlike Tebow, whose character and class make him special, O'Neil and her group no longer can be taken seriously.

They made a choice.

They have to live with it.

(Ray McNulty is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida. This column reflects his opinion. For more of his thoughts on sports, you can follow his blog at www.tcpalm.com/mcnulty. He can be reached at ray.mcnulty(at)scripps.com.)

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