No margin for error anymore?

Richard Mourdock said something stupid the other night. 

He knows it. Everyone knows it.

But I also think everyone knows what he meant to say but not many want to give him a little leeway or grace. Even among some evangelicals who preach grace are not offering any here.

Here's what Mourdock said during Tuesday's debate:

 "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Some in the pro-life movement are using this as a rallying cry and the abortion supporters also see an opportunity.

We live at a time when there are just a lot of words out there. Sure, Twitter only gives us 140 characters, but nothing's stopping me from filing 7,000 Tweets.

Then posting them on Facebook.

Then commenting on stories on the web and other people's FB postings and re-Tweeting, etc. etc.

Ahh, we love to see people make missteps. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves.

Ha ha. President Obama mistakenly tells a crowd in Colorado that he wants wind turbines to be made in China.

Really?

No. But it's caught on video.

Forever.

And Vice President Joe Biden's latest gaffe is to tell the good people in Ohio about all the negative ads being run "here in Iowa."

So we get former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman telling Romney to ditch his support for Mourdock, calling it a sign that Romney lacks leadership because Romney won't.

Really?

Isn't it leadership to stick with your convictions and provide some grace for a misstep?

Huntsman goes on to say in the Huffington Post: "I cringe -- it's like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear men talk about women's health issues."
Funny, I cringe every time I see someone take on a superiority pose. [And, yes, this applies to me, too].

But Huntsman's criticism may have been less on Mourdock's misspeak and more on some strange view that only women can speak on women's issues. Men can't talk about women's issues? Blacks can't talk about whites, etc.? Capitalists can't speak about Communists? 
Strange logic. Does Jon have daughters?

Radio commentator Laura Ingraham tweeted a "thanks" to Huntsman. 

Let the pile-on begin. [But don't look for support when you make a misstatement, folks].

But the bigger frustration I have isn't political opportunists looking for an chance to be relevant again but Christians who should know better.

People like Richard Lintz, dean of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. He told the Christian Science Monitor that Mourdock's comments were offensive

"The clumsiness is [to] so align God with evil that God becomes a horrific figure."

We know that's not what he meant. 

I was reading in the book of James today how "mercy triumphs over judgment" (2:13) and "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check (3:2)."

We know there ain't such a man walking the planet these days.

Huntsman made a mistake earlier in his losing bid to be the Republican candidate for president when he didn't qualify for the Arizona state primary because of a "paperwork mishap," the Associated Press reported.

And there was the goof on his boast that he spoke fluent Chinese.

I'm not going to throw stones. Remember, mercy triumphs over judgment.

--Word Smith