Sarah Palin and the mommy wars.
Sarah Palin electrifies the Republican base and the mommy wars.
From the moment Republican presidential nominee John McCain plucked Alaska Governor and self-described “hockey mom” Sarah Palin from small-state obscurity to place her in the number two slot on the GOP ticket this November, the questions have multiplied like rabbits, leaving pundits and voters alike to wonder just how much, in this election cycle anyway, the personal is political.
Let’s start with the rumors. Within twenty-four hours of the Palin announcement last Friday, the Internet was buzzing with speculation that four-month-old Trig Palin, who has Down syndrome, was actually the governor’s grandson. The blog equivalents of Woodward and Bernstein linked to photos from both official sites (including some that were later moved, taken down, or re-captioned) and MySpace (including those of a girl calling Bristol her “SIS in law!”) to argue that Palin had undertaken a sham pregnancy to cover up for her teenaged daughter Bristol. Given published reports that Palin “simply [didn't] look pregnant” when she announced the pregnancy in March (Trig was born in April), along with a dearth of photos online showing a discernible bump and widespread rumors that Bristol had spent months out of school due to mono, the story sounded both deliciously scandalous and vaguely plausible.
Even those who didn’t believe the Trig-as-Bristol’s-baby meme found some details of the baby’s birth unsettling, what with Palin reportedly boarding an eleven-hour commercial flight home after her water broke in Texas, where she’d delivered a speech, then driving to the tiny regional hospital in Wasilla rather than give birth in Anchorage (despite the baby’s high risk status and prematurity). It takes some serious conspiracy-minded thinking to imagine dozens of hospital personnel going along with a baby switcheroo, but any reasonable woman who has had a child might find Palin’s choices around Trig’s birth questionable at best.
As the Web heated up, the professionals took over. On Monday, the day the GOP convention was set to open – and the day Hurricane Gustav took aim at New Orleans and the Gulf Coast – the Palin campaign made a statement. Seventeen-year-old Bristol, they said, was five months pregnant, expecting in December, and she was planning to marry her boyfriend and make it all official. Presented as part precious miracle, part parental cross-to-bear, the Bristol pregnancy announcement was intended and timed, according to spokesperson Tucker Eskew (the Republican operative who, while working for George W. Bush in 2000, torpedoed McCain’s primary bid in South Carolina), to “flush the toilet,” a charming political term for releasing all a candidate’s negative baggage at once. The family later promised that Bristol’s fianc’, Levi Johnston, will be attending the Republican National Convention and presumably appearing with the Palin family when she accepts the nomination Wednesday in St. Paul. That is, if she does accept; as I write, odds-makers calculate a twelve percent likelihood that Palin will drop out as the VP candidate.
In the seventy-two hours since the country’s second female Vice Presidential nominee was named, the country has ridden a roller coaster of revelations and assumptions, leaving the complex work of separating rumor from fact, distraction from revelation. In the wake of what seemed like lax vetting from McCain, as Jack Shafter of Slate pointed out, any story about Palin felt like a scoop. And given that McCain’s choice seemed calculated to both energize his party’s far-right social conservative base and appeal to any remaining disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters, any questions raised about Palin’s children, pregnancies, pregnant children, etc., were sure to invite scrutiny for sexism and double standards.
But it’s Palin’s positions on social issues like abortion that make it so hard not to comment on, or at least ask questions about, her family life and choices. Palin, a member of Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion group that favors overturning Roe v. Wade, says she chose to continue a pregnancy after she was told at four months that the baby had Down syndrome. Supporters see her as someone who “walks the walk” of her conservative positions, even at a time when some 80-90% of women (including, presumably, thousands who consider themselves “pro-life”) choose to abort in the same situation. If the campaign chooses to share the Palins’ very personal story to gain favor among these voters, can it on the other hand ask for privacy as they deal with Bristol’s pregnancy? Similarly, many social conservatives see the Palins’ support of Bristol as a sign of strong family values during difficult circumstances; is it off-limits to ask whether Palin (or McCain) would consider abstinence-only education a success? How about their position on birth control, itself under attack by the lame-duck Bush adminstration? Or funding to health and other services for pregnant teenagers, a budget item Palin cut as Alaska governor?
When a candidate is chosen in large part for her biography, how can her life choices be off limits? It’s certainly true that most of those who have worried about Palin’s ability to handle her family crises while running for VP did not express similar qualms about her counterpart Joe Biden’s decision to serve his first Senate term even while his two sons recovered from the car accident that claimed the lives of their sister and mother. Yet is it fair for the campaign to suggest that any query about Palin’s qualifications for office is itself offensive and sexist? When a candidate is chosen in large part for her biography (as a friend put it, her foreign policy credential is “son in Iraq,” while her family values credential is “son with Down’s”), how can her life choices be off limits?
Certainly there are other, non-maternal scandals in Palin’s portfolio, and I’d like to see the media get to work on them. Her one-time membership in the Alaskan Independence Party, which advocates secession from the Union, is intriguing, as are the statements of her pastor, who believes that God speaks to him and allows him to read people’s minds. I would like to know more about her attempts to ban books from the Wasilla Public Library, especially since her vast executive experience is often cited to her credit.
But when even Lindsay Lohan, a lifelong expert on lousy parenting, goes online to criticize your parenting choices, this is clearly a mommy issue.
For most women, most mothers anyway, Sarah Palin’s situation will seem both alien and familiar. Most of us have never run for high office but we’ve all had to justify our work lives to our families and vice versa. The question in her case is, just what does her family life tell us about how she’d do the job she’s asking us to give her?
What do you think about all this? How do you think Sarah Palin’s mothering relates to her potential as V.P.? Tell us in comments!
Photo courtesy JohnMcCain.com. (Seriously, this is an official press photo.)
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Conspiracy idea: supposing the Repubs chose Palin and launched this firestorm intentionally to overshadow coverage of the police raids on individuals and homes expected to protest the RNC convention? There have been some egregious abuses of power, some really scary stuff, and you know they don’t want that on the news – a teenage pregnancy scandal is a great deflector.
Honestly, I’m really disturbed/confused by the Trig Palin birth story. There are several things I know just from having been pregnant, I’m not a doctor or anything: 1) labors tend to increase in speed each subsequent pregnancy. No guarantees, but if you go into labor with your 4th+ child, it’s probably going to be pretty quick. 2) Leaking amniotic fluid means labor is probably going to start, soon, especially if you’re in your eighth month or later. 3) Leaking amniotic fluid means GET CHECKED OUT, ASAP! you’re open to infections at that point, and the risk really starts to increase after 12 hours. 4) you tend to show sooner and more with subsequent pregnancies. 5) even a month premature is premature! babies born at 34 weeks frequently need NICU time, esp. if the woman hasn’t been given steroids to mature the baby’s lungs 6) babies with an identified special need are more likey to have other complications at birth. 7) any pregnancy to a 44 year old woman would be high-risk, Down’s syndrome or no. Now, given all that, how in the world is Sarah Palin justifying the fact that after she noticed her water broke, she gave a speech, got on an 11 hour flight (without notifying the airline! of anything!) then drove another hour to a small community hospital? Sure, she gets points for being pro-life, but aren’t they pretty much negated by the fact that she put the baby’s life at horrendous risk by doing this? Not to mention I’ve never heard of a woman who was 44 with 4 prior births not looking pregnant up through the day of delivery. Like you note, it’s hard to beleive she could have pulled off a coverup like that so I’m going to say fine, the baby’s probably hers, but it’s VERY strange. and her judgement is terrible! If that’s an example of her decision making, then NO THANKS to her in any office!
Normally I would say one’s personal life is off limits, but we are talking about a woman who wants to invade my body, beliefs, and personal life through right-wing legislation. So strip me of my right to choose and force my kid to listen to crack-pot Creationism is public schools yet her private life is off limits? I love how conservatives feel it is there duty to impose morality on others yet consistently get defensive when their own lives are put under a magnifying glass. It’s sick.
I see a Mom trying to do what is best for her kids. As we all know that is not always easy. I imagine that it would be much more difficult in public life. Some might say that she chose to live a public life. If all mom’s decided not to become involved ( in a local or national arena), to spare them and their families unwanted media attention, what kind of country would this be? I think people need to think before they speak about family values. In this country I would highly doubt the ability to “switch babies” and have Sarah Palin “pretend” to be pregnant. In a case with that much profile, someone would have sold that story for alot of money. Which I think is much sadder than a mother who would pretend to be pregnant to give her daughter and grandson a better life. Besides, how can Trig Palin be 5 months old and Bristol Palin be 5 months pregnant?Wether you are a republican or a democrat, we should be proud that a women can be nominated for vice president and that she improves the chances of the presidential candidate actually winning. And stop trying to attack her abilities based on her children. Do you like being judged for what your kids do?
She is not an AIP member. NY Times printed the story and then retracted it — so much for responsible journalism.And by repeating the mistake here, you are not helping matters. Yes, I know you are not a professional journalist, but still, please check facts.
I am a liberal, careeer woman with an advanced degree and a mom. When my daughter was born with health problems I quit my job to care for her. Why? Beacuse my ambitions and career are SECOND to the well being of my child. Mrs. Palin makes her children a distant second to her ambitions. A Downs child needs a lot of care and needs a parent 24/7. Is her husband planning to quit his job and care fo rthe baby? What about hte other children? None of them seem to attend school at all since they are all up at 12 midnight every night stumping for mommy. Also, this woman allows her 16 year old daughter to quit high school ( parental permission needed) and her son has not bothered to attend college even though she is governer and he could go free almost anywhere. Her son-in-law to be has no plans to attend college and her husband never graduated. Is this the person we want in charge of education in this country? A person who thinks higher education or a high school degree is not needed? Wake up everyone, she is a yokel with no credentials.
Hey, Unregistered Voter, check out this link about the AIP and “We Dont Need No Education” Palin. YOu cant believe everything you read on Sean Hannitys’ site.http://mediamatters.org/items/200809030019?f=h_latest
Don’t know this for sure but I think most presidential and vice presidential spouses either quit their jobs or put their careers on hold for a time while their S.O. is in office. Something tells me her husband is no different. He has already demonstrated that he is willing to forgo career advancement for the sake of what his wife is doing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Palin Like many other women in politics and in careers she has made difficult choices (note: not to kill her child or endorse the killing of her grandchild.) To some of you it seems that her doing the thing that you endorse in theory with all of your might (women breaking glass ceilings etc.) is a worse crime than, say, killing her child in her womb because she knew he would likely be an inconvenience to her “career advancement.” The woman has actually governed a state (so let’s not continue the absolute idiocy that she is running on her record as a mother – those things are mentionable merely because they are true and part of who she is. Her actual experience governing (notably a longer career of public service than the ACTUAL presidential candidate on the other side of the aisle) is what she should be judged on. She is fearless to take on people even in her own party with whom she disagrees. She doesn’t support people politically just because they are close relations (Read that full wikipedia article and you will realize that she did not support her MIL’s bid for a public service position because she didn’t agree with her policies.) She’s sassy and classy and unafraid to say things as they are and I think that’s why so many liberal feminists dislike her… she’s too confident and it scares the crap out of them. She’s not soft spoken. She’s not a blushing violet. She is well spoken and she takes huge risks (like having babies during important times of life and like being honest about her daughter’s condition – which I might add merely makes her human. That’s why it’s mentionable. She is dealing with something that thousands and thousands of families across the nation deal with. That doesn’t qualify her. It humanizes her. Which puts her in stark contrast to Obama who has a messiah complex the likes of which America has possibly never seen.)Also I am here to tell you that delivering a fourth + baby can sometimes ironically take much longer than previous deliveries. Ask me how I know.Since when does College make a person any better or smarter? I laugh at that idea. Sometimes it has the completely opposite effect. Now, don’t get me wrong. A college education is great. But there is nothing magical about it. I know plenty of people who work in dead end jobs, sitting in little cubicles, hating every day of their existence even though they got a college degree in order to be able to do so. Are they somehow better, morally, or better off emotionally, physically, etc. than the people who choose not to go to college and instead opt for going into a trade of some kind? Or who opt to join the military? The idea that everyone has to go to college to make something of themselves is absolute b.s. The concept embodies the elitism of people like Senator Obama to a T.C’mon folks. You’re going to have to work a little harder to discredit her. The reasons I’ve heard so far are almost all reasons why you would have chosen to support a female candidate on the other side of the aisle. She doesn’t care what the good old boys think. And that scares the ever livin’ crap out of them! It’s a beautiful thing if you ask me!
Gee, nice to see we’re back in the 1950′s. I guess, next time a woman comes to me for a job, if she’s young enough to bear children, I don’t have to hire her, because she might quit if she gets pregnant and wants to stay home with her kids. I thought feminism meant that women were equal and could do whatever a man could do. Did Barack have to stay home when his daughters were born? Did his wife have to quit her job? Why the double standard? A man with a young child can go to work, but a woman can’t?What hypocrites. If she was a liberal you would all be applauding her strength. Face it, she is more qualified than Obama or Biden. She has more experience than Obama. And why do you let him get away with degrading her. She’s the governor. He says “She was the mayor of a small town”. No you halfwit, SHE IS THE GOVERNOR!! Stop degrading her accomplishments. You did it to Hillary and now you’re doing it to Gov. Palin. Obama’s big claim to work experience is “I’ve handled this campaign.”Sorry BHO, but that is not a “Real” job. Running a campaign while you’re supposed to be at work in the Senate, hardly counts for executive experience. Nice try though.
I think the argument that you can’t raise kids and hold down an intense job is ridiculous. Clearly you need help, but both can be done responsibly. Having said that, the republicans would certainly attack a democrat candidate who had 5 kids, one with special needs, about having the wrong priorities, so there is hypocrisy issue here. Unfortunately for the country, and the world, she was very effective at revving up the anti-intellectual, angry republican base last night. Listening to the crowd shout U – S – A, U – S – A, like a bunch of drunk fratboys at a college football game was nothing short of scary.The success the republicans have had in convincing middle class Americans to vote against their personal interests in the last several decades is one of the most extraordinary con jobs in the history of politics. Middle class Americans will pay less taxes, have better education and training opportunities, and live in a safer world under a president Obama. Let’s hope and pray that the lipstick wearing pitbull doesn’t succeed in denying them that opportunity.
Actually you have it backwards. Under Obama and the Democrats, gas prices will rise, the quality of medical care will decrease, (see europe and Canada), and taxes will go up. He may not raise income tax but Democrats tax everything else, so when they raise the tax on a gallon of gas, you’re paying more taxes, when they hit gas companies with a surcharge or a “profit tax”, the gas companies are forced to put that tax back into the price of gas, so you are the one that really pays for it. Who do you think will pay for “universal health care”?Look at the programs that they already run, wellfare etc. Do any of them work? NO, they throw more and more money at their programs and every year they need more money but the problems do not go away and the situations do not improve. What the Dems do is make more people dependent upon government programs so that more people will vote for them and they retain power and they get richer. Honestly, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards, they are some of the richest people in congress, yet they call the Republicans the party of the rich. Moronic democrats believe it. Do you honestly believe Jon Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisdant (sp?) and Tom Hanks and all those Hollywood stars and the media folks like Catie Curic are poor or middle class. They’re all millionaires or better and they’re all democrats. They don’t give much money to the poor, they shelter as much as they can, they live in huge houses that take tons of fossil fuel to heat and cool and fly in private jets but they want “little people” to sacrifice.And some half-wit who goes to a Springsteen concert and listens to Bruce goes “Okay” while Bruce goes home to his 3 million dollar house in Rumson.
Why the double standard? A man with a young child can go to work, but a woman can’t?No reasonable person is telling her she needs to be a housewife or that trying to maintain a political career and a family at the same time is anything but a noble goal. However, many reasonable people think that keeping a lower profile job like Governor of Alaska would be kinder to her very young special-needs son, as well as her pregnant daughter, who would not have been forced into the national news limelight if her greedy powermongering mother could have waited another few election cycles to run. If she even waited until the next election cycle, Bristol would be in her twenties and better able to handle the teenage-mother stigma (because she wouldn’t be a teenager anymore); instead, her mother has chosen to sacrifice her child’s dignity and privacy for her political career. Throwing your daughter under the bus and then claiming superior family values? vile.
So let me get this straight, you would rather an uneducated beauty queen be the Commander in Chief of our troops, appoint Supreme Court Justices and dictate our economy and budget? That is like saying you dont mind a mechanic performing brain surgery on your child or fisherman make strategic decisions on the battlefield that impacts the lives of our soldiers. You must be educated to understand economics, law and foreign policy. You cant just read it on the internet. Saying that an education is useles just let us all know it was for you. I do not think being well educated is elitist. It is be prepared to do the best job. Remember, the last guy we let in who was not well educated got us into this mess. 24% approval rating. Obamas’ tax plan would cut taxes for 80% of the people of this nation except for those making over 250,000 dollars a year. But who cares about them, most of them went to college! I live in a red state and the Republican lawmakers have taxed us to bits here. They also slashed funding to special needs babies and the education of SN children. They also slashed funding of programs to help special needs kids get the medical care they need. Family values party my ass.
670,053 population of all of Alaska5469 population of Wasilla 2,842,518 population of Chicago within the city limitsMy little home town has more citizens than all of Alaska. Not too hard to be the governer of such a small group of folks.
First, I suppose it depends what you do with your education. What has Obama done? He was a community organizer, which means what exactly?He has never published anything except autobiographies. He is part of the most corrupt political machines in the country (the Daley-Chicago Politics). His attempt at “fixing” the chicago schools spent millions of dollars and failed, his attempt at providing low income housing lined the pockets of one of his biggest donors but failed to provide housing.He sat in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years but never knew he was a racist.He’s friends with terrorist Bill Ayers. All he’s ever accomplished is getting elected.He thinks we have 57 states. He frequently misquotes the laws of this country but he’s supposed to be a constitutional lawyer. He’s never ever written an opinion on any law that’s been published anywhere. So yes, give me a woman who has learned by DOING. Not all education comes from “school”. Look at people like Thomas Edison and some of the other greats throughout our history who learned by doing, who were well-read and who taught themselves. Then you can look at scoundrels who have ivy league degress and who have been traitors and done nothing except line their own pockets. And as for “putting her daughter” in the spotlight. This is the same media that would not touch the John Edwards scandal, who never went after Chelsea for anything. They could choose to leave this girl alone. She’s pregnant. So what? I thought liberals were all for premarital sex, sex whenever and wherever with whomever etc. No limits. “Love the one your with” and all that stuff. IF she got pregnant and had an abortion, you all wouldn’t care. She just shatters the liberal mythology of victim-hood because she is a strong, intelligent woman who has “chosen” to have her baby, “chosen” to run for vp, and “chosen” to stand up for herself and because she made choices that you wouldn’t, you hate her for it. Nice, open-minded, tolerant liberals. typical.
“Chosen” to have her baby? But if it were up to Palin, no other women would be able to make that choice. Talk about hypocrisy.Yes, the media could choose to leave the pregnant teen alone. Maybe they would have had the McCain/Palin campaign did not make an OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT of her pregnancy. It’s like, “Hey everyone, my teenage daughter is knocked up. But, please, let’s not talk about it. Oh, and by the way: Go abstinence-only sex ed!” Please, Palin couldn’t get that crap to work in her own home, and now she’s planning on inflicting it on the whole nation?As for the “DOING”: As mayor, she started her term with a break-even budget, and ended her term with the town $22 MILLION in the whole. A town of under 10,000–what will her budget look like as VP?
I have to say that I am disappointed in Babble for publishing this piece as is. Although it is little more than a book report of other news articles, I would hope that Babble and the author would have enough journalistic integrity to get the facts right and make sure that the book report was at least reporting on the most up to date information. For example, Palin was not a member of the Independence Party, her husband was. Also, despite the Washington Post’s original reporting, it appears that Palin INCREASED funding to the charity that runs the home for pregnant teens. The WaPo article was based on the 2008 spending bill appropriation for Covenant House and Palin’s reduction of the line item from $5M to $3.9M. The appropriation to Covenant House in 2007, which was not mentioned in the article but is available in financial documents available on Covenant House’s website, was $1.3M. Bottom line — Palin approved a 200% budget INCREASE for the home. I managed to find that in about 5 minutes with the help of Google. I would think you could do the same.Although her positions on issues like abstinence only sex ed have seem more interesting because of Bristol’s story, they really would have been relevant anyway and I think we all know she isn’t going to change her position. Right-to-lifers who are passionate enough to be anti-birth control don’t believe that the end (no pregnancy) justifies the means (a potentially immoral manner of managing the outcome of sex). Really, you would all pounce on her if she now changed her position simply because teenage pregnancy affected her family. Really and truly, it is silly to assume that pro-lifers’ beliefs are not well thought out. (Not that it should matter, but don’t assume I am pro-life)Lastly, I think everyone is doing a disservice to ambitious women everywhere by equating career ambition with being a bad mother. You think she is so unusual for making that speech and getting on a plane to Alaska? I know a lawyer whose water broke right before closing arguments. She waited through her opponents’ closing, made her argument and waited for the jury to deliberate before going to the hospital after court ended for the day. This was on a Friday. She delivered her child that night and was back in Court Monday to receive the verdict. She is a very liberal criminal defense attorney who was dedicated to her client and respectful of the time invested by the jurors, the judge and the other lawyers. Where I live and where I work, the very best women with whom I work share an exemplary commitment not just to their families but to their jobs and their clients. In public service, this is an essential quality. One need not be at the expense of the other.
1) Sarah Palin totes her son with DS around like he’s a billboard noting her “pro-life” stance. He’s a person, not a slogan on a t-shirt.2) Clearly her abstinence only programming isn’t working for pre-teens and teenagers. Instead of shot-gunning that poor 18-year old boy who was just looking to get laid into marriage, place the baby with a family that would love to adopt.3) “Governing” a village of 9,000 people in NO WAY makes her ready to lead our country when John “Dino” McCain drops dead. 4) Traveling to a German Army base does NOT qualify as foreign policy experience. 5) Talking the dirty, divisive talk like she did last night at the RNC doesn’t make her look like a tough cookie. It just showcases her perpetuation of ignorant thinking and lack of new ideas for the Republican party.6) She’s 16-weeks postpartum! As a mom of 3, I know that I was in NO WAY capable of making many rational, well thought out, complete decisions when I had those raging hormones rushing through my body. There are mothers all over the world that do their work wonderfully, whether in the home or at a job outside the home. However, I do think that there are obviously some issues in her family that she needs to be present for before she’s ready to lead the larger family that is the United States of America.
She’s the THIRD female VP nominee – the Libertarian VP candidate in 1972, Tonie Nathan, was the first woman in US history to receive an electoral vote.http://www.lp.org/our-history
“(like having babies during important times of life and like being honest about her daughter’s condition – which I might add merely makes her human”I think many have a problem with her not because of her difficulties with her family, but how they effect her political stances. Obviously, we, as humans, all have things that we go through that are not planned, not easy, that complicate our lives… I don’t judge a person based on their or their family’s discrepancies, but rather how they handle them. I don’t even mind Palin entering the political arena as a mom of five with one pregnant. (Although, I do find it disgusting to run on being a good mom and force your daughter into this spotlight just to get a job.)To me what makes her politics egregious is that they are completely unaffected by her personal life. Pregnant teenager? Push for sex-ed, funding for teenage mother’s programs, funding for healthcare for those who are in her daughter’s predicament but don’t have the same support. Down’s Syndrom baby? How about stem cell research? Support for special needs children and their family’s? Mother of five? You should be the number crusader for quality education, healthcare, early childhood education, extended maternity leave, state-sponsored daycare, etc.YOU ARE NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, BUT YOU ARE HOW YOU HANDLE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU. Through her experiences, she should be fighting to make all of us mothers have an easier time protecting our families while following our careers-is that what you see when you look at Palin?
1) Sarah Palin totes her son with DS around like he’s a billboard noting her “pro-life” stance. He’s a person, not a slogan on a t-shirt.Seriously. Is this site perverse, or what?http://www.babiesforobama.com/
KMat, she also wants to teach Creationism in the public schools. You okay with that? But education is not a big deal in her family since she allowed her minor child to drop out of highschool and her son never attended college. She is a big liar, too. Her and Ted Stevens have worked together for years. He appears in a commercial with her supporting her candidacy in 2006. Some reformer. I am all for women in the workplace but not for a traitor runnign our country. Here are more of her lies. http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/gop_convention_spin_part_ii.htmlHere is the commercial. http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/04/palin-was-director-of-stevens-527-group/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
First of all good article. Secondly, The media does need to pursue the fact that Gov. Palin slashed the budget for shelter of pregnant teens in half and for kids with special needs by 65%. All the while Alaska still leads all states in the United States for Earmark money….and she asked for the earmarks! As mayor of Wasilla she left it in debt. She fires anyone that gets in her way…Does not believe in global warming…the list goes on and on. It is going to take the media to unveil the truth because the republicans certainly will not! One other thing. The McCain campaign won’t let her get interviewed. This is downright alarming. We have a right to know. Now as for young Bristol, I feel sorry for her.
after reading the feedback. Madman I am personally affronted by the false claim that community organizers are not responsible to anyone.and the other republican lies/talking points…. How about Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman or JESUS… Community Organizers are servants to the people left barren of fortune. Other of your assertions are misleading and false. Bill Ayers was a fellow teacher at the university. And Sen Obama was just a kid when all that Weatherman stuff was going on…. Maybe you need to do a bit more reading, He has accomplished much meaningful legislation in his 8 years in the Illinois Senate actually authoring quite a bit, and went right to work in the US Senate in the same way. Cleaning up rogue nuclear material (to keep it out of terrorists hands), getting lead paint out of toys, getting better health care for returning vets, and even worked with John McCain on that lobbyist bill…remember….He actually follows it.
why is it that we can’t just be happy that she’s on the ballot with McCain? competition is good for everyone. i mean, no matter which party wins, history is going to be made!babble, i’m no longer going to be reading your site. as an independent, i’m sickened at how blatantly one sided your articles (relating to politics) have become. a word to the editor… not ALL of your daily readers are liberal…and not ALL of them are republican. you should stick to parenting issues and avoid contributing to the trashing of people.i’m so disappointed in the articles i’ve read here lately… and especially by the mean comments. come on, people… we’re better than this!
“shame…”, I’m sorry to see you set the bar so low. Mrs. Palin is not the Republican PRESIDENTIAL candidate. She’s the VP nominee – and she’s the 3rd woman VP nominee (1972,1986,2008) at that.As for you no longer planning to read Babble, that is unfortunate for you, too. You sound more like a Republican than an “independent” when you refuse to listen to what others have to say and refuse to scrutinize this candidate. As for the rest of Babble’s readers, please, keep up your respectful discourse regarding civic affairs. Our forefathers (and mothers) fought hard for our Libery and Freedoms. Please, don’t let them down.Demand transparency in government. It is the only way we will know what is being done in our name.
This whole thing is so bizarre to me. It’s like being in a bad dream and not being able to wake up. Palin was virtually unknown outside of Alaska just ONE week ago. A woman, who in her own words “wondered what it is a Vice President does all day”. A woman who wants to deny women the right to terminate a pregnancy even if conception occurs as a result of rape or incest. Now, she’s more popular than Obama or McCain. What does that say about the mindset of voters in this country. I’ve heard people express how much they love her, her kids, even her parents…who’ve only been shown on TV once at the RNC and have never uttered a word (as far as an interview goes) So what is it about her that has endeared her to so many people. The scandalous baggage that accompanies her nomination is as lengthy as the Bering Strait…yet she’s almost revered by many woman and some men that have been interviewed since the announcement by McCain that she would be his running mate.The “maverick” is looking more and more like a sidekick…merely going along with the powers that be…he says and does whatever he thinks his champions want to hear. Just like calling lobbyists ‘birds of prey’ which is a total contradiction to what his true ties with these unnecessary evils in Washington are.Come on America…are we so shallow that a pretty face is all it takes to win us over? Gov. Palin hasn’t given not ONE interview outlining her plans for this country as VP since McCain picked her….only pre-written rhetoric aimed at tearing down the Democratic nominee and his party.
I think Sarah Palin is great PR for the McCain camp. She is well-spoken and great at Republican rhetoric and sarcasm. Oh yeah – and I think she would be a great person to invite to a BBQ/have a beer with etc. I agree with Obama that her family should be off limits. The VP is a job – and just like any other job she should be judged by her credentials – and by her positions on the issues. As a feminist I would love to see a woman in office, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to vote for any woman regardless of their politics. I am insulted that McCain thinks that by merely nominating a women he can appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters. Since I disagree with her every issue (that I know of that is. Does she have a foreign policy stance?) her nomination will not change my vote. I think the media attention around her is mostly hype. I cannot imagine Palin will make a major difference in a McCain administration policy or how it is carried out.
Leave it to the GOP to announce and define sexism. Honestly I feel like this is very similar to the way they have painted Obama supporters as racist for only wanting to have a black man as president and that he is using his race to get votes. Now they even with their policies that are completely sexist are pointing a finger at Democrats saying we are sexist for attacking her personal choices. Maybe, but honestly I think Democrats would like to focus more on her complete inability to be president, rather then her complete inability to make good decisions as a parent. Just like maybe some people are voting for Obama because he is black, but the reality is that he is bi-racial, a great speaker and gives people hope. The Republicans are only concerned about racism or sexism when they can point a finger at some else and draw attention away from their own problems. Like 8 years of George W. Bush? Hello, that is reason enough not to vote Republican ever again.
I think you should check your facts instead of using questionable secondary sources (good journalists use primary sources whenever possible). Try factcheck.org and you will see that she was never a part of the Alaskan Independent Party (you site a UK newspaper as your source?) and she never attempted to ban books. And the fact that you perpetuate the idea that Trig is not her child (when if you watched the biography aired on Fox by Greta Van Susteren you can clearly see she was pregnant) by mentioning it and not denouncing it, just shows that you are adding to the whole media problem with Palin . Let mothers decide based on the real issues (factually reported). It’s great that Babble was willing to publish something about Palin, but too bad the article is just another piece of bad journalism. What moms need is real information to help them make informed decisions–not second hand information that wasn’t properly checked out. posted by shiela
Democrats have a puzzle with a code name “Palin Problem”. They have to solve it, and to do it effectively, because the prize is the White House.Sarah is everywhere these days. No matter, if there are negative responses, rumors and resentments; or praises, support and encouragements. She filled media, and not only in America. Palinmania is spreading all over the world – everybody has their opinion on the new political celebrity of US.The Palin avalanche is winning against Obama inundation. How should Democrats defeat her? Would it be better just keep their line of campaign and ignore populist idol of Republicans? Or should they put out their claws, oppose her and show her the real politics? http://www.votetheday.com/polls/to-defeat-palin-260/ – give advice to Democrats, if you think there still is an effective advice for them…
For all of the people who drone on and on that Palin has more executive experience than both Obama and Biden, I hope you won’t mind my mentioning that, according to your logic, she also has more experience than Senator McCain, who, let us not forget, is the one actually running for president here.And I’m sorry, but two years as governor cannot compete with the experience that all three of the Senators in this election have under their belts. Sarah Palin is way out of her league.Sorry that this does not relate to the subject of the article. Just had to get it off my chest.
This is my first time posting. I must pointout to the author that Feminist For Life is NOT an ANTI-Abortion organization. I encourage everyone to check out their web-site feministsforlife.org . You will clearly see that the organization SUPPORTS women when faced with the “ultimate choice”, they work tirelessly for students to have the opportunity to have their baby AND complete their education. That’s the choice ladies, to give birth and raise and support your child(with your education) or give birth and have that child adopted into a home where they will be loved beyond our imagination and supported. FFL wants to make sure that students have the resources available to them to make those choices. As a sister to an adopted brother and wife to an adopted husband, I feel very strongly that the choice outlined above should be the ONLY choice we should ever have to make! Thanks!
I’m sorry, a few photographs of her in March and April 2008 in which she appears pregnant should not be enough “proof” for anyone that she actually gave birth to Trig, when taken in balance with the large number of reasonable questions that remain about her choices during her pregnancy and birth. Make no mistake here, people. What the McCain campaign did was nothing short of genius. Faced with some very legitimate questions about the circumstances surrounding Sarah Palin’s birth in April of 2008, they managed to diffuse the entire situation without ever releasing a single piece of information about Sarah Palin OR the birth. Instead, the story was re-framed to be about a seventeen year old girl, and then, immediately became “off limits” because families are off limits. That they were able to get away with this “switcharoo” is astonishing.No 44 year old woman, pregnant for the fifth time with a special needs child would make the choices she supposedly made, and no doctor would support them. She traveled out of state at 35-36 weeks. After experiencing premature rupture of membranes, she waited nearly twelve hours to give a speech then traveled nearly twelve hours more, taking two separate flights both of which had flight times of around four hours. Expected duration of labor for someone with Gov. Palin’s history (four previous vaginal births) would be 6 hours +/- 3.6 hours. This means that 66% of women will give birth within 9.6 hours and 99% will give birth within 13 hours. It was not only “possible” that she would give birth on the airplane, it was PROBABLE. Then, once arriving in Alaska, she did not travel to a hospital with a NICU that was 6 miles from the airport. She drove to a rural health facility, 1 hour away, that had no high-risk facilities, and had as her physician a family practice doctor who is reported on the hospital’s website as having done ONLY THREE BIRTHS in the previous two years! As a midwife, I am 100% confident that much of what has been released regarding this pregnancy and birth is untrue. I don’t know what the truth IS but I know a lie when I see one.And once you have that as a “starting point,” then you have to start looking at all the other coincidences. Like the “coincidence” that she never looked pregnant at all before the announcement, and even afterward people had their doubts. (One writer in the Anchorage Daily News asked facetiously one week after Gov. Palin’s announcement, “Where is she hiding that baby? In her pocket?”), yet we have a photograph of her in a previous pregnancy in which she looks… pregnant. Like the “coincidence” that rumors existed before Gov. Palin announced her pregnancy on March 8th that Bristol was expecting, yet Palin never did the logical (and frankly pretty simple) thing: appear in public with her daughter, even one time. Like the “coincidence” that Bristol was removed from one school in late fall 2007 but never attended another one, due to “mono.” Or what about the “coincidence” that not one photo of the Palin family exists around the time of the birth, even though it’s been claimed that all three of the Palin daughters were at the hospital. And then you have the fact that Palin’s doctor, beyond some very brief statements made last April, has never once been willing to give the simplest statement to the press regarding Gov. Palin’s birth. Wouldn’t you think that having your doctor do a press conference and announce “Yes, I was at the birth on April 18th, 2008″ would be preferable to telling the whole world that your seventeen daughter was pregnant? Apparently not.A few brief glimpses of a pregnant-appearing Gov. Palin in a Greta Van Sustern “bio” prove nothing. The announcement from the McCain campaign that Bristol pregnant is now (well, as of 9/1) five months pregnant, put the brakes on the whole story, but it shouldn’t have. Gov. Palin has used the fact that she gave birth to a child in April knowing that he had Down’s as part and parcel of her political persona. This moves the whole issue out of the private realm, and into the public. In the face of legitimate evidence that the event did not happen the way she claims it did, the public does have the right to get some real answers. As of yet, we have not gotten them.Want documentation for everything posted here? Go to http://www.palindeception.com
Sarah Palin has got to be the biggest moron in this country.
Palin was laughed at when she was McCains VP choice, and she is being laughed at again.
This woman shook hands with power and now she wants that power.
Palin is full of greed and is running around trying to make herself look like a future president.
That will never happen.
Palin is a monster when it comes to power.
She told the Democrats that they are all fired.
Really Sarah?
It seems to me that you do not have the right to say such garbage.
After all, you were never hired.
So how can you fire?
Those remarks are typical of your nonsense.
That is why SNL put your stupidity on their show.
To those who read this
Sarah Palin is an idiot who has no clue.
America said no to her before and this great nation will say no to her again.
She has no chance.
Women hate Palin and see through her.
Men do not trust her.
All Democrats laugh at her.
The Republicans do not want Palin as their choice.
For good reason.
Sarah Palin is a laughingstock.
I am,
George Vreeland Hill
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