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 Privacy, Pregnancy and Double StandardsPosted on Sep 2, 2008You gotta love this campaign. No sooner does the curtain come crashing down on one climactic moment than up it goes on another. The Democrats choose NoDrama Obama and the channel switches to Soap Opera McCain. You want change? I’ll show you change: Introducing Sarah Palin, a running mate as unfamiliar as the tundra. Talk about rolling the dice. The idea was to connect to the Hillary supporters. These women, dismayed by the idea that the experienced female was passed over for a fresh male face, were supposed to be won over by a patently inexperienced female fresh face. Never mind that this feisty working mom leans—no, falls—right on social issues. You go, Clara Thomas. Oops, I mean you go, girl. The Straight Talk Express twisted itself into a pretzel trying to defend her qualifications to be commander in chief. More to the point, the mother of five had a personal story meant to capture the imagination of the American people, whose minds were beginning to wander ominously to such non-entertaining narratives as the Iraq war and the economy. Not that I don’t find the Sarah Palin story engaging. Mom to mayor to governor to veep nominee? There’s one woman who didn’t have trouble raising her hand in class. There’s one woman who didn’t think she had to be twice as good as a man to run. Be careful what you wish for. I shifted into high dudgeon over the Sexism in the Media, Part II, the blogcreeps and cablescum sneering at her beauty-queen bio and her working-mom credentials. Then along came the news that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Immediately, the “family values” folks who have fashioned a political wedge out of moral judgments began insisting that anyone who remarked on this baby bump was an insensitive invader of privacy. Advertisement Meanwhile, Barack Obama himself, born to an 18-year-old mother, said strongly, “People’s families are off limits and people’s children are especially off limits.” Well, OK. But let’s not forget that it’s the right wing that made social issues into a political issue. The right wing decided that pregnancy was not a matter of private decision-making but a harsh and unrelenting political battle. Sarah Palin had her youngest child after a prenatal test showed he had Down syndrome. But she doesn’t believe that other women should be allowed to make their own choice. The Palin’s daughter got the “news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned.” But her mother opposes sex education programs that go beyond abstinence only. John McCain, an unrelenting opponent of abortion, was once asked whether the government should provide contraception and replied, “You’ve stumped me.” The Republican platform is not similarly stumped with its implacable opposition to every abortion and its renewed “call for replacing ‘family planning’ programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior.” Pregnancy is indeed private. Decisions are to be discussed and determined in a family. But the party meeting in St. Paul, Minn., would put decisions about pregnancy in the hands of the government and replace sex information with disinformation. No, you don’t have to pass judgment on a 17-year-old to pass judgment on these unrelenting policymakers. As for the candidate as mother, is it beyond the pale to wonder whether Sarah Palin and her husband should have thought first of shielding their pregnant daughter from a media lens that they know will focus on the baby bump and a marriage that will take place during a national campaign? Has the candidate who mocked Obama for his celebrity status, comparing him to Paris Hilton, created the newest Jamie Lynn Spears? I remember way back when the late Elizabeth Janeway, a doyenne of the women’s movement, imagined the first woman president. She would be a vice president picked for “balance” and elevated by fate to the Oval Office. More to the point, Janeway fantasized archly and knowingly, she would be a conservative Republican who believed in the status quo. Sarah Palin? So far, she looks like a Bridge to Nowhere. 
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By fedupinfla, September 8, 2008 at 1:42 am Link to this comment
Lets not forget 1 important little detail…It is sad that Brooke Palin’s situation is out there for the whole world to discuss/judge and she should be damn glad she lives in a country where still still HAS a choice, but she’s only having her dirty laundry aired because her mother decided to put her career ahead of her family’s privacy. Unless she is hopelessly naive, she had to have KNOWN that her 17yr old daughter being pregant & unwed would cause a media firestorm & intrude on her daughter’s right to privacy in a highly personal time in her young life. Ask yourselves as parents….would you put your daughter through what that kid is going through for ANY job??? And don’t give me any feminist crap about how she’s making history and she’d never get this chance again. I’m a mother and I don’t care if they offered me my own dictatorship, I’d NEVER put my daughter through this bull$hit!!! For that reason above all others, I question her judgement & “family” values…I dare you to disagree with THAT logic RepubliCONS.
Report thisBy PaulD, September 7, 2008 at 2:03 am Link to this comment
Alaska statutory rape laws declare that anyone who is 18 years old or older who has sex with a person who is 16 or 17, or who is at least three years younger than the offender, can be charged with sexual abuse in the third degree. This is also a felony.
From theage.com.au:
Redneck Palin boyfriend joining Republican convention
Marika Dobbin
September 4, 2008
...Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old high school ice hockey player, has been the subject of intense media attention in the US since it was revealed that he was the likely father to 17-year-old Bristol Palins unborn child…
So, was a suspected felon on the Republican stage the other night? Why isn’t he under arrest?
Report thisBy moineau, September 4, 2008 at 9:51 pm Link to this comment
Its hard to paint the other guy as an elitist when your wife wears an outfit that cost more than most houses. Vanity Fair estimates that Cindy McCains convention ensemble, complete with super jewelry, set her back somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000.
Vanity Fair:
Cindy McCain
Report thisOscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000-$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
By moineau, September 4, 2008 at 9:50 pm Link to this comment
linda, you are completely alone here. completely. nothing you can say (or do) will move this crowd toward mccain. so why are you here? is it your christian duty? is it for the thrill of it all? go help some people, please, and leave us heretics to hell.
Report thisBy Linda, September 4, 2008 at 7:54 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I thought Sarah Palin’s speech was priceless and laughed when I heard she put the luxury airplane on Ebay, to rid Alaska of tawdry, overwaste. She is wonderful and a breath of fresh air.
Now, in Barack Obama’s speech at the DNC, he spoke of hardship within the general populace, severe hardship….while, at that convention, he had a lavish stage set, incredible food and booze available for delegates and fireworks. Obama and his crew took a flight to Germany and after luring in listeners with a free rock concert, stood and spoke to thousands who don’t vote…it was very reminiscent of the Third Reich. Wonder what the cost was on that junket.
On the other hand, at the RNC Convention, one day was dropped to raise money for those with hardships, raising over a million for the victims of Hurricane Gustav and the delegates spent the day making comfort packages for the displaced.
Michelle Obama is a working mom and hasn’t been involved much in charitable actions or charitable contributions with the exception of to their church. Cindy McCain has taken over 15 medical missions overseas to save the lives of thousands.
What a difference between the two parties and their leaders. One talks and one acts.
Report thisBy KDelphi, September 4, 2008 at 1:01 pm Link to this comment
Wow! Renewed respect for PDA! IMpeachment back on the table! BTW—finally listened to Palin last nite—(I was so sick of teh misogyny that I thought had died among liberal males—stil am). NOw, I just hate her as a perons.
Report thisBy Virginia777, September 4, 2008 at 11:52 am Link to this comment
I disagree with Biden and Obama on this issue. When a candidate makes a hypocrite of themselves via their own family, this IS news!!
Report thisBy Tony Wicher, September 4, 2008 at 4:00 am Link to this comment
Message from the PDA 9Progressive Democrats of America):
[Please Forward Widely & Sorry for Any Duplicates]
Kucinich, Wexler, Waters, Ellison—all are telling us, DO NOT GIVE UP!!
Keep fighting, they say.
That is exactly what we plan to do!
LAST CALL FOR DONATIONS TO WASHINGTON POST ADS…... PLEASE GIVE TODAY .....
WE ARE IN DESPARATE NEED OF FUNDS TO ACCOMPLISH OUR OBJECTIVE!!!!
Deadline September 4th
Please watch & listen to why PDA is Putting Impeachment Back on the Table !!!
At Progressive Central held in Denver during the Democratic Convention, PDA and The Nation hosted a panel discussion entitled Restoring and Maintaining our Constitutional Rights with Congressmen Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) Moderated by John Nichols with Jesse Jackson, Rep. Robert Wexler (FL), Rep. Keith Ellison and Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation.
Listen to the PodCasts of other speakers at Progressive Central concerning the crimes of the Bush administration :
http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=2075
Constitutional Law and Congress: John Nichols moderator; with Rep. Keith Ellison, Steve Cobble, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and PDA Advisory board member; Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator United for Peace and Justice; Jamie Raskin, Maryland State Senator, Law Professor at American University, and author.
Vincent Bugliosi, author of “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”
and watch the video of Dennis Kucinich as he addresses and begins the panel discussion held at Progressive Central:
Report thisDennis Kucinich addresses impeachment at PDA event - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOrn9sIdBwo
Congressman Dennis Kucinich laid out the case for impeachment at a meeting with the Progressive Democrats of America in Denver on Thursday, August 29.
The past few days have demonstrated the direction our country is headed…..the police state we have become.
Most are hoping for a big win by Obama, but don’t count on it.
As we learned after the fact in 2000 & 2004, both Gore and Kerry won by 4 to 5 % but guess who wound up in the White House?
If you think they have fixed all the voting glitches, think twice !!!!
MAKE NO MISTAKE >>>>> THE REPUBLICANS HAVE IT RIGGED AGAIN !!!!!
HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING THE POLLS FROM THE MSM?
THEY ARE SETTING THE STAGE TO MAKE IT LOOK CLOSE SO THERE IS LITTLE CHANCE
FOR THE PUBLIC TO QUESTION THE RESULTS.
So if you haven’t donated yet , please do so now…... these ads will have a powerful effect on the members of Congress after Dennis delivers the million signatures he is collecting to give to Pelosi on Sept. 10th .
To view a sample of the ad copy, you can go to ImpeachThem.com or click on this link:
http://www.impeachthem.com/files/wash_post_wkdays2.pdf
Please donate $5,$10 or $100…whatever you can afford…. but do it today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so important to our rights and stopping the future administrations from overstepping Congress and leading us into more senseless wars.
Go to IMPEACHTHEM.com now and click on the couple : http://impeachthem.com/
In peace and Solidarity,
Joanne O’Neill
PDA/DFA Progressive Democracy South Jersey
By Marnie, September 3, 2008 at 11:53 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Back in 2000 a reporter asked McCain what he would do if his daughter became pregnant, would abortion be an option. McCain spluttered a while then stated that deciding what to do about the pregnancy would be a family decision.
Correct answer John. Except that freedom to decide shouldn’t be limited to just your family. It should be the the right of every family.
There are probably clips of that interview in news archives. The Dems should dig that out and run it over and over.
Report thisBy kath cantarella, September 3, 2008 at 11:36 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This should not be about personal attacks on Palin, but a condemnation of the natural result of her ideological politics. The daughter is paying the price for her mother’s stupid ideas. She is just one of millions who will pay, if Palin&Co;have their way, and it should be addressed, not swept under the carpet.
Report thisBy Tony Wicher, September 3, 2008 at 9:43 pm Link to this comment
Hey, Big B, I think that sleaze is sleaze no matter whom the sleaze bucket may be. I don’t believe the end justifies the means. I think there is a great difference between Obama and McCain from every standpoint, especially including the moral standpoint. I think Obama is better than that. I think I’m better than that. I pray the country is better than that. “You can fool some of the people all the time…” To quote Obama, “Not this year. Not this time.” This year has to be different.
Report thisBy Big B, September 3, 2008 at 8:45 pm Link to this comment
What is this crap about personal attacks being off limits, and that they are always ineffective?
Report thisI beg to differ!
Personal attacks have worked against Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, and numerous Senatorial and congressional elections.
Of course they work! Karl Rove would be the first tell you!
Kerry would have won if he would have effectivly countered the swift boat attack adds.
They will work, especially this year, when the ideology of the two candidates is so compatable.
(because Barry refuses to take a definitive stand on anything) This election will come down to dirt, who has more, and who cleans up faster.
That’s politics in america, and has been for over 100 years. The dimmos always want to take the high road, right to the losers lounge.
By xyzaffair, September 3, 2008 at 7:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
So premarital sex is okay but extramarital sex is an impeachable offense. Where’s Kenneth Starr when we need him?
Report thisBy Paleymarsh, September 3, 2008 at 6:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I see that Palin’s daughter’s (17 year-old?)boyfriend is being referred to as the husband-to-be by the media. When it comes to the Republicans the words used are always so carefully selected, while the words used for the Democrats, for example, Obama’s wife are loosely thown out.
The Republican’s always insist on deferential treatment.
Report thisBy Tony Wicher, September 3, 2008 at 6:36 pm Link to this comment
By Inherit The Wind, September 3 at 9:47 am #
You are wrong on this one, TW. I wish you werent but you are.
Again, thats what surrogates are for. Imagine its reversed: McCain says to his staff Hands OFF! and means it (and I still think he would do that. It would simply flow to Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter-geist and Rush Limbaugh and Fox Noise and all the other agit-prop minions to hammer on the story for him. They would pound on it from now to November 4th. How do I know? Theyve done it, many, many times over the last 12 to 16 years. Its their normal modus operandi.
Report this——————————————————————————-
I dunno, ITW. What the agit-prop minions do is pure sleaze. We can’t be as sleazy as they are. 17-year-old daughters get pregnant all the time. Attacking her on such grounds will only excite sympathy. That’s what the Republicans are hoping for. She is so totally unqualified, so clearly opposed in her positions to the great majority of the electorate and so clearly a ridiculous choice that there is no need to dwell on personal issues.
By moineau, September 3, 2008 at 6:32 pm Link to this comment
thanks, big e. this is PRICELESS! (i’m spreading the word now too)
Report thisBy Big E, September 3, 2008 at 6:06 pm Link to this comment
all of this gets back to what the ‘right’ wants center stage, the usual ‘culture war’
rhetoric….. get the fundamentalists riled up by claiming there’s a ‘war on christianity’..... and they are coming out of the woodwork….
Young Ms. Palin’s sexual habits are none of my biz and whatever she decides to do about her pregnancy is her biz.. that’s the great thing about having a choice about one’s own body and medical care.
ran across this interesting vid about what 2 Republican operatives really think about Gov. Palin off mic at MSNBC: it’s very revealing to say the least…...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4sOM4tpno
Report thisBy ScottyAnn, September 3, 2008 at 5:45 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Instead of slagging Sarah Palin and her family, we bloggers should erase Karl Rove’s smoke screen with words of truth . This Palin pick for V.P. smells like the Rove Republican team raking up old issues like guns, abortion, and religion to ignite his party again. After all it has worked twice already to get them into the White House.
Be smart this time guys…don’t dummy up…keep the issues front and center. Health care, more jobs, less war, protect the environment.
Report thisBy Dana, September 3, 2008 at 5:05 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
a reply to Purple Girl, who writes:
“I would like Proof she knew this child had Downs and that her action did Not actually CAUSE the Problem..Oxygen Depletion”
This is not correct. Downs syndrome, also called trisomy 21, is a chromosomal abnormality. This means that the baby has three copies of a particular chromosome, chromosome 21, instead of the normal two copies (one chromosome inherited from mom, one from dad) The extra chromosome was present at fertilization. Downs syndrome cannot be “caused” by any other events during the pregnancy.
Please see the wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_syndrome
Dana
Report thisBy Kwaayesnama, September 3, 2008 at 4:50 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
IS THIS ELECTION ABOUT JUDGMENT
Report thisSarah Pahin uses poor judgment and the GOP makes her out to be a hero!
This election should not be about Sarah Pahin not having an abortion. This election should be about her not using the good judgment to use birth control. Any intelligent person knows that when you choose to have unprotected sex at 43 you have a very high probability of having a child with Downs Syndrome. The republicans are making her out to be a hero because she used the bad judgment not to prevent the pregnancy in the first place.
By Inherit The Wind, September 3, 2008 at 2:47 pm Link to this comment
Tony Wicher, September 3 at 8:41 am #
Inherit The Wind, September 3 at 6:35 am #
Sure, Obama said hell fire anybody attacking Palin over her daughter. Thats what surrogates are for. Karl Rove has been the master of using them to trash his enemies. Think Robert Novak outing Valerie Plame Wilson for him, destroying a whole clandestine op, just to get her husband.
—————————————————————————-
I really disagree with this. We should follow Obamas wishes, criticize her inexperience and right-wing policy provisions but leave the personal stuff out. IT WILL BACKFIRE. Obama knows this, and we should trust his political instincts.
************************************
You are wrong on this one, TW. I wish you weren’t but you are.
Again, that’s what surrogates are for. Imagine it’s reversed: McCain says to his staff “Hands OFF!” and means it (and I still think he would do that. It would simply flow to Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter-geist and Rush Limbaugh and Fox Noise and all the other agit-prop minions to hammer on the story for him. They would pound on it from now to November 4th. How do I know? They’ve done it, many, many times over the last 12 to 16 years. It’s their normal modus operandi.
So what if one them got it wrong (Like Limbaugh lampooning Michael J. Fox)? It’s just a surrogate and Who Cares if they look like a jack-ass.
Report thisBy Tony Wicher, September 3, 2008 at 1:41 pm Link to this comment
Inherit The Wind, September 3 at 6:35 am #
Report thisSure, Obama said hell fire anybody attacking Palin over her daughter. Thats what surrogates are for. Karl Rove has been the master of using them to trash his enemies. Think Robert Novak outing Valerie Plame Wilson for him, destroying a whole clandestine op, just to get her husband.
—————————————————————————-
I really disagree with this. We should follow Obama’s wishes, criticize her inexperience and right-wing policy provisions but leave the personal stuff out. IT WILL BACKFIRE. Obama knows this, and we should trust his political instincts.
By southparker, September 3, 2008 at 12:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The danger is in those who elevate themselves to a position of choosing for everyone. The evanglicals, of whom Sarah Palin is evidently a member, aren’t satisfied with being left alone to believe and choose as they see fit, they want to choose for everyone and force their beliefs on the entire country by legislating every aspect of our lives. Until the other roughly 75% of the country becomes more vocal about their rights and refuses to let these god-nuts have their way with our government we will continue to see these ridiculous social programs like abstinence-only, progressing right up to outlawing all forms of birth control. That’s the true reason McCain chose Palin, not because he thought it would draw in Hillary supporters, but to pander to the christian right.
Report thisBy ld freitas, September 3, 2008 at 12:15 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I have no trouble disparaging and condemning the right-wing fascists (this morning I flipped off a woman driving a car with a McCain sticker). I say throw the mud back, and throw it hard. They’ve been clobbering the left for years and years, using the cable network news as ministries of propoganda for the Republican party and Geeorge W. Bush. It’s time to get down and dirty and throw it right back into their hypocritical faces! Bush: you’re right, as I am one of the angry left, and why shouldn’t I be angry while you and your crooked fiends have stolen from us!
Report thisPalin is fair gaime, and you don’t think she’s not going to use the bully tactics of Limbaugh or Hannity to criticize the opposition? Of course she and her minions will scream and holler when her credentials are questioned, when her background is scrutinized. Tough: all is fair in love, war and politics, and the Republicans know that in spades. Get real: Obama wins when we Democrats fight back, and fight back hard, and use the truth! They use lies and innuendo more than the truth. Throwing mud back into their faces with truth: nothing wrong with it!
By the way, McCain is a bully, a crippled bully, the worst kind, as he keeps using that POW nonsense as an excuse for how he acts, and how patriotic he is. I remember as a kid a really nasty classmate with a mean streak who got meaner when he had a cast on his broken arm one year. But you couldn’t touch him because he was in a cast, and it would have looked really bad to smack someone wearing a cast, plus like that character in harry Potter, he had his posse around him, always. That didn’t keep him from being even more nasty and unkind, and using his followers to do his dirty work for him. I eventually stood up to this bully in 6th grade and had it out with him in the middle of a pick up football game. I had just heard the phrase “you can dish it out, but can’t take it” and I used it on him, he didn’t like that and shoved me, and then I let him have it, right in the face. He cried, and his “friends” didn’t mess with me! I use this story as an allegory to what the Repugnantcans do, and they can dish it out, but hate to take it!
By KDelphi, September 3, 2008 at 11:52 am Link to this comment
Hoping for better from Goodman—I risked reading this—not the posts, mind you! Because I had had just about enough of this shit! Look, I dont give a rats ass about Edwards penis, Clintons’;, Sarah’s daughter’s vagina..! Grow up Dems! WE dont do this kindve shit—they do! Let them! It ALWAYS backfires in the end, and it will with you , too!‘This is how they win”??? BS! This is how theyve elected, (TWICE!) the most unpopular, worst president this country has ever known , out of a fear of sex, women, gays, etc. They SHOULD be paying for that now, but all liberals can bitch about is “Sarah Palin”—do you REALLY think that people who would rather die than see Obama win are giong to not vote for McSame over PALIN? YOu give her WAY too much power!~ If you think she is a weak candidate—say so! THAT would be construcitve, though. If she’s weak—GOOD! They wil lose! A 1000 blessings lie upon your heads and asll you can see is some poor, pregnant girl whose mother didnt have the sense to teach her birth control. Some of you it seems, now, will ONLY listen to Obama—both he an Biden have said it—lay off of it. Obama’s mother was 17 when he was born—if you have to go there—save it for when they bring that up. I was a HIllary voter, ie health care (Obama’s plan stinks!)-but it was NOT about her—I am NOT all in a huff over it—I am upset over the crappy treatment, by people i thought knew better. But, some ARE leaning towards McSame—I’d rather die—but, if you want to win them back—stop this stuff!
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, September 3, 2008 at 11:35 am Link to this comment
Let us not forget that Fox Noise spent a week and a half 24/7 discussing John Edwards’s affair, despite the fact that he holds no political office and is not running for any political office nor was in serious consideration for the VP slot by Obama.
24/7 for 10 days on a passe, but prominent Democrat’s affair, just to smear Democrats.
Yet these same hypocrites shriek with outrage that Palin’s fitness and judgment are being called into question by the failing of her underage offspring. Oh “that’s off-limits” they say.
If this was Obama’s daughter, Fox would be on it 24/7 from now through November 4th.
They LAUGHED when Rush Limbaugh said the Clinton White House already had a dog and put up a picture of then-13 year-old Chelsea. Family values.
McCain even publicly told a “joke” that Chelsea is “so ugly because Janet Reno is her father!”
Family values? Some things off-limits? When it comes to Democrats, NOTHING is off-limits to Re-thug-licans. So why is anything off-limits when it comes to THEIR problems?
Sure, Obama said he’ll fire anybody attacking Palin over her daughter. That’s what surrogates are for. Karl Rove has been the master of using them to trash his “enemies”. Think Robert Novak “outing” Valerie Plame Wilson for him, destroying a whole clandestine op, just to “get” her husband.
Remember what Sean Connery said in “The Untouchables”? You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight!
And, folks, this is a gunfight. Nothing less than our freedom and democracy are at stake, and in grave, grave danger from the last 8 years.
Report thisBy Big B, September 3, 2008 at 10:25 am Link to this comment
Why isn’t Gov Sarah back in Alaska cooking breakfast for her family? Ironing her husbands shirt? Telling her kids not to have sex until they are married? Going to the grocery store, picking up the dry cleaning?
Report thisIf one listens to the rev Dobsons of the world, or attends the Bob Jones University’s, you would hear one common theme, that the downfall of american society began with women in the workplace instead of the home.(“cleaving” to there husbands). That is why the primary strategic social goal of the christian wacko right is the re-subservience of women. The first step being the criminalization of abortion, followed by the elimination of birth control, and finally to the removal of women from the workforce.
Then we can go back to those carefree days of the 1950’s when daddy pulled into the driveway, stepped thru the gate to the picket fence, waved to Joe next door, was met at the door with a kiss and a martini from his wife, in a satin dress, having just finished the housework. She calls the kids in from their backyard chores to wash up for dinner. While enjoying a roast at the table, father regails everyone with tales of his day at the office. Then everybody retires to the study to watch a wholesome TV program, or read from the good book. Everyone except Mom, who cleans up after dinner, finishes the laundry and complies to the sexual whims of her husband, because it is friday nite.
Ah, America! All this might be worth going back to, that is IF IT EVER HAPPENED ANYWHERE BUT ON TV!
That is the fallacy of the christian wacko argument, the america they want to go back to, never existed.
But maybe they do! An america where women are subservient, blacks know their place, where people are harrassed and jailed for maybe being a communist, where children are taught to duck and cover, where veterans worked 12 hour days in the mill so they could afford that 3 bedroom, 1 and a half bath Levittown style house in a subdivision with a thousand houses that look the same. Where everyone lived in fearof the russkies and the bomb. where we hung blacks from trees because they wanted to vote.
Yea! lets go back there!
Maybe Gov Sarah can drive us in her minivan.
By moineau, September 3, 2008 at 9:42 am Link to this comment
i agree with purple girl and more: how can a mother with a five-month-old baby with downs leave her kid and be vice president of the united states?! it’s madness, and nobody will dare say it. i mean really, where are sarah palin’s priorities???
Report thisBy Purple Girl, September 3, 2008 at 9:30 am Link to this comment
DON’T YANK OUR CHAIN, BOYS! IT JUST MIGHT SNAP AND HIT YOU WITH THE BACKLASH!
Report thisPalin should Not be commended for delaying medical attentions so she could Deliver a Speech instead of a Month premature child.
I am doubtful of the claim the child was already determined to have Down’s. Her INaction when her water broke- giving a speech, fly back to AK and then into BFE- Is PROOF this woman has No sense of Priorities. Apparently HER ambitions and ‘Wishes’ supercede the safety of her unborn child! she could not have known if the baby was in fetal distress- she wasn’t hooked to any monitors! She could not know if the Cord was wrapped around it’s neck- she sought no Ultrasound!A baby already known to have issues, coming a month early is a clear indication SOMETHING COULD BE WRONG!I would like Proof she knew this child had Downs and that her action did Not actually CAUSE the Problem..Oxygen Depletion
If she was aware of this condition, I must ask again WHY did she bypass every chance to get Immediate medial attention???Because Death during birth is better than having had an abortion?Was this her attempt at a ‘late Term Abortion’ without guilt or Sin?
If CheneyCorp thinks they can throw out any Mother and We would all Swoon, He failed to remember We are Mom’s First!And neglecting or endangering a child Does NOT go over well with Us!
So if they think We are not still accutely aware of the Crap Policies they are trying to hide behind this ‘Lipstick’ they have no Clue What Or HOW Women think!
This woman is not just ‘lipstick’ she is a PIG!
By moineau, September 3, 2008 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
washington post reports today that, with her line-item veto, sarah palin slashed funding for teen moms in alaska. whew-boy! now that’s the compassionate conservatism we’ve come to know and love.
Report thisBy Keith, September 3, 2008 at 4:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
While the professed values of the Republican party emanate from religious leadership and conservative economists, the real values of the party are vested in the people Obama called “bitter” and that representation, while disastrous to Obama, was quite accurate. Their lives are all about teenage pregnancy, guns, religion and a good quantity of cheap beer. They are the cheer leaders of their own financial demise as they offer support to the very people who would take their jobs overseas and make their children fight the wars that result from the disruption that brings to other countries.
In every trailer park in America there are solid Republicans scraping the old Bush/Cheney bumper sticker from their 15 yr old minivan to make room for the McCain/Palin replacement, never asking the big questions about national debt or imperialistic foreign policy, simply because they wouldn’t understand the answers. They just know that Obama will raise their taxes and give gays the right to marry. That’s enough information to handle for four years. No point in making it complicated if you don’t have to.
Report thisBy kath cantarella, September 3, 2008 at 4:33 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I’m sure a lot of Republicans don’t have a problem with teen pregnancy, as long as it is on their terms.
Report thisI think most of the conservative set believe women should be having babies and the younger the better. Poor Bristol, what lousy parents.
By yellowbird2525, September 3, 2008 at 4:12 am Link to this comment
human beings are sexual beings; once THAT concept is ever understood: you can & will move on; giving your daughter and/or her friends condoms; EXPLAINING to them: if you never need it great! if you do; you have it; like the QUARTER you used to keep to make a phone call in an emergency; EVERYONE needs to GROW UP in this country! Gosh, what a wonderful world it could be! and if you ever explained to your daughters & son’s what the feelings are like: so that they will KNOW what they are & how to deal with them; gosh, maybe we can move on to BIGGER things!
Report thisBy wildflower, September 3, 2008 at 3:10 am Link to this comment
I guess Governor Palin along with her good buddy James Dobson of Focus on the Family dont believe in the child father bond, at least in the case of her sisters children. If the father had abused the children, one could understand there would be some complications involving the rights of the father, but this doesnt seem to be the case. Alaskan blogger Andrew Harco writes:
In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse while Mike Wooten was in Portland with his stepson. They convinced a judge to grant Molly a domestic violence restraining order against Wooten. This was done so Molly could retain full custody of the children.
When Wooten returned from Portland, he realized that there was a order prohibiting him from seeing his kids. Three weeks later, Wooten was granted an appearance in front of the couple’s divorce judge.
In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children. She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order.
Suddock immediately dissolved the order because there was no proof of any domestic violence and called the order an abuse of the legal system. He then scolded Palin’s sister for keeping Wooten’s kids away from him.
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/vetting_wooten_and_troopergate
Report thisBy Dave24, September 3, 2008 at 2:53 am Link to this comment
These Republicans are lunatics. Every child develops maturity at a different age, so it’s up to the parents to decide when it’s best to inform about sex. But no matter the age, at some point it’s of dire importance to educate fully, not to say “don’t do it” and then drop the topic.
The Republicans claim to hold a monopoly on morality - so when their actions don’t live up to the rhetoric (which they want to impose upon the rest of us), we should all be screaming (though we should be screaming anyway, because these people really are crazy).
If Palin’s daughter received solid information, and even (gasp) contraception, this whole thing could have been avoided. But instead, Palin’s daughter is another statistic that proves the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only.
By the way, in case I wasn’t clear: The Republicans are dangerously stupid.
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