4 Comments

1. Ken  •  Sep 1, 2008 @2:05 pm
   

   Teenagers ignore parental guidance and do stupid things, and as a result sometimes do drugs, have sex, drive recklessly, etc. It's nice to pretend that wise, firm, and loving guidance will prevent this, but sometimes it won't.

   The fact that her daughter is pregnant does not reflect on whether she is a good mother or a good leader.

   However, it might reflect on some of the policies she espouses. I'd like to know what she's said about abstinence-only education, and what she's said about teen pregnancy.

   If she's allied herself with the first-stone-throwing wing of the cultural conservatives, who like to spin teen pregnancy as a consequence of leniency and poor parenting, I hope she has the humility and decency to reflect on what she's said before — to reflect on whether she's judged people in her position, and how it feels now to be in that position.

2. Patrick  •  Sep 1, 2008 @4:37 pm
   

   Ezra's asking fair questions, the unfortunate pregnancy itself aside. How she answers them and how she's dealt with those questions in the past will say a lot about her.

   On a tangentially related note, this woman drives Andrew Sullivan (a pretty awful sexist, and barely stable at the best of times) completely insane. When I read Sullivan's post, it occurred to me that I could generate a thousand+ hit post, easily, by writing a particularly vile thing that popped into my head about him, then emailing a link under another name in mock outrage to certain bloggers.

   It would be no more vile than what Sullivan wrote. But there are better ways to get a thousand hits.

3. astonied  •  Sep 2, 2008 @2:39 am
   

   I remember only too well when I was a young woman who had a child out of wedlock I was not revered as a woman who did the "right" thing and had my baby. Instead I was crucified by many evangelicals I knew who bemoaned the fact that it was "sinners" like me who were ruining this country and the world by having children without being married to the father. That women "like me" were ruining the moral fabric of society and contributing to such things as poverty, increased incarceration rates, etc. because of our choice to have a child as a single parent. I wish that I and the majority of single young mothers out that had received the same sort of support by the Right as Palin's daughter has.

   That said her daughters pregnancy is irrelivant as to what kind of person Sarah Palin is though it does make you question her stands on sex ed in school. What is concerning is that as a journalist she knows the scrutiny that public figures are under and yet she cared more about becoming VP than she did about all the "crap" that is being thrown at her daughter. Also as the mother of two special needs children I have to question her taking on this huge task committment to serve her country when her child has above the ordinary needs. Hope her husband is quitting his job to stay at home with their son.

4. astonied  •  Sep 2, 2008 @3:05 am
   

   I should have said a parents job is to protect their child not put them in the position of being fed to the wolves.