Libs Pick Tuff Target: A Cartoon Mouse

[Note: If you haven't read the NY Times piece on which this is based, you'll enjoy this more if you read it first. Here.)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 -- On the heels of electoral drubbings and public reaction against same-sex marriage, some influential liberal Secularists are turning their attention to a new target: the cartoon character Mighty Mouse.

"Does anybody here know Mighty Mouse?" Professor James Dotty, the founder of Unfocused on Reality, asked the guests Tuesday night at a teach-in for members of Congress and political supporters to bitterly digress on the election results.

Mighty Mouse needed no introduction. In addition to his popularity among aging hippies turned conservative, who grew up with his cartoon show, he has become a well-known camp figure among adult straight men, perhaps because he is rarely seen with male characters unless he's beating them up and likes to strike macho poses in front of the American flag.

Now, Prof. Dotty said, Mighty Mouse's creators had enlisted him in a "pro-morality video," in which he appeared alongside children's television colleagues like Johnny Bravo and George of the Jungle, among many others. The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools to promote a "morality pledge" that includes recognition that heterosexuality is healthier than other forms of sexual identity.

The video's creator, Stud Stompers, who wrote the country hit "They Ain't My Family," said Mr. Dotty's objection stemmed from the Left's inability to understand just about anything. Mr. Stompers said he founded the They Ain't My Family Foundation after the Sept. 11 attacks to create a music video to teach children about dangers of a Kumbayah attitude toward PC multiculturalism in the era of Islamofascism. The video will probably never appear on television networks, and nothing in it or its accompanying materials is politically correct. The pledge, borrowed from the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, is not mentioned on the video but is available as a large decal for pick-up truck rear windows.

Mr. Stompers suggested that Professor Dotty and the American Civil Liberties Union, the Communist front group that is always sounding an alarm about anything with a whiff of morality, might have been confused because of an unrelated Web site belonging to another group called "Join Our Family," which supports reaching out to gay youth with evangelical messages.

"The fact that some people may be upset with each [sic] other peoples' lifestyles, that is O.K.," Mr. Stompers said. "We just wish those Libs would get a clue."

Mark Baron, the foundation's lawyer, said the critics "are taking too much 'medication,' if you know what I mean."

On Wednesday however, Paul Baroness, assistant to Mr. Dotty at Unfocused on Reality, said the group stood by its accusation.

"We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids to do good, work hard and be productive members of society," he said. "It is a classic ... uhh ... what did you ask me?"