Abstinence and the Palins
I am usually quite pleased with how Canadian politics tends to leave the private lives of its politicians and their families alone as, well, a private matter. That being said, when there is an example of gross hypocrisy - an anti-gay politician being outed, an anti-drug crusader caught smoking up - I consider that to be fair game and a juicy scandal.
It was with that in mind that I was intrigued by the story floating around the internet that Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's youngest child might not be her child, but her grandchild. Today's revelation that her daughter Bristol has not already had a child, but is five months pregnant, planning to keep the baby and marry the father deflates the potential scandal a great deal. If the Republican party could ignore the fact that the incumbent VP's daughter is a lesbian, they can certainly put a smiling face on the fact that Ms. Palin is planning on keeping her baby - a "nice" anti-abortion message to go with the social conservative mantra associated with her mother.
That being said, I do consider it to be absolutely fair game to cite the example of the young Ms. Palin if her mother decides to revive the Republican campaign for abstinence-only education, should disaster befall the Democrats, and the McCain-Palin ticket plunge the US into four more years of darkness. Clearly, this provides ample evidence that the abstinence campaign doesn't work. Rising numbers of teen pregnancy, and declining condom use (and rising HIV infection rates) provide evidence too - but sometimes a face needs to be associated with the problems of a failed policy.
Update: Queer minds think alike - Dan Savage seems to have had the same thought here.
Upperdate: And while I'm busy feeling vitriolic, clearly this will be a marriage made in heaven. After all, isn't that what the sacred state of marriage is for - covering up sexual (mis)adventures? Certainly better that it be used for that purpose, rather than allowing American gays and lesbians to get married. I was sad to learn that longtime lesbian activist Del Martin passed away last week, but glad that she did finally get to marry her partner of 55 years, despite what many American politicians (of both political stripes) might prefer.
Labels: abstinence, Bristol Palin, pregnancy, Sarah Palin
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posted by Matt @ 1:03 pm
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38 Comments:
Palin isn't going to preach to me about morality when her own TEENAGE daughter couldn't keep her pants on.
The hypocrisy never ends!!
Wow, there is nothing wrong with being pregnant. Being pregnant is a beautiful, wonderful gift of life. And whether or not Sarah Palin agrees with the ideology of her daughter's pregnancy, I bet she still loves her dearly and will do everything she can to support her and her new grandchild. So back off.
And if you wanna get douchey with me, get something straight. I may not be voting for John McCain or like his politics, or even like Sarah Palin, I will always side with a new mother of any age, and other people need to keep their mouths shut and their arms open to support whatever she needs or decides, ok, parisl0ve2?
Are you aware that this is Bristol Palin's SECOND pregnancy????
It was not Sarah Palin who had sex with the young man. It was her daughter, Parents cannot control the actions of an adult. SO , please keep your opinions about this at a ratinole level.
It can't be Bristol Palin's second pregnancy. The math doesn't add up. If her little brother, who everyone is trying to pass off as hers, was born in April 2008, how could she be five months pregnant with her second?
Besides that, it's far more likely that Sarah Palin would have a baby affected by Down's Syndrome at her age than Bristol would at her age. Think about things before you keep stupid rumors passing around, anon.
Whoever wrote this article is clearly taking any opportunity possible to make a dig at the Republican Party. I used to think we at least pretended to be objective, but I guess that's been thrown out the window.
Sarah Palin has not preached about morality, but has preached an anti-abortion message. She has been challenged on this in every way. From having a disabled child, to having a teenaged daughter become pregnant at the most inconvenient time possible. Clearly, there is no hypocrisy here.
It would have been very easy for the Palins to suggest that their daughter not go through with the pregnancy, but they didn't. I'm happy that they are practicing what they preach. Life is important to them, and that is the obvious message they are portraying.
It's like a soap opera. And of course each and every time something else is revealed; we will hear that the GOP's Presidential Nominee, John McCain already knew about it. How convenient. They have been so critical on every level, now they find themselves having to finally agree that things are broken, there is need for change and that their families do indeed have "issues" like all families in America. Before now, they would never admit that anything was ever wrong with their party or their views.
At least the child isn't gay nor does she wish to murder her child through abortion! You liberals will grab at anything to try to win an election.... At least the child didn't try marijuana and cocaine; at least ....and the list goes on.....Get a life!
This proves to me that Sen. Palin isn't successfully balancing her work and life. Those children need their mother. There is no telling how long this child has been sexually active. I have no respect for women who put their career before their family. Too me Sen. Palin has failed at being a mother. This woman should raise her children and leave politics alone.
Pisceswolf:
people aren't attacking Bristol's decision to continue her pregnancy, they're attacking the hypocrisy (and obvious ineffectiveness) of Sarah Palin's own abstinence education policy. The Palins, it seems, are allowed to make choices which (in the case of premarital sex) are not always consistent with their own "Traditional Values" but Sarah Palin does run on a platform that will not let others make their own medical decisions about reproduction and supports an education plan that puts adolescents at risk by limiting access to truthful information about sex and limits any discourse on contraception to stating that it fails (ignoring the fact that abstinence also fails when not followed 100% of the time).
Pregnant teen daughter, husband with a DWI arrest, she likes huntin',....
Can I a get a "hell yeah and hee haw"?!?
A Real Redneck in White House, not some high class broad!
Let me get this straight. Someone who is very right, evangelical, and is a role model on Christian values and integrity, has a teenage daughter who is pregnant more than 5 months is on the VP ticket and it’s going to be treated like a typical American family matter?!? Are you kidding me? If this was a African American or Hispanic family with this same predicament, this would be played sooo different on the news! I cannot believe how hypocritical the new media is and America in general. I heard on Fox News that people will stay ‘clear of this’ – almost like instruction to the audience. WOW, we better wake up America and treat ALL people EQUAL, especially Palin who chose to be in the public spotlight, knowing her daughter was pregnant, and the potential it could blemish the political race. Again, the standards we put on Obama (a Harvard lawyer who has CREATED bills and worked on foreign policy issues) is completely different (and unfair) than what we put on his opponents, John McCain (who had affairs, abandoned his ailing wife, called his wife a c-word, etc.) and Sarah Palin (who is a proud hockey mom from AK saying “Yup, yup” to being ready for the Presidency. Disappointed but not surprised
I'm a liberal Democrat, and I see this as a non-issue. It's a private family matter for the Palins to handle, though I feel for their daughter, who will be shredded by both sides. I believe Barack Obama has the sense not to comment on this "breaking news". Let's hope I'm right!
5 kids, one with Downs, runs a state Gov, hubby commercial fisherman and supervisor on an oil rig. Who's at home with the kids? Another Kid that's who. Mommy needs to go home and run here house and shut her mouth about her Hypocrisy. Buy your kid some condoms and put her ass on the pill if you can't watcher and raiser to respect the lord. My daughter is going to college next year and not raising a family because I care enough to protect her and respect her. Proudly I'm a liberal Dem!
She's in charge of the state of AK which has the population roughly of Austin TX. She has a BA degree in communications in Idaho State, and can't hold it together enough to follow her self rightious rules. She can't be a beat away from a 72 year old with Cancer twice....PLEASE America think of what your doing!
to Creighton Stevens - saying that thankfully your child isn't gay or murder her child via abortion. Are you a family member of the Palins? You sure sound like it! But what a ignorant idiot you are for saying what you did. There is nothing wrong with being gay nor having an abortion. It is every womens right to do what she needs with her own body. No government shall ever come between that or make choices for her. How can anyone vote for a party that is anti-gay, anti-pro choice? What a bunch of hypocrites they are and now with a pregnant unwed daughter. Gov. Palin needs to spend some time with her children as I don't even know who is raising them! Vote Obama!
“If no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found (no cloth with vaginal blood provided by her father)
she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, the men of her town shall stone her to death.
You must purge the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
So much for the daughter, now on to the mother:
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:22-24)
No self-respecting Bible-believing Christian conservative should ever tolerate a woman being in a place of authority over a man--especially at such a high office as Vice President of the U.S.A., God's chosen country.
Wow, you people are nosy as all hell.
Hypocrisy?
I find it extremely shocking, amusing, and yet deplorable that the word hypocrisy can escape the lips of such “tolerant” people as the liberal left. While those with conservative views are greatly misunderstood and attacked as haters, the liberal left can continue to spew their hatred and take their downright cruel shots.
Additionally, I find it interesting that the liberal left, who trumpets the freedom of a woman to do whatever she feels she can do outside of dedicating her time to raise children at home, would criticize a woman who has given her life to public service. Obviously, when there is so much public trash to clean, a public servant’s responsibilities at home will suffer to a degree. While balance is sought after, there will still be missed opportunities with our children.
If you hold the view that this news is some focal point of failure in Sarah Palin and thus juicy gossip to be happy about, you are truly a bottom dweller. Perhaps you would have been happier to live in the time of the gladiators. At least that way you could have scheduled your appetite for human flesh to occur on a more frequent basis.
You all should be ashamed of yourselves as humans.
But according to the Christian right, there is something wrong with pre-marital sex and an illegitimate birth. Is this not what they preach when an urban teenage girl with NO father and a single mom gets pregnant? You cannot have it both ways because this teen is white, rural and the daughter of GOP VP choice. How does the GOP conservative base like this? How's that for abstinence and what does that say about Palin's parental supervision?
I agree it should be a non issue and it its a private matter, but, just read the RNC platform to understand why conservatives deserve the criticism.
"We renew our 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. Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of wedlock pregnancies."
I say, if you are not sure your kids are not abstaining from sex, give them a least a condom. Teach them to make the right decision but give them a true choice.
This is proof of another failed Bush / McCain policy. $100 million or more for abstinence only education and your base isn't even listening. Can the next President end this stupidity so other teens don't end up with HIV or unwanted pregnancy, which would also lower the abortion rate.
How can she be a heart beat away from the presidency and can't even run her own household. To commander of the US military, What a joke. Please people look at who you are voting for. Even Schwazernager would have been a better VP. What kind of message does it send when a african american harvard law grad. can't win the presidency over a 72 year old and a mother of a pregnant teen from alaska.
Whenever I hear or read about a child being pregnant, I am saddened. I therefore feel for the Palins. However, this really does not put the Republican party in a very good light.
I seriously do not think that McCain knew of this prior to asking Mrs. Palin to run as his VP, despite what his camp is saying to the media. This must have come as a great shock to him. Who is going to do the Jamie Spears/Bristol Palin ads? LOL.
This whole Republican party now looks like a big joke. Remember how they were down on Obama just because he attended Wright's church? What kind of message are the Republicans sending to young girls? That it is ok to be 17, in high school and pregnant? I shudder to think how Obama would have been raked through the coals had his daughters been old enough to be in this embarrassing position.
Doesn't matter how this is swung, it's over for McCain and the Republicans. Bad decisions and bad choices all around. The fat lady started singing the day Sarah Palin was named running mate.
As Americans, we deserve better than McCain and Palin.
Unexpected things happen to people who are trying to do the right things. Oh, and people make mistakes too. We are all human-- both conservative and liberal. Just because a mistake is made out of bad judgement does not mean that an ideal is wrong (i.e. a political party's platform). What it means is that as people we come together to help and to restore--the milk has already been spilled. If someone that has gone to AA relapses, does that make him a hypocrit or the program a sham? I don't think so. To me that means that there is a root cause that needs to be addressed--in addition to understanding being a flawed human. Perhaps his or her accountability system was failing. This fact does not make the AA program, or platform, a point of hypocrisy.
My point stands and is proven by your responses. The liberal mindset is seemingly unable to see the human side of life here on earth. We have an ideal and rules that we teach our children and we do our best. I agree that our actions speak louder than words, but keep in mind that ANY person is capable of ANY act given the right circumstances. If I make a mistake, I don't go to my kids and say, "Go ahead and do that thing now that I blew it." No. Instead, I admit my error to my kids and work to never so that thing again.
Go ahead and marvel at and enjoy the misfortune of others at the expense of others while dispensing with good ideas (abstinence).
Jane -
How disingenuous to say you are saddened when read about a child being pregnant and then say, "Who is going to do the Jamie Spears/Bristol Palin ads? LOL."
That, my liberal friends, is the epitome of hypocritical and should be submitted to Websters as a dictionary definition.
Jane, you are not saddened. Sadly you are jumping for joy that some "juicy" gossip was revealed that makes all you already knew about "conservatives" true.
That is what's really sad.
I still think it is quite possible (with all I've read about the strange "pregnancy" of the Gov)that this is the second child for Bristol. The baby was born early in April and women are very fertile right after having a child. April, May, June, July, August -- that's five and the doctor could be off give or take a couple of weeks!
Palin is carrying so much baggage with her she needs her own airplane! These(Republicans), so-called evangelicals are the people who rode Obama for months just for LISTENING to his preacher preach. Not preaching himself. Just listening. Conservative group my
ass; excuse me, foot. With them, as long as it is about them, anything goes. Obama says he will not use it against Palin. Well, this is something he doesn't have to do. There are plenty of people who love him and want him to succeed who will do it for him!
And I am waiting for the story about her miscarriage. If this is just a cover up for the baby that she had in May that her mother says is hers...it gets more interesting every hour...
The story about sarah giving a speech and then traveling 8 hours from Texas after her water broke and then another 50 miles to the regional hospital is unbelievable. If a wman has has several babies and the water breaks, it is an hour or two until that baby shows up, especially a 6 1/2 pund baby.
To Anon at 4:46, it is not that the liberal mindset cannot see the human side of life. In fact, I would argue the ability to truly see the human side of life leads to 'liberal' thinking. Just reading the red words in the New Testament gives rise to very liberal thinking.
In my mind, true Christian values should focus on taking care of the poor and downtrodden, questioning authority, and, yes, calling out hypocrisy. Oh, and the only political statement attributed to Jesus is "Render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser's, but render unto God what is God's." I read this as "pay your taxes, but offer help when it's needed."
Shame on you guys. I guess all your family history is just perfect. Wow! must be nice.
This is really off limits don't you think? Why don't you turn your thoughts to New Orleans?
The spokesman for McCain/Palin stated the 17-year-old pregnant daughter will marry the guy who is the father. Shot-gun weddings are rarely good marriages. I hope they are not planning on hanging around the White House with the Vice-President: all that shoutin' and beer-bottle throwin' and cussin' doesn't bode well with the staff.
fact is, palin did not teach her daughter that there are many many ,any other things you can do aside from having sex at the age of 17, as grandma says," if your house is a mess, God knows what will happen with the bigger things you are responsible for,". So Palin forget it you can't take care of the little things, too busy trying to run government and you OWN house is a MESS!
Why are conservatives so opened-minded when one of them makes a mistake but can't be so understanding when others do so?
Because their brains are different than ours!
Actually Ann, no this really isn't off limits.
It's not off limits when you have a woman (Sarah Palin) who doesn't respect the reproductive decisions of all women and girls in this country. We're supposed to respect her daughter and family? Not until she learns to respect every woman and girl in this country.
It's not off limits when Sarah Palin put this out there. If she had enough respect for her daughter, she would have said NOTHING.
Sarah Palin was too busy trying to get her ex brother-in-law fired instead of paying attention to her daughter. Had she been paying attention, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion today.
This is a woman who promotes abstinence, and that clearly fell on deaf ears.
She doesn't believe that sex education should be taught in schools.
She is in no position to preach about morality to anyone in this country.
ParisL0ve2 -- Well said. I think you speak for many of us who are just shaking our heads and wondering when all this madness will end. Thank you.
Love the blog.
Run Lola Run is a great movie.
(I guess that is a bit an aside)
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