This is the controversial advertisement but republican candidate Rick Perry. Perry is the current governor of Texas and is known well for his openness about his faith and has recently been under some fire for a comment made in his recent commercial, Strong. The ad was intended just for Iowans, but was caught by the national media when it began to stir controversy. This commercial plays at least three times while I watch KCRG channel 9 news in the morning before school. Each time, I'm put off a little by a comment he makes...
"I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."
The obvious controversy is started over Perry's belief that there is "something wrong when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." Perry doesn't try to hide his opinion with learned words, or even try to imply it. He outright says it in plain, moderately casual speech so that every American watching his commercial knows what his stance is. The video currently has 21,433 likes, but this is crushed by the 670,123 dislikes. All of these dislikes came from people hearing the word wrong in conjunction with "gays can serve openly in the military".
First, let me say that I believe Rick Perry does see something wrong with gays serving openly in the military. Play the clip over again when he says the phrase and listen to the way he speaks. There is a slight hint of loathing in his voice when he addresses the fact that this is allowed. You can infer from Perry's conservative political views and religious stance (openly very religious people are more often than not un-supportive of gay lifestyles) that he probably does not support gays serving openly in the military. If that offends you, you have a legitimate reason to dislike him. The way he says "gays can serve openly in the military" can qualify you to dislike him, and you don't have to vote for him.
However, that isn't exactly what Perry was trying to say in this ad. He isn't commenting that its wrong for gays to serve openly in the military, he was commenting that its wrong for gays to have to freedom to serve openly in the military but students are not allowed to freedom to celebrate a religious holiday in public schools. Do you see the difference? He is trying to compare the two, saying that if we allow such freedoms in one institution, why not the other? That is the argument he is trying to bring to light. Perry's Strong commercial is supposed to spread his message of "making America strong with faith". While I personally take very liberal political views, and don't agree with Perry's opinions, its important to understand the arguments made by other politicians. If you are going to argue your point on why you don't like Rick Perry, you need to understand what he is really trying to say. Because gay marriage and rights are a hot topic right now, making any sort of comment about gays in a negative way will bring any politician under fire, and surely Perry will lose some potential voters because of the misinterpretation of this advertisement.
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