Get Off Sarah Palin
The Governor of Alaska is takin' a whole lot of sh*t over her seventeen year-old daughter getting knocked up. Judgmental fuddyduddies are up in arms saying that if she can't run her family, how is she gonna help run the government?
I listened to these people unload their nonsense on NPR as I drove home from work yesterday. Oooh, my long legs are sore after five hours in stilettos. (That's right. Five. I have the best job ever.) Anyway, listen for yourself.
Talk about elitist. My favorite is the woman who admittedly gave birth too young and is now a grandmother at 48, but thinks Palin is a disgrace "in this day and age."
It isn't like Bristol Palin pulled out a gun and shot up a school. She had unprotected sex and got pregnant. The fact that she is keeping the baby and getting married is in line with her value system. I'm pro-choice across the board and quite okay with her decision because, oh I don't know, because it's *none of my business.*
This should not be held up as proof there exists some sort of character flaw or bad parenting pattern. Unprotected sex happens and statistically you usually walk away with either a disease, a fetus, or low self-esteem. One is just as bad as the other as far as I'm concerned.
Which is why I just say no.
And the fact that her husband got a DUI twenty-some-odd years ago shouldn't matter either. There but for the grace of God... Weren't we all young once and making stupid choices we'd have to live with for the rest of our lives? What makes us think the Palins should be so different?
And who cares about fishing licenses, people? There are plenty of important problems that middle-class families everywhere are struggling to overcome. I can give you reasons to dislike the McCain/Palin ticket. Don't pick minutia that demeans us all.
In other words, these are mistakes that anyone could make. These are mistakes that normal people make. Stop demanding perfection from our elected leaders. Or their children.
Most conservatives don't believe these are issues either. The difference between me and them is that they'd be raising holy hell if this happened to a politician on the left. They'd be griping about family values and waving their Bibles in the air before going home to their meth-addicted wives and underage chat rooms.
I'm saying lay off Sarah Palin's personal problems even though I think her politics suck.
Which makes me better than all y'all. Per usual.
posted by kate @ 7:22 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I'd have an easier time accepting her personal situation if it didn't fly in the face of her stated ideology. 'Course, there's always Samantha Bee's take on VP-in-waiting.
There's enough crap out there on Palin that is coming to the surface -- POLITICALLY -- that stuff about Bristol is moot.
Obama says that the families shouldn't be used for political attacks and I agree with that. Policy? Corruption? Poor decision making (in office, not at home)? That's all fair game... And all comes back to John McCain when something (like Palin not being vetted but interviewed the day before her selection/unveiling) comes to light.
Whose ideology doesn't this fly in the face of? Do you know anyone who'd want their seventeen year old child getting married and having a baby? This is different than a kid who has a history of bad behavior, petty theft, drug and alcohol use, etc. It's something that could happen to anyone and they are dealing with it the best they can. If Palin supports home schooling and/or abstinence-only education, well, then this proves what we've been saying all along - it doesn't necessarily work to keep your kids out of trouble.
The question isn't if she supports it, but is she able to divorce herself enough from her personal ideology to act in a fiscally responsible way and stop throwing millions of tax dollars at programs that have abominable track records. Clearly, given her support for abstinence-only educational program funding, she's not. Bristol's "situation" servers as a perfect example of Palin's inability to divorce her ideological agenda from abject fiscal reality. That's a character issue that someone who's manage to position herself a mere 72-year-old, 4-bouts-with-cancer heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the land on the strength of seemingly little more than her tits and "strong family values" needs to speak to.
Plus, the McCain camp opened this line of inquiry and now has to reap the whirlwind. They wanted the titty bounce after Obama's speech and they got it. Now they're surprised that the titties are real and bouncing out of their lecherous hands. How Palin addresses this developing situation is another valid judge of her character.
Kate—
It is my understanding that conservatives are against abortions not pregnancies. Although, they are probably against teenagers having sex and getting pregnant, I don't think that is what they are protesting. Although they are pro life, pro gun and pro abstinence, they understand people will be killed, guns will kill people, and people will have sex. I mean, haven't people watched prime-time television or what?
The point is Gov. Palin and her daughter are attractive, therefore, people want to see and hear about them and the media is all too eager to oblige. However, as you point out, the issue is that the (good-looking) pregnant daughter of Alaska's (attractive) governor will keep the baby and marry the father. Don't we all agree these are good things?
It bugs me the same way that Newt Ging-grinch and the (Democrat) Gov. of NY bug me: don't tell me and my family what I can't do if you're busy doing it. Didn't bother me when Bill was Pres. "Dude, I'm sleezy, but look at the economy!". If all you've got to offer is "Family Values", you'd better be living it and proving to me it does some good.
I don't have a problem with Governor Palin's daugher having a baby at age 17. As long as I don't have to raise it.
The problem I have with Governor Palin and people like her is they throw their family values in our faces and act like they are above us. If this was Obama's daugher or Clinton's daughter, you know the religious right wing nutcases would be calling them cheap Hoes.
And if it's none of anyone's business, then neither was Bill's blow job.
My problem with Governor Palin is that she has a special needs child who won't always stay an infant. As I stated in my blog, I work with special needs children sometimes at my job and they can be extremely needy and difficult, more so than a normal toddler.
How can she as a mother, take away the time her child will need from her to be the VP? Also how can she as a mother agree to be VP, knowing her daugher would be drug threw the mud and put out in the spot light. So now she has a special needs child, and a daugher who is a child herself, having a baby...and she won't be there to raise or help them. I think that is very selfish.
We'll see tonight, QJ.
Goader, I'm not convinced any of this is "good things." I mean, if she were my daughter, I could think of other choices I'd prefer...but she's not, so I don't go there. It really should be off limits.
SD - I don't get the comparison between her and Newt. I've never read anything about her speechifying about family values. Perhaps she has, but I don't get that vibe from her. I definitely get a live and let live vibe though.
JRT - You sound way too judgmental. No one can act like they are above you without your consent. She might have a rockin' support system. Moms, even with special needs kids, sometimes must work. If not for money, then for their own sanity. Might even make 'em better mommies. Just because the religious right nutcases would go after Obama or Clinton doesn't mean we should follow suit. We should be better than that.
Well put, Kate. Unless feminism totally hinges on the abortion issue, Palin should be held up as a success story to women everywhere.
And without knocked up teenagers we wouldn't have Barack Obama (or me).
Dave said this:
I'd have an easier time accepting her personal situation if it didn't fly in the face of her stated ideology.
and this:
don't tell me and my family what I can't do if you're busy doing it.
That's some twisted logic, Dave. Al Gore's "stated ideology" on drug prohibition and drunk driving didn't stop Al Gore III from being arrested multiple times for pot possession and reckless/drunk driving.
Kate:
I don't think I am any more judgemental than you are at times. :)
Like I said, I don't care that her daugther is pregnant. She preaches abstinence and doesn't believe in teaching birth control in schools.
That didn't help her daughter very much.
And I didn't say it was ok for everyone to go after her daughter just because they would do it to Obama and Clinton's daughter, what I said was they WOULD go after their daughters. I think they should leave the daughter alone, and had she not accepted McCain's offer, everyone would have left her and her family alone. For someone who puts their family first, she sure didn't do it this time.
Tam
Here's how Newt ties in...
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184087&title=newt-gingrich
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