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Posted September 2nd, 2008 by kc

Sarah Palin's teen daughter is pregnant. The only real problem I have here is the old Republican double standard. If Palin were a Democrat, we would be hearing endless moralizing conservatives talking about how she can't run the country if she can't keep her family from straying into sin.

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Serves them right

On September 2nd, 2008 Undecided (not verified) says:

Palin was a staunch opponent of sex education in schools. So she got what she asked for (btw this remark in no way applies to her daughter).

I'd like to know what med McCain was on when he chose himself a VP. She won't win him any democrats because of her views but she just may turn off enough conservatives that they would either don't vote at all or go Libertarian.

Joe Lieberman would've been a far wiser choice - still good enough for many republicans (they don't really have a choice do they ?) while attracting some undecided moderates, especially some undecided Jewish voters.

Or, he could go all republican and chose Romney - although then his chances to win moderates with no party affiliation would've been slimmer.

Just my $.02

A few thoughts

On September 2nd, 2008 bluelyon (not verified) says:

Disclaimer: Any comments that I make that go against the left-wing story arc does not mean I'm voting for John McCain.

Anon - McCain's choice was strictly to shore up his conservative base. Lieberman would have brought him nothing. My conservative R friends (yes, I have some and it pays to listen to them) have felt about McCain the way many on the left felt about Kerry (holding their noses votes) and Palin gives them an ultra-conservative to hang their hats on.

Kirk - Yes, I would completely expect this from the Rs. I thought the Ds were better than that. That's what we keep patting ourselves on the back for, right? Oh. Wait. I forgot. Any woman politician the left doesn't like will be subjected to the same sort of treatment the right has dished out these many years. Misogyny, it's not just for right-wingers any more.

And before you start making statements about what Sarah Palin did or did not teach her daughter or did as governor check your sources. You are a reporter, right? See Megan's post at Jezebel (a liberal and feminist blog, BTW). Snippet:

Because, for one, most schools in Alaska do teach comprehensive sex-ed, and the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development offers schools a choice of curricula that include programs focusing on abstinence without endorsing a specific program. In fact, there have even been debates in Alaska since the start of Palin's tenure whether exempting children from comprehensive sex ed is constitutional. Palin's statements on abstinence-only education date to one questionnaire from a right-wing group during her campaign in 2006 when asked the following question:

Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

In answer to that leading question which conflates comprehensive sexual education with condom and Pill distribution, her campaign answered:

Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

In the last year and a half, searches of her office's website and the Guttmacher Institute revealed no abstinence-only initiatives by her administration. Simply put, Sarah Palin is by no means the world's biggest promoter of abstinence-only education, as some people are claiming.

Ah, but that would ruin the story-line, wouldn't it?

Really?

On September 3rd, 2008 kc says:

Do you really think McCain picked Palin strictly to appease conservatives? Then I have some oceanfront property in Lyon County to sell you. How many other conservatives are there who have far more experience and far fewer scandals swirling around them? Dozens. McCain didn't even know Palin personally. She has limited executive experience, no foreign policy experience and no national political experience. Hell, she's only left the country once in her life, and that was last year. And this pick was made by the candidate who has made experience the main issue of this campaign? Please.

Actually, what this shows is that McCain is a reckless decision maker. It's obvious he didn't vet Palin very well. He wanted Joe Lieberman, but the conservatives wouldn't stand for that, so he quickly chose the conservative candidate he thought might help him on two fronts, regardless of the fact that she's grossly unqualified for the job to be the VP to a 72-year-old cancer survivor who has made noises about only serving one term.

And let's get over this crap that anyone who would dare criticize a female candidate is a misogynist. The issue of the double standard over the treatment of Palin's pregnant teen daughter would apply equally if her name were Steve. Imagine if Chelsea Clinton had gotten pregnant at 17. Conservatives would slither from beneath every rock to blast both Bill and Hillary for being poor parents, and making the case that they are bad for America. They are equal opportunity slime merchants who have time and again used every dirty trick in the book against Democrats, but cry foul if you turn even a fraction of the attack back at them.

Are there Democrats who are sexist? You bet. But that sexism pales in comparison with what goes on in the Republican Party, where sexism is a major plank of their platform. Were you alive in the 90s when many on the Right was calling Hillary a lesbian, a drug dealer and a murderer? I'm not aware of anyone on the left who has come even close to that. Stop trying to equate the two. It makes your sour grapes over the whole Hillary losing thing show through.

Do you really think McCain

On September 3rd, 2008 bluelyon (not verified) says:

Do you really think McCain picked Palin strictly to appease conservatives?

Yes I do. And so do many others. And you have to admit, she's created a lot of buzz. Not an endorsement of her at all, but my goodness, she sure has a lot on the left in a tizzy!

And let's get over this crap that anyone who would dare criticize a female candidate is a misogynist.

That is not what I'm saying and you know it. I have no issue with her being criticized on the issues, and heaven knows, there are plenty of them. That's not what's been going on. Look, I've got family members who've had teenage daughters wind up getting pregnant. I bet you know well-meaning, caring parents too whose children found themselves facing the same situation. Teens, no matter how well (or poorly) they are raised can take a wrong turn. It is wrong to make an assumption about Sarah and Todd Palin just because their teen daughter wound up pregnant. Would you want that done to you? Would you want your fitness to be a reporter judged by how chaste your kids were?

The issue of the double standard over the treatment of Palin's pregnant teen daughter would apply equally if her name were Steve. Imagine if Chelsea Clinton had gotten pregnant at 17. Conservatives would slither from beneath every rock to blast both Bill and Hillary for being poor parents, and making the case that they are bad for America.

Absolutely agree, on both statements. But I thought WE were the good guys. Is that really how you want us to behave? Not only that, but Barack has told his supporters to cool it. Yet you persist.

Were you alive in the 90s when many on the Right was calling Hillary a lesbian, a drug dealer and a murderer?

Yes Kirk, I'm older than you. I remember every last sleazy moment. It sucked.

I'm not aware of anyone on the left who has come even close to that.

Then you haven't been paying attention. Pretty much every rightwing smear made it's way to the blogs and elsewhere, and we even had Keith Olbermann calling Hillary David Duke. So, yeah, they came as close as the rightwing slime machine.

It makes your sour grapes over the whole Hillary losing thing show through.

Wow. Such graciousness in victory.

A little reading comprehension for you...

On September 3rd, 2008 kc says:

As I clearly stated in the original post, I'm not criticizing Palin or her family for her daughter's pregnancy. All I did was point out how if she were a Democrat, the GOP would declare open season on her. Fortunately, Democrats are a bit more human than that.

And again, you have McCain, campaigning on experience, picking the least experienced conservative he could find. Why? She's the only anti-choice female conservative on the list. Yet you can insist that it's strictly about appealing to conservatives? Maybe you need to expand your group of "many others" to include a few other opinions.

And this revisionist history that anything said about Hillary by Obama's people was even close to what conservatives said to her in the 90s is just a slow pitch over the middle of the plate. Here's the quote of Olbermann you cite:

"And thus these advisers give Congresswoman Ferraro nearly a week in which to send Senator Clinton`s campaign back into the vocabulary of David Duke; 'anytime anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says, let`s address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you`re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they are attacking me because I'm white. How's that?'"

Gee, one media pundit saying the Clinton campaign descended "back into the vocabulary of David Duke" is clearly just as bad as major conservative talk radio and TV hosts calling her a murdering lesbian over and over for years on end. Please cite those leftists who are using these very same smears against Hillary, and not some freak who has a free blog with five readers.

And because Olbermann accused the Clinton campaign of resorting to racism, that makes him and all Obama supporters misogynists?

Look, the Democrats have always been a big tent party, with lots of different views. What keeps them together is an adherence to promoting issues dealing with freedom and equality for everyone. Hillary Clinton seems to understand this. Why don't you?

Graciousness in victory? No, just sadness that people like yourself would be such sore losers that you would risk putting John McCain in office by clinging to this PUMA pipe dream of a convention coup that would make Hillary president. Hopefully now that the convention is over, you can come inside the tent. If not, I hope you can live with John McCain's policies towards women's rights, and still claim it's the people on the left who are the misogynists.

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