Keller @ Large: Be Thankful, It Could Be Worse
BOSTON (CBS) - Recep Erdogan, the president of Turkey, is on a roll, and no, this is not a joke about how to serve Thanksgiving leftovers.
Erdogan was explaining to a conference of women in Istanbul the other day that "you cannot put women and men on an equal footing, it is against nature."
This tidbit of wisdom comes from the same man who has said all women should have just three children, has denounced birth by Caesarean section, and has as one of his top deputies a guy who says women shouldn't laugh out loud in public because it's indecent.
This reminds me of the revolutionary who finally takes power in the Woody Allen movie "Bananas," and promptly announced hat "all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour [and] underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check."
In addition to his bizarre remarks about women, President Erdogan has also recently built himself a 250-room palace using public funds, and falsely claimed that Muslim explorers discovered America.
And all of that is just the lighter side of Erdogan, who has been busy isolating Turkey from its former allies in the West and ignoring the threat of ISIS on his border.
Oh, and one more thing about him – if I were writing any of this inside Turkey, I'd be headed for a long stretch in prison, thanks to a regime that imprisons more journalists than any other country.
This Thanksgiving, let's give thanks that whatever the shortcomings of our political leaders, they're much, much better than this.
And let's pray for the people of Turkey and their beautiful country, that they can find a way to dump this throwback and get the leadership they deserve.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
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