I am going to agree, full-on, with one of our blog readers who wrote that if it was Barack Obama's daughter covering up a teen pregnancy, the right wing smear machine would have been in full racist gear. This conversation about Sarah Palin is not over.
A lot has changed since the recent presidential election cycles: for one, the media and public now understand how the right pushes its radical agenda through talking points that correlate from the White House (Karl Rove's office) to talk radio, Fox News, and even to some pulpits. Last night on CNN, conservative pundit Bill Bennett pushed back on the Palin story, blaming it on "leftist, liberal blogs".
But if it hadn't been for the blogs, the McPalin camp would never have disclosed Bristol's teen pregnancy.
These questions abound, in part, because the party that controls the White House and that has intimidated, pressured, cajoled and otherwise influenced the mainstream media has proven itself adept liars on other counts-- counts that are much more serious that the McPalin affair.
The 2008 election is about who can tell the truth to "the reality based community", in Rove's words.
In response to Bill Bennett's barb, Donna Brazile bit her tongue; quickly noting that Obama has been the target of vicious lies and smears. There is nothing vicious about questioning the judgment of a vice presidential candidate: that comes with the territory.
Mark Salter, McCain's alter ego, seemed to shrug yesterday when he said, "It's an American story." But wait just a minute: if it is an American story, then let's hear the whole story.
Let's hear about the effectiveness of preaching abstinence to teenagers, about denying teenagers access to pubic education about birth control, and whether hiding pregnancies is compassionate conservatism or a relic from the early 20th century.
This election is about character and about character in the context of history. So it is a legitimate question of the Republican candidate and his running mate: in the matter of hiding teen pregnancies, denying full and independent access of teenagers to medical advice and counseling on reproductive health, which century do they belong to?
25 comments:
i cannot believe you are stooping so low to throw a teenager under the bus just to bash the republicans.
so what if the girl is pregnant? it happens. it happens all over the nation and in the best of families and in the best of schools. its part of life. and i for one am actually quite impressed with republicans not being embarassed or ashamed, but embracing this reality!
fyi - i am pro choice but at least this teenager did not choose the easy way out like the vast majority do. i went to a local private high school and can think of more than a handful of girls who aborted while attending high school. you dont even need parental consent, but to double pierce my ear at 15 my mommy needed to go with me. i think abortion laws to be revisited.
rahter than bash mccain/palin, i applaud them for this, although i still am undecided on who i will vote for. i think the republicans are making an effort to step out of the really tight square box they have been stuck in for years.
Come on, you're a republican hack trying to convince your faithful that McCain didn't make a terrible choice. Who is trying to throw a teenager under a bus: this is about Sarah Palin, her judgment and her character.
no actually i am a 25 yr old female registered "I" who thinks dragging someone's child into an election is just wrong.
i also applaud obama for being a stand up guy and saying not to bring personal family matters into the election. he does have 2 daughters rapidly approaching the teenage years. he gets it.
You know who dragged that child into this controversy? Her mother!
MARGARET WENTE
mwente@globeandmail.com
E-mail Margaret Wente | Read Bio | Latest Columns
September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin: Dan Quayle with an up-do.
When Sarah Palin's family was introduced to the whole wide world the other day, I wondered why their oldest daughter, Bristol, looked so distressed. You may remember her - she was the one holding baby Trig. Was it because all the folks back home are wearing T-shirts saying "Alaska: The coolest state with the hottest governor"? Or was it because she knew the entire universe was about to find out that she, Bristol, is unwed and five months pregnant? Hey! That means she could be giving birth on Inauguration Day!
Too bad her pistol-packin', diaper-totin' mama couldn't bear to say no to her country when it needs her - even if it meant sacrificing the privacy of her 17-year-old daughter to the global media machine.
John McCain did not pick Sarah Palin as his running mate because she was the best candidate around. He picked her because she was a young and photogenic conservative woman with a family-values trump card. That would be her fifth child, Trig, whom she carried to term at age 44 even though she knew he had Down syndrome. What better bona fides are there for an anti-abortion absolutist? John McCain figured that she would mobilize the sullen evangelical base - and it's worked. Since Friday, more than $10-million in fresh donations has flooded into the campaign coffers.
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So what becomes of family values now? Everyone will put the best face on things. The Democrats won't touch this one with a barge pole. Bristol will marry the father (whose privacy is also finished) and raise their child with the help of her loving, loyal family. What voice did she have in these decisions? Who knows?
The McCain team says it knew all about the pregnancy (although there's much else they seem not to have known about). Yet the timing of this news - on the day the Republican convention was supposed to start - is not ideal, PR-wise. Perhaps the plan was to keep it under wraps until the two were safely wed. But once the rumour began circulating on the blogosphere that Trig was really Bristol's child, not Sarah's, and that Sarah had faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her daughter, further secrecy became impossible.
Astonishingly, some people are trying to claim that Sarah Palin's nomination is another breakthrough for women. In fact, it's an insult to women. It's a triumph of marketing, not governing. The message it sends is that after all these years of so-called equality, tokenism still trumps ability and experience. If Sarah's name had been Stan, she never would have got the nod.
The wretched irony is that Ms. Palin - not Mrs. Clinton, the first woman unarguably qualified to be president - could now be the first female to make it to the Oval Office. Given John McCain's age (he just turned 72), the odds aren't that long.
"I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major-party ticket in modern history," says presidential historian Matthew Dallek. That includes the hopelessly incompetent Spiro Agnew (who was governor of Maryland for two years) and the hilariously clueless Dan Quayle (who couldn't spell "potato"). Nobody knows her views on foreign policy, because she doesn't have any. Let's hope no one asks her a trick question, like how to find Ahmadinejad on a map. Even so, some Republicans are gamely trying to defend her. As Cindy McCain said the other day, "Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here."
Why is John McCain so mesmerized by dishy younger babes? When he met Cindy (she was 24, he was 41), he fell in love at first sight. The same went for Sarah. He met her once, and now swears he's her soul mate. Unfortunately, this appears to be true. They're both mavericks with itchy trigger fingers, only she shoots moose.
The choice of Sarah Palin demolishes Mr. McCain's most promising campaign theme - that Barack Obama is too inexperienced and too risky a choice in a dangerous world. It also demolishes the picture of Mr. McCain as a seasoned man of judgment. Now we know the really risky choice is him. He's so impulsive that he makes decisions with his gut, not his head. He's so reckless that he's willing to gamble his own country in order to gain electoral advantage. As for Ms. Palin, she didn't seem to think too hard about the humiliation in store for her daughter. Such a little thing, when your country needs you.
Do you believe Obama actually compared his campaign to that of running a state like Alaska? He was asked about his executive management resume since his camp is all over Palin about hers. Too bad he doesn't run his campaign it's run by George Soros.
Why is this CHILD always holding the baby in photo ops. Let the mother hold her own baby or leave the baby home with a nanny. You don't make your female children into little mothers.....
OH MY GOD ARE YOU SERIOUS?
So should Barack Obama hold his daughters hand while he is giving a speech on the podium also? Gimme a break.
That CHILD is holding her kid brother, who is not old enough to sit or stand on his own.
And leave the baby at home with a nanny - Why so people can then say she is letting a nanny raise her children and such a terrible and selfish mother!!
Are women really in a lose/lose situation. Can you be a mother and a career woman at the time and be successful at both.
ABSOLUTELY!
Who ever said dragging a child into an election is wrong should apply that principal to Sarah Palin, she is the one who did it. Either she knew she was draggin her child into this hell or she has such a poor relationship her daughter that the kid didn't feel she could tell her until the pressure was too much. Either way the buck stops with Palin's skills as a mother or her ambition at any cost.
As well, give me a friggin break that the media should butt out. Applying the rule of the "career woman", Palin should be able to handle the heat just fine and without any special 'kid gloves'. This her opportunity to make a little headway in proving she's got the mettle and judgment to lead the country. Sorry, McCain will be the oldest man ever elected president and that amplifies the issue both in whether his intellects are fully there and whether she's going to make the US look even more idiotic to the world than W has. Yes folks, it CAN get worse so be selective.
Neo....I like you.
I think we need to lay of Palin's daughter. She's just a kid going through a nightmarish thing. I wish I could give her a hug and get her the hell out of the way of the cameras.
For any of you who were waiting for the VP choice, this is what I think - I am voting for Obama, after much careful consideration of all the issues on the basis of this:
1. He may lack experience, but I listened to some of the people who are advising him on foreign affairs and they are brilliant, fresh thinkers with strong resumes
2. If something should happen to him, he's got Biden, who irritates the crap out of me at times, but is strong on foreign policy.
3. Against McCain because he chose a running mate to win a race, not a country's confidence. Palin is, in my estimation:
a.) probably not such a great mom (put her political career above her pregnant daughter's well being)
b.) Has only been mayor of a small town and a state with a small polulation
c.) May be too much in bed with oil. I am not sure about this, because there is so much damn spin out there, you can't tell fact from fiction...but this will all out in the end. My instincts tell me there is something rotten in Denmark.
Don't get me wrong, there are things about Palin that impress me a great deal. I don't see her in terms of good/bad, black/white. She's grey - a good strong hue of grey - and although she and I disagree on a great many things, there are a lot of conservatives that would like her. She's got spunk, and I like that.
When McCain announced his choice, he lost my vote in about 30 minutes (honestly). I watched in horror and tried to believe that there were some really good reasons for choosing her.
I just don't see this working well for her or her family. I also don't think the country is not ready for another Anita Bryant just now.
Do you think that she might step down for personal reasons if he slips in the polls too much? Has that ever happened? I am thinking he just lost the election. Am I naive on this one.
I don't mean to slam anyone. I hope the conservatives weigh in on this one.
why is she always holding the baby? to hide her "baby bump"
Wow, there's a viciousness in some of these comments. Teenage pregnancies happen. The Palins should have been more vigilant. Even so, if teenagers are determined to have sex, there's not much more parents can do. I think McCain's selection was an inspired choice although Mitt Romney is more qualified.
It's the hypocrisy lunkhead. McCain either chose or followed the recommendation of RNC/campaign staff that Palin was the right choice (no pun intended) to energize the conservative base that he has long had a tenuous relationship with. Bottom line, he was advised he can't win without motivating the christian conservatives (CC's) to the polls.
If you think about McCain's choices, you'll see he had nowhere else to turn and, in my opinion, made too quick a decision that's gonna cost him the election. For instance. Crist, please the CC's suspect he's gay - he's got an economy in trouble, hurricanes distracting from campaining and - it would be two gray haired men at the top of the ticket; Romney, hello - mormon! CC's don't trust him -they voted for Huckabee - remember? And he's way too wealthy - 2 white guys with over $100 million each is a death knell of a ticket. Huckabee? Ha! McCain would lose his credibility and the middle (which is eroding now due to Palin's problems). Fred Thompson? Again, two old white men at the top of the ticket ain't gonna cut it. The list goes on and on - McCain's problem was that he had absolutlely no one to boost his ticket (and this is the critical part) where he needed it. So he rolled the dice with Palin.
Which gets back to the hypocrisy. Palin's sole purpose for McCain is she provides energy to get cc's to the polls. This pulling women and ex-Hillary voters is complete BS. So, McCain's big cc draw ends up showing to the world that those preachings alone (absitence) don't work in the real world. That's the story and that's what's eroding the centrist support for McCain. That hypocrisy makes centrists question "what else does this person close their mind to? Why would McCain, a war hero, a maverick associate himself with someone like this?"
Just as Obama had the pressure racheted up for his speech and he delivered good enough to convince the middle that he's viable - Palin is in the same situation tonight. She must not only motivate the base, she must convince the middle that she's one of them too. The BIG question is will anyone be watching or is her goose already cooked?
The only thing all this Palin bashing is accomplishing is galvanizing women voters. Most if not all women are emotional not logical. When they see one of thier own getting picked on for no other valid reason than her sex its going to cause women to take the bashing personally. I love how Libs turn on thier own base.
Nice try at a spin! My wife and her legal colleagues with FAWL clearly disagree. AS well, the poll numbers show a different story. Seems the better statement would be: The Palin controversy is galvanizing die hard supporters to make a last stand.
There is such a thing as loyalty to a fault you know. Bush showed us that case quite clearly with the boneheads he put in charge of FEMA and the Iraq war.
Palin does not support issues that women find important, thus, only the women who would vote for Bush will vote for her.
I urge you to read my fashion column today to get some real insight into the presidential campaign.
The left is wery concerned about Palin, the non-stop blubbering of half truths is the evidence. Do yourself a favor and google Larry Sinclair and Joe Biden together. I guess the dems do not support health care for all.
so what if the girl is pregnant? it happens. it happens all over the nation
Yes it does, thanks to the dumbass Republican policy called "abstinance-only education". That is the whole point of this, to show that once again, the right's policies are FAILURES.
Hey... I know an unwed 17 year old who got pregnant and her kid turned out okay...
That would be BARACK OBAMA'S MOTHER!
The daughter was actually dragged into the controversy not by Sarah Palin but by liberal bloggers (eg the daily kos which I read) who incorrectly wrote that Palin's baby was really her daughter's.
I am a Democrat-leaning liberal, a Sierra Club member (I follow this blog for local environmental news), and a prochoice feminist. I am offended by socalled liberals who are attacking Palin for things they would never say about a similarly situated man.
I like what Obama has to say and I am inclined to vote for him, but I also want Palin to be held to the same standard as a man. If she continues to be unfairly attacked, I will have no problem voting for her ticket ... if only to encourage the selection of female candidates in future races,
P.S. And yes, for any of you wondering, I was a Hillary supporter.
Great comment about Obama's mother being a pregnant teen when she had him. That really puts things into perspective and shows the double standard at work here.
At least we know that unlike Barack Hussein Obama, Palin is not a closet Muslim who will sell our nation down the river at the first opportunity.
jenna's bush:
if you seriously think that abstinence only education gets teens pregnant you need a serious reality check.
teens will be teens regardless of what they are taught in school or by their parents for that matter.
when was the last time you spoke to high school girls about sex? newsflash everyone is doing it, public or private, white or black, rich or poor, with protection or not.
its a sad sad reality.. and safe sex education or abstinence only education is not going to change a thing.
oh yeah and you have a real classy name btw. its clear you are democrat.
Gimleteye, congrats, you are fast becoming what you despise. Being two-faced is no longer something "we" are ashamed of and as a result, the political discourse continues to rot. I suppose that we can always rationalize our way into a decision. The harder part is to rationalize yourself out of it. Your personal compass seems somewhat relative. What next, a review of the children's report cards so we can compare and contrast educational policy. Hey, why not divulge their health records so we can evaluate Healthcare. Maybe DNA? What about fashion choice?
Nery - A liberal Sierra club member would never vote for a creationist who supports the slaughter of wolves from planes.
I was a feminist before it was fashionable -- when abortions were illegal. So don't lecture me on women's issues. Vote for whomever you want but don't threaten liberals with your vote. It is very unattractive. We don't need your vote. The child needs her mother's protection not yours...you might have caught her "my space" pages with the drinking etc. (underage I might add) before they took it down. This is a girl that needs mothering badly.
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