Child (Non) Support

In the silly season of a scorching summer, the "news" media can often reach for what seems novel. Man bites dog; daughter mad at dad. In this case, reporters have turned their attention to a daughter-dad spat showcasing the family and campaign of John [great name] Mantooth, lawyer, judge and father of three in Nothingtown, Oklahoma.

His second daughter, Jan, took out an ad and started the website donotvoteformydad.com that is fairly self-explanatory in its mission, inasmuch as father Mantooth is running for Okla. District 21 judge. She says he's not what he seems. His supporters say she is still upset from the long-ago divorce from her mother and is also influenced by her husband being a law partner of Mantooth's opponent. All explanations might be true, but none completely explains why Jan's siblings aren't standing up for pops or what she is really upset about.

An interesting take on the situation was offered by Washington Post blogger Alexandra Petri on other dads who probably didn't have the support of their young ones.