And, the religious conservatives are beside themselves about it.
Tim Tebow’s mother made a very difficult decision while she was pregnant with Tim. Because of a medication that she had to take, the doctors (in the Philippines) advised her to abort Tim. She refused, Tim was born healthy, and through his own hard work he has become very popular. But, both because he is such a devout Christian and an abortion survivor, the religious conservatives have given him mythical status and will tolerate not even the slightest criticism of
him.
There is not much to criticize. He’s handsome, rich, caring, giving, an excellent role model, has had an outstanding football career, and is an all around nice guy. But his style of play at quarterback is unorthodox and has a short NFL shelf life. A quarterback who runs the ball as
much as Tim does will eventually get hurt. Tim was hurt last year, but played through it. He’s not a good NFL passer. He’s inaccurate by NFL standards and doesn’t read defenses particularly well. That combination means that you are often playing from behind and in need of heroics to win. 2011 was a unique season. Heroics are heroic, because they are rare.
His style of play is unique. It is no accident that the Broncos drew up a new playbook with Tim at the helm. They needed to take advantage of his strengths and hide his weaknesses. And they had success, with Tim going 7-4 as a starter during the regular season. But, it did not take long for NFL defensive coordinators to figure things out. Denver lost their last three regular season games. Winning any one, would have clinched them a playoff appearance, which they got anyway when the Raiders got beat on the last day of the season.
But, you can not say that to those who worship him because of religious convictions and his abortion survivor background. You are met with people like Pat Robertson saying that ‘the Broncos treated Tim Tebow shabbily”and that it would serve them tight if Manning were to get hurt. Local radio talk show host, lawyer, and anti-abortion crusader Dan Caplis is completely over the top with comments. As one of many examples he said the 2011 NFL MVP was a race between Tim Tebow and Aaron Rodgers. He spends hours each week using whatever stat he can dig up to elevate Tim to the pinnacle of NFL success, while ignoring any deficiencies or failures.
Why do I bring all of this up, when it is over? Because it’s not, and there is a very important lesson to learn here. Tim Tebow is now in New York and will be talked about every week of the season regardless if he plays or not. And each week, I fear we will be subjected to something stupid coming out of the mouths of those who claim to be good conservatives and want to see this country move back down a more moral path. The vast majority of Americans are uninformed on the subject of politics and all they remember are the headlines.
Washington Post; March 23, 2012
Robertson: Tebow treated poorly by Denver; Manning re-injury would ‘serve them right’
MSNBC; March 22, 2012
Santorum: GOP better off with Obama than 'Etch A Sketch' Republican
When the undecided hear a religious leader suggest than he would be happy if Manning got hurt again (which he didn’t say) or when Santorum, the de facto religious right candidate suggests that because Romney is not like him, it would be better to stay with Obama, it makes an impression on the undecided.
They undermine the credibility of their message when they make these statements and it undermines the credibility of the rest of us conservatives who stand on the same side of the aisle as they do. We may not say these things, believe these things, but we are tarred with the same brush by leftstream media.
The religious conservatives had better start remembering that the majority of Americamight believe in God, but they don’t put their lives in God’s hands. They have little faith. They believe in
the price of gas. They believe in troops fighting abroad. They believe the left slanted message they get on the nightly news.
Faith is not going to carry the November election; votes will. And it is just stupid to drive people away because they don’t have the same ‘faith’ that you do.