From MILF To GILF: How Will This Play With The Base?
UPDATE: The rumors of Levi’s age appear to be false. At least if this New York Daily News article is accurate. Tell me again why the Palin campaign couldn’t have been honest about this earlier in the day instead of sending the media on a wild moose chase and turning this into a two-day story.
EARLIER UPDATE: The campaign referred to Bristol Palin’s boyfriend only as “Levi” in its statement announcing the pregnancy. There are rumors swirling on the Internets that he’s significantly older — perhaps by almost a decade — than young Bristol and that their relationship began three years ago when she was 13 or 14.
I married a guy who’s 10 years older than I am. When I was 25. If I’d tried to date a 20-something while I was in junior high or high school, my mom would have locked me in my room and fed me dinner through a homemade mail slot. Sarah Palin is being sold to the American public as a “values” candidate. As the mom of a little girl, I have some serious doubts if these rumors are true. I also wonder what else she’s hiding.
EVEN EARLIER: If you were wondering what folks in Alaska do to make those long, cold nights pass faster, perhaps you should ask 17-year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor and newly minted Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Mama Palin just confirmed to the media that her kid is five months knocked up with plans to keep the baby and marry the father.
This adds a fun twist to Sarah Palin’s ongoing romance with the religious right. Yeah, she’s a hot, pro-life “hockey mom” who hunts moose, but apparently she’s cool with sex out of wedlock. Ruh roh. It could be tough to answer honestly when she’s asked about the promotion of abstinence-only sex ed in high school, a favorite wedge issue for her conservative base.
P.S. This surprise announcement kind of makes you wonder how well Palin was vetted.
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“Supposedly” McCain knew about Bristol’s pregnancy…
But still, you’ve got to wonder they’re just saying her knew to hide the fact that they did a crappy job vetting her.
Irony of it all… in her gubernatorial race she said she supported “abstinence only” sex ed in schools…
Yeah Gov… how’s that working out for you?
I think the only people who should be at all critical of anyone who has had sex out of wedlock are those who have never themselves and not because they were too unpopular, too geeky or whatever (ie: they couldn’t have been trying to or wanting to).
I think we just eliminated most everybody, yes?
“There are rumors swirling on the Internets that he’s significantly older — perhaps by almost a decade — than young Bristol and that their relationship began three years ago when she was 13 or 14.” so does wrtv allow repeating rumors swirling around the internet? Your lack of class in your blog is astounding. When are you going to report Obama is a muslim and he wasn’t born in the US? These too are rumors swirling around the internet. They do not deserve reporting just as the rumors you report today. Wrtv should rethink your position with the organization.
The difference, my friend, is that the Palin and her campaign refuse to put out any information about the father of her daughter’s baby. The “rumors” about Obama were long ago dismissed as false.
What is she hiding? Why is she hiding it? For someone who’s been on the national stage all of three days, she’s playing right into the amateur hour stereotype.
If this woman is going to traipse out her family values as a focal point of this race, she needs to answer questions about her family. Just as I took John Edwards to task for cheating on his ailing wife while talking about his undying love for her, I want to know what’s going on here.
By the by, I’m a commentator. This is what commentators do. Don’t like it? Go away.
MILF? GILF? Why is stuff like this allowed on WRTV’s site? Why are these gutter rumors?
There are lots of nasty rumors out there on the internets. There are nasty rumors about Barack Obama’s background and sex life. There are probably even nasty rumors about your background and your sex life.
Why should WRTV dignify any of them?
It is fair to raise questions about Sarah Palin for her minor child getting pregnant. Why is it fair game? Because she has taken public positions as a public elected official against common sense sex ed. She is also supposedly a strong Christian pro life conservative, something mentioned by all news organizations and the McCain campaign upon her selection. She doesn’t even have the good sense to say it was a mistake, as if a shotgun wedding justifies it.
Because we’re talking about a minor, the age of the father is absolutely an issue. Statutory rape is a crime, folks, and shouldn’t be swept under the carpet just because it is inconvenient for some politician.
Looks like the wingnuts are flocking in from Gary Welsh’s “Barack Obama Is A Secret Muslim Who Has Random Gay Sex” site.
Welcome to a real blog, friends.
Palin’s campaign put out this story to dispel rumors on the Internets. But they didn’t put out the whole story, did they?
Allow me to repeat for the slow among you: I’m a commentator. I commentate. You’re not going to get anywhere arguing long-ago-discarded Obama rumors.
If Palin wants people to stop talking about this, she needs to give the public all the facts.
It’s an issue because she’s standing tall as a family values beacon for social conservatives. That’s why McCain picked her.
She’s been in the spotlight for three days, and her image is cracking, both with this and the ethics investigation.
Obama, Biden, McCain and all the other presidential candidates have been vetted for months and months in the public eye. This woman hasn’t had any scrutiny whatsoever.
Welcome to the dance, m’lady.
And the language?
Absurd questions are easy to ask. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t absurd.
And internet rumors are easy to create. It doesn’t mean that there’s a lick of truth behind them (as the rumors about Trig Palin have already proven).
So why not answer the question?
If you don’t think the media aren’t already digging around to find out this kid’s name and age, you’re even more naive than your writing belies, Scott.
Your argument appears to be that it’s totally cool to say that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, but it’s off-limits for me to ask for Palin to give the public the information she’s currently withholding.
Riiiiiight.
Enjoy your trip on the Illogical Express.
This isn’t a City Council race, man. This is the person your party is nominating to be the second-in-command to the Commander in Chief. There is no hiding from scrutiny, and you can’t just make all the mean media people go away by waving your hand and putting out a lame statement, especially when the news du jour directly correlates with the only reason she was picked in the first place.
If “Levi” turns out to be 17 or 18, the “if, then” statement in my post won’t engage. But if it turns out that the rumors are true, my judgment stands that your VP candidate has a few parenting skillz lessons to go before she completes Motherhood 101.
It’s not my fault John McCain took a desperate leap and picked a candidate who has no experience, an ongoing ethics investigation and a family situation that doesn’t jibe with her abstinence-only talking points.
I feel most sorry for T-Paw, the harmless pick who has to sit at home wondering why he was passed over for an Sarah Palin while the convention takes place in his back yard.
Nice to know that Palin is on good terms with the NRA. She’s going to need an extra shotgun or two for the wedding.
You’ll notice that I said that none of the rumors should be dignified, whether they were about Governor Palin or Senator Obama (or their families for that matter), so don’t even try to imply otherwise. So much for the Illogical Express.
But given that the same people that were foaming at the mouth demanding that the McCain campaign answer questions about Trig Palin got burned and are now instead foaming at the mouth asking about Bristol Palin’s boyfriend, wouldn’t you say that this particular rumor mill might not be a good source of citation material?
The folks that peddled certain rumors about Obama ended up seeing the object of those rumors carted off to jail before their very eyes. I’d not be inclined to place much confidence in those same people peddling another set of similar rumors a few days later.
I fail to see what’s so hard to understand about that.
And I see that you still haven’t explained to me the whole vulgar acronym thing (regardless of how pithy it might be or how clever you thought it was). I’d assume that WRTV would like to have as family-friendly a website as possible, and the topic of your post appears on their front page. This isn’t the 1950s, but geez.
First of all, I had no idea about the Trig Palin rumors until today. I don’t read many, if any, national blogs because I don’t have endless hours to spend wasting time.
Obama answered the rumors. Palin should do the same. You’re arguing that people shouldn’t start rumors. That’s cute, but we’re only human. People will talk, and when things take root at this level, the candidates have to answer the tough questions. Did you unduly influence the firing of your public safety commissioner? Did your husband get arrested for DUI? Who knocked up your kid? Did you really want Alaska to secede from the United States?
Like I said, if “Levi” turns out to be 17 or 18, my hypothetical statement doesn’t take effect, but at the rate Palin’s background is unfolding, that’s the least of her worries right now.
The title of the post: Did you never see “American Pie” or “The 40 Year Old Virgin”? Do you live under a rock? I’m pretty sure MILF and GILF (which, by the way, stands for “Grandma” not “Girl”, as our routinely inaccurate buddy Gary Welsh assumed) are firmly rooted in the American lexicon.
Maybe you should get out more.
If it’s any consolation, TMZ.com used a similar headline on their rendition of the story.
Blogs are boring if they don’t generate a little controversy from time to time. Seems I struck a nerve, but no one makes you come here.
Let me say again for the record that McCain would be wise to jettison Palin before he gets stuck with her at the convention.
First things first: there is only one “internet”.
Second, yes you are commenting, but even those in the “internets”, if they expect to be listened to over the long-term, must show some level of dignity and responsibility in dealing with fact versus conjecture. You have done neither in this piece.
But that being said, you were a known entity when RTV brought you on in the same way that ESPN knew what they were getting when they hired Rush for NFL commentary.
You do realize that the “Internets” is a Bushism, right?
You’re reading the site and getting ticked off enough to leave comments. I must be doing something right.
In the course of three days, we’ve found out that Todd Palin’s been arrested for DUI, Bristol Palin is knocked up, Sarah Palin wanted Alaska to secede from the United States and she’s under investigation for a pretty big alleged ethical gaffe.
Even you have to admit that four didjaknows in 72 hours raises a bit of doubt that she was McCain’s best pick.
C’mon. You can give me that, can’t you?
Mommies of little girls shouldn’t throw stones… this is a great way to generate some bad karma, Mama Wagner.
As always, I am disgusted by a young “progressive” political mind being so backassward about something like teen pregnancy. You KNOW that these things would never be written about a man running for VP.
Argue against Sarah Palin’s ideas and policies all you like, but calling her a “GILF” (for real?) and being nasty about her young daughter is trashy.
One day, years from now, your own daughter will be reading these things you write. What do you want your legacy to be, Jennifer? What are you leaving in your wake?
Jen said, “If Palin wants people to stop talking about this, she needs to give the public all the facts.” Later Jen also said, “So why not answer the question?”
The short answer Jen is that Sarah Palin does not have the right to breach the privacy rights of Bristol Palin, a minor child who is afforded lots of legal protections, and the privacy rights of the punitive father Levi. Sure that’s the legalistic answer and not a political one, but hey the law and politics are not the same thing despite what many people think.
I’m just waiting for someone in the media to get a hold of some of Bristol’s medical records for this story. The media would have to get those records from a health care provider, unless Bristol consented, so that would be a HIPAA violation, but hey that’s never stopped the media before.
It’s bad enough our tabloid loving society is used to finding out the medical conditions and records of various celebrities, VIPs, and famous people, but now we’re getting into the medical conditions of family members and friends of VIPs, celebrities, and famous people. Where is the line to be drawn on the right of the people to know? I’m just curious.
Before someone raises the statutory rape issue, let me had that off at the pass and suggest it’s likely a non-starter under Alaska law. The quick glance at Alaska’s law seems to point to second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. It states, “Second-degree sexual abuse of a minor for someone age 16 or older to engage in sexual penetration with someone who is age 13, 14, or 15 and at least three years younger than the offender.” Seems like age of consent in Alaska is age 16 and there is an age gap provision of 3 years. If Levi is now 20 or under it would appear he’s legally in the clear.
Having said all that any teenage pregnancy is depressing to me. I hope that Sarah and Todd Palin were active parents in Bristol’s life, but I know that having engaged parents doesn’t prevent teenage pregnancy, but only lessens the likelihood. I wish Bristol and Levi good luck. They’re going to need it.
Did you even read my prior comments?
Do you know what the “G” in GILF stands for? Grandma. Duh.
One more time, since none of you read before you write: I feel sorry for Bristol. She’s been thrust into the national spotlight at a time when she’s doubtless scared and uncertain of her future.
Her mother put her there.
I am the mom of a young daughter, and I can tell you that I wouldn’t let my ego and ambition get in the way of my family. Why would you accept McCain’s invitation knowing you had so many suitcases in the closet?
Instead of impugning me, which doesn’t have any effect on anything, why don’t you consider for three seconds that Sarah Palin just might be a bad candidate for this office.
Plenty of Republicans are already saying it. You can, too.
I assume your use of the word “punitive” was merely a Freudian slip.
It would appear that Levi is 18, a hunky hockey star who’s about to find himself front and center on the national stage, too.
If Sarah Palin didn’t want to talk about her daughter’s pregnancy, she should have stayed Governor and declined a spot on the national ticket.
I’m not saying tabloid journalism is good, but it’s reality, and this whole thing was terribly played, as have been the other factoids coming out of Palin’s past.
You can trot out HIPAA and medical privacy all you want, but it isn’t going to stop the media from wanting more.
John McCain and Sarah Palin are running for President and Vice President, not Prom King and Queen. The stakes are high, and people need to know what they’re voting for. If the GOP wants to make Palin’s conservative credentials part of the equation, she can’t use them when she feels like it and then make the “no more questions” sign when she’s tired of answering questions.
P.S. The post has been updated with the latest reporting on Levi’s age. If the campaign had released that information hours ago, they could have controlled a mini media frenzy.
But no. We had to play hide-and-seek with the latest Palin revelation.
I can’t wait to find out what tomorrow brings. Until then, I’m out. G’night.
Wow…
I am absolutely astounded at this garbage you have written.
“This adds a fun twist to Sarah Palin’s ongoing romance with the religious right. Yeah, she’s a hot, pro-life “hockey mom” who hunts moose, but apparently she’s cool with sex out of wedlock.”
Please explain how ’she’s cool with sex out of wedlock’. Do you make this assertion because Sarah Palin is supporting her daughter during her pregnancy?
What would you do with your own daughter? Or have you even taken a moment to reflect on this possibility?
I find it downright disgusting that you seem almost giddy at the fact that a 17 year old female is facing an unplanned pregnancy.
Sarah Palin’s daughter is not running for VP. I actually agree with Obama for a change, leave her daughter alone.
Jenn, half of this post, as of right now, is speculating about the age of the father in this circumstance being “significantly older” than the mother. Turns out you were wrong on that. Oh I know, you didn’t say it, it was reported on the Internets, so it is fair game to make commentary on it. Once again, it just lowers your credibility.
So show some credibility and remove that part. I disagree with your analysis on the rest, but it is at least semi-relevant. Your entire “UPDATE” section is not.
But more importantly, your question of “How will this play with the base?” is relevant, but answered fairly well. The President of the Southern Baptist Convention says that the Palin’s are handling this the right way (http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/436448.aspx) Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has basically the same reaction. (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/436485.aspx).
So in answer to your semi-rhetorical question: it is going to play just fine with the base.
A very small update in this post speculated about the age of the father based on lots of rumors floating out there. I want people to know that that was wrong, so I’m leaving it be. If folks can’t figure out how to read blog entries from top to bottom, they shouldn’t be reading blogs in the first place.
The President of the Southern Baptist Convention does not sit at the kitchen tables of countless voters across the nation. I’ll take my “real people” data from real people.
I’m also curious how the additional tidbits — the DUI, the ethics investigation and the secession rant — play with the folks who thought they’d struck political gold with this unknown outsider.
Again, couldn’t this all have been avoided by some straight talk from the McCain-Palin ticket?
Or better yet, a McCain-Vetted Candidate ticket?
Don’t be a hater Jen. This irrational media response is proof that the Obamasiah has stalled at 49% and his whole operation is wetting thier organic underwear at the thought that the Gov of Alaska has changed the game. Partisan bias aside, the fact that his “Sermon on high at Invesco” completely got stomped by McCain’s announcement is hilarious.
[...] seems that you can’t teach an old dog new [...]
Your headline is offensive and you’re just spreading around DailyKos rumors. This is nothing more than some gossip column in a high school newspaper. Your old website was full of invective. Hell, at least Anne Coulter and Michelle Malkin are hot.
You’ve proven yourself to be a no-talent Indiana hack. Strike that. I meant to say hick. Ditto for Abdul. WRTV is third in ratings and neither of you will increase them.
I’m glad I moved to Chicago.
I’m glad you did, too, Nick. Chicago’s a great city, and I’m elated that you’re enjoying it. I’m also glad you’re reading the site and throwing out spiteful comments. It touches me to know you care.
I sure do feel like a broken record tonight, but here goes again: I feel sorry for Bristol Palin. Accidents happen. Kids get pregnant. Their families deal with it. All is well.
This might throw you wingnuts for a loop, but here’s my take on Sarah Palin: She’s over her head at a time when maybe she ought to be focusing on her family.
If I had a four-month-old special needs kid and a preggers daughter, there’s no way I’d be doing much besides paying attention to them. I certainly wouldn’t be running for Vice President of the United States.
I admire the strong woman thing. I’m no shrinking violet myself. But it sure seems like all this could have been avoided by John McCain picking a candidate who actually went through the vetting process and didn’t have a million other issues going on.
Republicans will make the best of the hand they’re dealt, and I’m not going to predict what happens in November, but it scares me to death that Sarah Palin would inherit the White House if something were to happen to Crankypants McCain.
Well Jen, you’ve done something right because all Advance Indiana’s loonies are prancing in here to condemn you for “writing trash”, even though their hero’s been drooling over Larry Sinclair’s fantasies for months.
Keep up the good work, it’s very entertaining for those of us who live in reality.
“If I had a four-month-old special needs kid and a preggers daughter, there’s no way I’d be doing much besides paying attention to them. I certainly wouldn’t be running for Vice President of the United States.”
You know if the shoe were on the other foot and Sarah Palin was a Democrat and not a Republican, the feminists would be going bananas right about now.
MILF? GILF? You should ask for forgiveness from Howard Caldwell and Barbara Boyd.
Eh.
Wow - not shocked that the lack of ratings around here…
So. The McCain-Palin camp says that families are out of bounds. The Preg happened and that is all we are saying.
THEN Obama also states that Families are out of bounds and CHILDREN ARE EVEN MORE out of bounds…
and yet you start/keep a false rumor about private people going. AND considering whatever the AK statutory rape statues are possible criminal rumors going…
Cool. U rock.
I was under the impression that you had passed the INdiana Bar Exam… You are aware that the Indiana Supreme Court has stated that the ethical rules bar all actions of Indiana Lawyers - even if those actions happen while NOT representing a client.
Cause…
You’d better go back and read my post and the rules of professional responsibility again, pal.
But let’s review from a more macro standpoint: John McCain didn’t excite conservatives. He picked Sarah Palin, a nobody from Alaska who was panned by a lot of political insiders for being inexperienced. Conservatives, however, chest-bumped in their living rooms because she’s pro-life. Now it turns out that her conservative credentials, at least on the issue of abstinence-only education, are a bit tarnished. More than that, there are three other issues — her hubby’s old DUI arrest, an ethics investigation and her desire to secede from the union — that have come up.
What else is out there? Well, she ran up a pretty big debt when she was Mayor of Wasilla, and she appears to have ties to the old-school Alaska pols she denounced while running for Guv.
I’m sorry y’all picked someone who hadn’t been through the vetting process or spent any time in the national spotlight, but you should be blaming John McCain for that, not me.
As for her family, she actually brought this up by telling everyone Bristol is preggers and then not telling the whole story. What did she think was going to happen? That she could pat the media on the head and send them on their way?
You can take potshots at me, Abdul, WRTV and the media. I welcome it, and I’m used to it. Instead of doing that, though, perhaps you should take a little time to think through what I’m saying.
Either way, as long as you keep reading, I’m cool with it.
I’ve been enjoying this little sparring match. I’m a mother and grandmother having raised a wonderful daughter with her head set squarely on her shoulders where it belongs. The questions being raised here about Sarah Palin’s parental responsibilities are justified. She’s running for the second highest office in the land.
So here’s my take on this whole Palin thing. Back in the 70’s I taught high school. We didn’t teach much in the way of sex ed and birth control, while prevalent on college campuses, wasn’t readily available. In those short eight years, I had two students who found themselves in Bristol’s position. The first, the daughter of a single African-American working mom, attempted to OD in my classroom over lunch. Fortunately with intervention, she went on to get her GED and I hope, although I don’t know, successfully raise her little boy also as a single mom. The second was a white middle-class “A” student whose child was adopted by her own parents in order that she could go on to college. Very different girls, different outcomes. But both drastically changed the lives of their families.
As has been pointed out numerous times in the past day or two, it still happens in all sorts of families. But it happens more often in families that either pretend their daughters (and sons) aren’t having sex or think that they can teach their children to “save themselves for marriage”. Abstinence only works when there is abstinence and I’m here to tell the neo-cons that the same God they think is going to guide their children into marriage as virgins, also gave them the hormones that will guide them right into bed or the backseat of a car.
Now having gotten all that out of the way. Why does this matter? It matters because, as the GOP has been pointing out since last Friday, this is the women that will be a role model for our daughters. This is the woman who will finally break through that glass ceiling. Well, excuse me, for wanting one that’s a few more floors up from the basement.
I believe in the ability for any American to reach the White House, but I also believe that the people we put there should represent all of us, not just the fringe religious right. The person in the White House and his (or her) second in command should both be people of high character and sound judgment. And that involves scrutiny of their personal life. I’m sorry if the GOP doesn’t like it, but they should have thought about it before they chose Miss Congeniality for VP.
Yes, it’s her private life. And it should be. If she’d stayed in Alaska then it would still be her private life. But it’s not and it won’t be no matter how much both candidates, McCain and Obama, have tried to get the American public to leave it alone. She’s become the elephant in the room. And it’s growing daily. It’s distracting us from the real issues facing America: the economy, the energy crisis, the environment, health care, etc.
Sarah Palin, if she cares about the country and the GOP, should remove herself from the candidacy and do it now. All she need say, is that her family comes first. But she won’t. She’s drunk from the well of power. The same political high that led her to deliver a speech in Texas while in labor will drive her to stay on the ticket. In spite of her “family values” platform, the only important person in Sarah’s life, is Sarah.
And do we want a VP, the person who we like to say is one heartbeat away from president, to be someone who puts self before family? I’m thinking a woman who does that, isn’t going to put us first either.
Man. Way to hit bottom and dig. Kos has been doing this literally for years. Too bad you caught it too.
Man, you guys are touchy when the shoe’s on the other foot. (”Barack Obama: Still A Secretly Gay Muslim!”)
Maybe if I keep repeating myself, this will finally sink in: The Palin campaign could have avoided all this by putting out the information when they broke the story. When they broke the story. But instead, they tried to do a cutesy little dance with the media, which led to lots of rumors and the eventual disclosure of the kid’s age and identity.
Wouldn’t it just have been easier to be honest in the first place?
This ain’t some small town in Alaska. This is the national stage. A two-bit actor who’s stunned by the spotlight will never succeed.
I’m an independent who’s recently decided to support Obama. Stuff like this, however, makes me reconsider. Barack, please save us from your followers. This blog post and those like it are pretty disgusting. Lay off the kids and stick to issues!
Jen Wagner had to leave her last job because she had an afair with her boss and he’s the fater of her new baby!
See Jen thats how rumors get started
That comment made me laugh, and not just because of all the typos. Maybe I’m more qualified to be VP than Sarah Palin.
How long will it take for you folks to figure out that your attacks don’t bother me?
Jennifer runs a blog. Anyone who can’t decipher a blog from an actual news story shouldn’t be allowed to use a computer - let alone vote.
Oh, and for those Carmel moms offended by the title, you should be just as offended at the Indiana Republican delegates that wore the “Hoosiers for the Hottie” buttons at the RNC yesterday.
Nice post, Jen!
Thanks.
For the record, I believe the button said “Hoosiers For The Hot Chick.”
I don’t think too many Carmel moms have time to read this blog. They’re busy trying to stop Victoria’s Secret from displaying lingerie in its store windows.
Keep it up, morons. Every time you spread this crap, you drive voters to McCain.
The problem is that the story should NOT be newsworthy OR blog-worthy. Leave the kids alone. Period. She’s a 17 year-old girl. Your lack of class, and that of the bloggers in general, is astounding. And, yes, RTV6 should take a second look at whether you should be kept on. If private lives of children are fair game for making judgment calls on the parents, surely public blogs should be fair game for making the same on employees.
*ring*ring* Clue phone… it’s for you…
Perception vs Reality.
Guess which matters? It sure as hell ain’t reality. It’s the court of public opinion.
Whether or not Bristol or Sarah Palin should be crucified upon the media’s cross isn’t the question. They shouldn’t.
What is the question is what else don’t we know about this unknown woman who’s trying to be a 72-yr-old, cancer survivor’s heartbeat away from the Presidency?
The idea that she was ‘thoroughly vetted’ is completely laughable.
//The difference, my friend, is that the Palin and her campaign refuse to put out any information about the father of her daughter’s baby.//
It’s really none of your business how old the kid is, as he is not running for anything. Stick to the issues or risk sounding like some bitter hack that cannot debate the issues that we face as a nation today.
C’mon folks, this is an issue because Johnny M made it an issue. The RNC hid the pregnancy and McCain waved Palin’s pro-life abstinence-only stand. Then their wheels fell off. We should be able to trust our candidates to tell us the truth.
As for the pregnancy, most of us think it’s a non-starter in the issue department although we’re rather irritated that they’ve chosen the holier-than-thou stand instead of the honest, she did the dirty-deed and now has to pay the piper avenue. We’re also really aggravated that it’s detracting from the real issues. As I said before Sarah Palin is definitely an elephant in the room and growing daily.
As for protecting Bristol, she’s NOT a child. She’s a senior in high school, old enough to be on her own in college (our daughter went to IU at 16 like many European kids). She’s almost old enough to vote for her mother. She can get married. She’s old enough to join the Armed Service and certainly old enough to have gone to planned parenthood and gotten birth control pills. So let’s stop with the innocent little girl crap. She’s a young adult and her life is going to suck because mom wasn’t open-minded enough to have the “mother-daughter, if you’re going to have sex let’s go to the OB/GYN” talk”.
The real issue here is what else has been swept under the rug? Where there’s smoke there’s fire and if there are other issues it would be a good idea to clear the air now because it’s just going to keep getting worse.