Jim Bob ran for Senate?! 
He was a state rep for a term (?)
I don’t know if I should be happy that he lost by more than 2 to 1 margin for Senate… or scared that 20k people still voted for him.
So they never were just a regular old, down home family then. They were always political tools.
Jim Bob was an elected politician! He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for three years. He’s lost a couple of other elections since then.
Now I am even more bothered than I was when I thought they were just a garden variety “unique” family (like the Kardashians or the Honey Boo Boo people or Kate and whatnot). Yuck
Here’s a link to his campaign website:
Really jaw dropping in the level of hypocrisy:
Dang - so he was already a statewide public political figure during the crime and cover up.
I’m becoming more furious and disgusted by the day.
what a vile, despicable, waste of human flesh (Jim Bob that is).
^^ That is maybe a little bit strong!
But, these bits add fuel to the fire of why people are so angry and now, distrusting of the him - and perhaps his family.
He advocated the death penalty for something his son did- but then turns around an expects his son to just be forgiven. He forced his daughters to live with their abuser. He actively promotes hatred and discrimination against segments of the population that are already vulnerable.
Nope… I absolutely, 100% stick by what I referred to him as.
And stick by, you can. I don’t fully disagree - it’s just perhaps rough to see in writing. Should another statement come out from J-B, it should be interesting.
I really, really think the best thing that could happen now would be for the Duggars to quit the show and allow themselves to fade away. Yes, stuff will continue to come out down the road as other people eventually start to talk (and you know they will), but if they’re not being paraded on TV every week, it will get less traction, and hopefully the kids will suffer less.
If they don’t quit, and force TLC to play their hand and cancel it on them, they’re going to have the entire evangelical community keeping the story in the news with their protests. If the Duggars quit, I don’t think the evangelical community will be as vocal.
Sorry, but God will have to tell them. So far, the message coming thru to them seems to be that all this is past history.
Maybe the girls didn’t have serious reactions to their brother molesting them. I hope they didn’t. But I get the strong impression that if they did, the Duggar parents’ reaction would be to tell them it wasn’t a problem and they should just smile and suck it up. Their evangelical Christian beliefs don’t seem to leave much latitude for any emotions. Angry? Pretend you’re not angry. Unhappy? Pretend you’re happy. Have sexual feelings, and you’re single? Pretend you don’t. Not interested in sex tonight, but you’re a married woman? Too bad for you-- you have to have sex no matter how you feel.
More sponsors are dropping from the show. They’ve now lost not only General Mills (I think they were the first to pull out), but Payless Shoes and Choice Hotels. Walgreens is considering dropping them. I think this is going to take a bit longer to play out. You have to know there are some serious meetings going on right now between producers and executives of TLC and Jim Bob (am assuming he is the representative for the family).
I would hope the Duggars are smart enough to have a business person represent their business interests.
USA article includes a quote from Robert Thompson of Syracuse University’s Center for Television and Popular Culture.
“I never would have expected that it would be Mama June who has to become the conscience of TLC — the voice of reason.”
That is truly hilarious! And a great indicater of just how messed up this situation is.
Re the observation that if the show is cancelled, there will be less attention paid to the Duggars and they will be free to do as they please:
When there’s an accusation like this, isn’t it standard operating procedure for the local social services department to observe the family to make sure the children are safe? This would be regardless of criminal charges/statute of limitations issues.
When my daughter was very young, I was concerned about one of the kids she played with on our block, and I called the child abuse hotline. A case worker called me back and it was obvious that she was very much aware of this family, although the children had not been removed. Maybe this just happens in the big city?